Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met with senior commanders of the Tigray region troops on Friday for the first time since they signed a peace deal with the national government that ended two years of conflict, according to the state-run television.
“PM Abiy… and other officials met today and discussed the progress of the peace process with the TPLF delegation,” the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Twitter.
“As a result, Prime Minister Abiy took decisions on boosting flights, banking, and other areas that would enhance trust and make civilians’ lives easier.”
In November, the Addis Abeba administration and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed an agreement to end conflict that had killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
The meeting on Friday was Abiy’s first with senior administrators from the northern Tigray region since the violence began.
The war was rooted in long-standing territorial and other grievances between Tigray’s and other areas’ political elites, which had accumulated during decades of turbulence, violent regime change, and extended periods of authoritarian control.
Dawit Endeshaw contributed reporting, George Obulutsa wrote the piece, and Mark Heinrich edited it.