AU mediator to give update on Ethiopia peace talks

The African Union mediator leading negotiations aimed at ending a devastating two-year conflict between the Ethiopian government and rebel authorities in Tigray, will give an update later on Wednesday, Pretoria said.

The negotiations began last Tuesday in South Africa, the first formal dialogue to try to end a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and unleashed a desperate humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia.

The talks had initially been scheduled to end on Sunday, but were extended.

"The High Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, will brief the media this afternoon in Pretoria regarding the African Union-led negotiations to resolve conflict in Ethiopia," said a statement from South Africa's foreign ministry.

The update is scheduled for 3:00 pm (1300 GMT).

A Tigray source close to the talks told AFP the negotiations were expected to end Wednesday "with some progress".

Since the negotiations began, intense fighting has continued unabated in Tigray, where government troops backed by the Eritrean army and regional forces have been waging artillery bombardments and air strikes, capturing a string of towns from the rebels.

Diplomatic efforts to try to bring the government and the rebels to the negotiating table gathered pace after combat resumed in late August, torpedoing a five-month truce that had allowed limited amounts of aid into Tigray.

The international community is calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities, humanitarian access to Tigray where many face hunger, and a withdrawal of Eritrean forces, whose return to the battleground has raised fears of renewed atrocities against civilians.

The conflict erupted on November 4, 2020, when Abiy sent troops into Tigray after accusing the TPLF, the regional ruling party, of attacking federal army camps.

Since then, the fighting in Africa's second most populous country has forced well over two million people from their homes, and according to US estimates, killed as many as half a million.

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