Ethiopian National Defense Army top generals and the leader of the Oromo Liberation Army, Jal Mero, met face-to-face in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
The second round of peace talks between the Ethiopian government and the armed group of the Oromo Liberation Army has begun in Tanzania.
According to a report published by the BBC citing sources close to the matter, the peace talks have been going on for a few days and are being attended by representatives of armed forces from both sides.
The East African Nations Organization (IGAD), the United States, Norway, and Kenya took the role of coordinator and facilitator of the negotiations held in Zanzibar, which is an autonomous state.
While it is not clear who will negotiate the talks that have just begun, IGAD is likely to resume its previous role.
In addition to this, Addis Standard, citing two diplomatic sources, reported that the leader of the Oromo Liberation Army, Kumsa Deriba / Jal Mero, is participating in the peace talks.
Jal Mero was flown from a forest in western Oromia to the nearby Dunbidolo airport with the help of third-party negotiators and then he traveled to the negotiation site in a helicopter.
With this, Jal Mero met face-to-face with the senior military leaders of the federal government for the first time and took the chair for a discussion.
According to the report, in the last few weeks, a political discussion was held in which senior officials of the federal government and the Oromia regional government, as well as two leaders of the Oromo Liberation Army, participated.
Because the discussion was successful and as a result, the discussion in which the senior military leaders of the federal government and the Oromo Liberation Army participated started yesterday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Diplomatic sources said that senior leaders from both sides who participated in the previous political talks held a few weeks ago will attend the signing ceremony if the negotiations are successful.
IGAD played a major role in facilitating the discussion and Workneh Gebeyehu (Dr), the general secretary of IGAD, is the main moderator.
However, nothing has been said about the negotiations between the federal government and the Oromo Liberation Army.
Six months ago, the first round of negotiations between the government and the Oromo Liberation Army in Zanzibar, Tanzania, failed to reach an agreement on some issues.
According to various reports, the Oromia Liberation Army commits identity-based killings, kidnappings, robberies, and grave human rights violations in the Oromia region.
When it was revealed that this armed group had taken control of several areas in the Oromia region, government security forces had been conducting several operations to liberate the group’s holdings.
This armed group, which is considered the military wing of the Oromo Liberation Front, was classified as terrorism by the House of Representatives two years ago.
In recent years, unrest and war have occurred in various areas of Ethiopia, and in addition to the Oromia region, serious fighting is ongoing in the Amhara region.
We have heard from residents that many areas of the region are still under the control of Fano militants while government security forces are fighting.
A war broke out in the Amhara region last April, and since last July, a state of emergency has been declared for six months following the worsening of the security situation in the region.
At present, Fano militants and government security forces are fighting hard in North Wolo, South Wolo, Gojam, and Gondar zones, and residents have told us that a fierce battle is going on in the city to control the historic city of Lalibela.
