Eri-Platform welcomes the FDRE-TPLF Peace Agreement

Eri-Platform welcomes the Agreement for Lasting Peace through a Permanent Cessation of Hostilities signed by the representatives of the FDRE and the TPLF in Pretoria, South Africa, on 2 November 2022 providing, among other things, for the immediate and permanent cessation of hostilities; respect for Ethiopia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international borders; disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration of TPLF fighters; and the restoration of federal authority in Tigray. Securing the peace would benefit the peoples of Ethiopia, Eritrea and the region and create conditions for healing the wounds and rebuilding the damages caused by the war.

International and public reaction to the Peace Agreement has generally been positive, with optimistic expectations of its expeditious implementation. It is quite unfortunate, however, that certain erstwhile TPLF consultants, lobbyists and hirelings have started maligning the agreement as capitulation and insinuating that TPLF commanders would prefer to continue guerrilla warfare to accepting humiliating peace terms. At whose expense and for what end?

Implemented in good faith, the Peace Agreement would remove the irredentist threat to Eritrea’s national security, restore Eritrea’s territorial integrity, and contribute to the establishment of durable peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia. It would also end TPLF interference in and mercenerisation of certain Eritrean diaspora opposition groups and individuals. More crucially, it would allow pro-democracy Eritreans at home and in the diaspora to coalesce and focus their attention on and unite their efforts in the pursuit of justice, constitutional governance, and democratic development in Eritrea.

Eri-Platform shares a copy of the signed Peace Agreement as an important document of public interest.