The Ethiopian federal government and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), an armed group seeking self-determination in the East African country’s Oromia region, resumed talks in Tanzania on Tuesday, aimed at ending a conflict that has raged for decades.
The peace talks in Tanzania's main port city of Dar es Salaam are being mediated by a delegation from the US, the East African trade bloc IGAD, and Norway, the Addis Standard reported on Wednesday, citing diplomatic sources.
The federal government is being represented by the Ethiopian National Defense Force's (ENDF) chief of military intelligence, General Getachew Gudina, and his deputy, Major General Demis Amenu, the outlet added.
The negotiations, which began earlier this year, come at a time when Ethiopia is experiencing an increase in ethnic tensions and violence following a devastating two-year war in the Tigray region that only ended in 2022.
Years of unrest in Oromia, the largest Ethiopian region, surrounding the capital Addis Ababa, are rooted in grievances of alleged marginalization and neglect by the federal government, and have resulted in hundreds of deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands.
The OLA is a former military wing of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a previously banned opposition party that returned from exile after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. The government has accused the it of involvement in recent ethnic violence in the region.
Nearly five years after its split from the OLF, authorities have blamed the OLA for a number of massacres, including targeted killings of people from the Amhara ethnic minority. In 2020, the group was accused of assassinating Haji Umar Nagessa, a veteran freedom fighter and traditional leader in Guji. It has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Amnesty International has previously criticized Addis Ababa's response to attacks by armed groups in Oromia and Amhara, the country's second-most populous region. The human rights organization accused Ethiopian security forces of extrajudicial killings, rape, arbitrary arrests and detentions, as well as the burning of homes.
The first round of peace talks between the government and OLA in Zanzibar, Tanzania, ended in May without a deal. Days later, the outlawed group said the government launched a military offensive against them, a move they claimed contradicted commitments to prioritize de-escalation during the negotiating processes.
The second round of discussions comes amid reports of renewed clashes between local Fano fighters and armed residents in Amhara's Oromia Special Zone on Sunday, which have reportedly left than 18 people dead and over 30 others injured.
According to the UN, at least 183 people have died in fighting between the ENDF and locals in the Amhara region since July. The government declared a six-month state of emergency in August in response to the deadly conflict.