#ASDailyScoop: Ethiopia Army Chief, AU Commissioner discuss Pretoria peace agreement, need for robust DDR in Tigray
Amb. Bankole with Field Marshall Berhanu Jula. Photo: Amb. Bankole
Addis Abeba – Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, met on Monday with Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, Chief of General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and discussed about the AU-led Pretoria Permanent Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.
According to Amb. Bankole, the two have discussed the “positive impact” the November 2022 peace agreement between the federal government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the “imperative to have a well-defined disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) program in the Tigray region for enhanced collective security in the Horn of Africa.”
It is recalled that on 19 May AU’s Monitoring, Verification and Compliance Mechanism (MVCM) leader Maj. Gen. Stephen Radina announced that 85 to 90% the disarmament of Tigrayan combatants was “completed.”
Similarly, the first round of Tigrayan ex-combatants’ reintegration and rehabilitation program was officially launched on 26 May in the presence of federal and regional military officials as well as AU’s MVCM members, which was followed shortly after Tigrayna forces handed over group weapons.
Regardless of the progress on both ends however, and despite the provision on the Nairobi Declaration of the Executive Plan on the concurrent withdrawal of foreign and non-ENDF forces from Tigray, Eritrean forces continued occupying parts of north and north eastern Tigray region while Amhara forces remain in control of western Tigray and several parts of southern Tigray. AS
