Peace talks aimed at ending the two-year-old conflict in the Tigray regions of Ethiopia have begun in Pretoria. The negotiations follow a surge in violence in recent weeks.
Formal talks after two years of war between the Ethiopian federal forces and the northern region of Tigray opened in South Africa on Tuesday.
The African Union, as mediator, aims to broker an end to the conflict, which has killed thousands and displaced millions, putting a large section of the population on the brink of famine.
The dicussions are the highest-level effort yet aimed at bringing the violence to an end.
What are the latest developments?
A spokesman South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Vincent Magwenya, said the negotiations were expected to continue until Sunday.
South Africa hopes "the talks will proceed constructively and result in a successful outcome that leads to peace for all the people of our dear sister country," Magwenya said.
Ethiopia's national security adviser Redwan Hussein is negotiating on behalf of Addis Ababa, while Tigray's interests are represented by military spokesman Getachew Reda and a member of the Tigrayan central command, Tsadkan Gebretensae.
The talks begin as Ethiopian government forces and allied troops from neighboring Eritrea have started to take some urban parts of Tigray province. Intensified fighting in the past two months has raised fears about the possibility of mounting civilian casualties.
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Magwenya said the discussions were being facilitated by Nigeria's former president Olusegun Obasanjo. He said they were also being supported by Kenya's former leader Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa's ex-vice president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
What has been happening in Ethiopia?
The invitation comes more than a month after intense fighting resumed, bringing to an end a March truce that promised hope of ending the war.
War broke out when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to topple the northern region's ruling TPLF. He accused the party -- which dominated Ethiopia's ruling coalition for decades before Abiy took power in 2018 -- of attacking federal army bases.
The conflict led to a humanitarian crisis in Tigray with millions of people left desperately short of food.
The fresh violence has also drawn Eritrean troops, allied with the Ethiopian government, back into the conflict. Eritrea, which signed a peace deal with Abiy that helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize, rejects allegations that its soldiers committed some of the worst atrocities in the conflict.
rc/aw (AFP, Reuters)
