United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the Tigray Liberation Front’s announcement of its readiness to commit itself to an immediate cessation of “hostilities” and a peaceful resolution of the conflict in northern Ethiopia under the auspices of the African Union.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations called on the parties to “seize this opportunity for peace and take steps to end violence once and for all and opt for dialogue” and called on them to “actively participate in the African Union-led process and without delay and establish conditions for negotiations. He also reaffirmed the “readiness of the United Nations to support the African Union-led peace process.”

It is worth noting that the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, welcomed the earlier statement of the Tigray Liberation Front about its readiness to participate in serious peace negotiations with the government of Ethiopia.

And he called in a statement released by the African Commission that “the two sides work urgently to achieve an immediate truce and start direct negotiations through an African Union-led process that involves agreed international partners.”

The fighters of the Tigray Liberation Front in northern Ethiopia expressed their readiness for peace talks under the auspices of the African Union, which removes the obstacle to possible negotiations with the government to end the two-year-old conflict, stressing their commitment to an immediate and mutual ceasefire in order to create an appropriate atmosphere.

The conflict, which has been ongoing since November 2020 in the Tigray region, has resulted in thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands have fled to borders with neighboring countries, especially Sudan.