Representatives from the Ethiopian federal government and Tigrayan senior commanders are meeting in Nairobi, Kenya for a three-day consultative meeting on the implementation of the Ethiopia Permanent Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA).
The meeting, which was originally scheduled for 20-23 December but has since been moved to 21 December, will involve discussions on the outcome document for the disarmament process, the adoption of the Terms of Reference for the African Union’s (AU) monitoring, verification, and compliance mechanism, and next steps in the implementation of the CoHA.
The meeting will be attended by representatives from the Kenyan government, the AU, and the US, and takes place amid calls for the deployment of the AU’s monitoring and verification team. The Tigrayan side has accused the federal government of lagging in the implementation of the peace agreements, while the federal government has threatened to take measures to protect Tigrayan civilians against alleged “organized crimes” and “robbery” in areas not under its control.
Reports have also indicated that both Eritrean and Amhara forces have committed atrocities against Tigrayan civilians in occupied areas. The meeting and its outcome are seen as critical to the peace process, as the disarmament of Tigrayan armed combatants is tied to the withdrawal of foreign and non-Ethiopian National Defense Forces from the region, as stipulated in the Declaration on the Modalities for the Implementation of the Pretoria Agreement.
