AU, US says there is little opportunity to end fighting in Ethiopia

SANAA, Nov.09 (YPA) –  There is a little opportunity to end fighting in Ethiopia between government forces and the Tigray Liberation Front,” the African Union and the United States said.

Reuters quoted the AU envoy for the Horn of Africa, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo as briefing the UN Security Council.

Speaking from Ethiopia, Obasanjo said that by the end of the week “we hope to have a program in hand that will indicate” how they can achieve humanitarian access and a withdrawal of troops that satisfies all the parties. The United Nations estimates 400,000 people in the northern region of Tigray are living in famine-like conditions following a year of war.

“All these leaders, here in Addis Ababa and in the north, agree individually that the differences between them are political and require a political solution through dialogue,” Obasanjo told the 15-member council, but stressed: “The window of opportunity we have is very little and that time is short.”

For its part, the US State Department also said on Monday that Washington believes there is a small window to work with the AU to make progress on ending the conflict as US envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, returned to Addis Ababa.

E.M