On April 25, 2023 the Ethiopian government and Oromo militants will meet at the negotiating table in Tanzania.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that two events will happen this week. First, “all regional states presidents will travel to Mekelle” to help cement the peace agreement reached in Pretoria, South Africa in November 2022. Second, the negotiation that will be held with OLF/Shene will start in Tanzania on April 25, 2023.
OLF/Shene is the term the Ethiopia government uses to refer to the OLA, but the OLA objects to the term “Shene”.
The government and the people “greatly want this negotiation,” the prime minister said. He appealed to “all parties to think of today as an example and to consider that no benefit will come out of war”.
Ethiopia and the Tigray region were embroiled in a war that began in November 2020. The conflict ended with a peace agreement being signed in November 2022.
In February 2023 it was feared that a conflict between Ethiopia’s Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups would disrupt the security situation in Ethiopia, after the Tigray peace agreement was reached.