US backs renewed AU mediation in Tigray as TPLF sets conditions

The United States has backed renewed African Union engagement between Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigrayan leaders, while the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has set conditions for further talks amid concern about renewed instability in the region.

US Ambassador to Ethiopia Ervin Massinga and Walter Parrs, chargé d’affaires at the US Mission to the African Union, welcomed AU High Representative Olusegun Obasanjo’s August 24 visit to Mekelle. In a joint statement issued on August 25, they said Obasanjo’s role remained important and urged leaders to focus on humanitarian needs and the safe, dignified return of displaced people.

Obasanjo was the AU’s chief mediator in the negotiations that produced the November 2022 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, which ended the large-scale war between the federal government and Tigrayan forces.

The TPLF said the latest discussions produced no new proposal or evidence of progress from the federal government. It said formal negotiations should be preceded by de-escalation of security measures, an end to what it described as Tigray’s economic siege, restoration of contested territories, the return of internally displaced people and reinstatement of the group’s legal status.

The federal government’s response to those conditions was not included in the source report.

The TPLF nevertheless said it was prepared to take part in a credible, time-bound dialogue supported by major international partners. The renewed diplomatic effort comes as local communities face drought and amid reports of military engagements in western Tigray in early August and drone strikes in parts of the region.

Those reported clashes and strikes require further independent confirmation. The competing positions leave implementation of the 2022 agreement—and the prevention of another escalation—as the central tests for the AU-led process.