Rebels from Ethiopia’s Oromiya region announced on Monday that they were in Tanzania for a second round of talks with the Ethiopian government in an attempt to bring an end to decades of conflict.
The talks follow more than six months after the initial round of discussions between the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and the Ethiopian government concluded without reaching an agreement.
In recent years, the conflict has claimed the lives of hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands in Ethiopia’s most populous region.
“We remain committed to finding a peaceful political settlement,” the OLA said in its statement.
The OLA mentioned that it postponed the announcement of the negotiations to ensure the safe journey of its team from what it referred to as the frontlines in Oromiya to the venue.
According to an official with knowledge of the mediation process who spoke on condition of anonymity, the talks commenced last week in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. The regional Africa group IGAD is facilitating the negotiations.
The OLA is a prohibited faction stemming from the Oromo Liberation Front, a previously banned opposition party that returned from exile following the inauguration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is himself of Oromo descent, in 2018.
Oromiya, encompassing Addis Ababa, the capital, is the residence of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic Oromo group, constituting over a third of the country’s 110 million people.
The discussions occur amid ongoing conflict on another front in Ethiopia, involving clashes between the army and the Fano militia group in the medieval holy city of Lalibela last week, as reported by residents to media. However, the government stated that the area remained peaceful.
Even though Fano lacks a formal command structure, the part-time militia in the northern Amhara region has been in conflict with the army since late July. It has emerged as the most significant security challenge to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed since the conclusion of the war in the northern Tigray region a year ago.
