Ethiopian crisis: US Secretary of State speaks with South African foreign minister, Kenyan President as peace talks scheduled to kick off
Johannesburg, South Africa (PANA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday spoke with South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor and Kenyan President, William Ruto, about the upcoming Ethiopian peace talks to be held in South Africa.
The African Union (AU)-led peace talks to end the bloody fighting between the Ethiopian government and separatist Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) is scheduled for Monday, 24 October.
The government and TPLF say they would attend the talks. Ethiopian government troops and TPLF forces have been locked in the conflict since November 2020. There was a humanitarian truce but this was broken after only five months on 24 August.
Speaking with the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation on Sunday, Mr. Blinken also affirmed "the robust cooperation between South Africa and the United States across areas of common interest" following the productive 16 September meeting in Washington, D.C. between South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Joe Biden.
In his telephone call with President Ruto, the US Secretary of State spoke about Kenya’s "critical role" in regional peace and security in Ethiopia and across East Africa.
Last week, Mr. Blinken welcomed the planned launch of the peace talks to end the bloody war.
He commended South Africa for hosting the talks pledging the US' readiness to support AU High Representative Olusegun Obasanjo and AU panel members Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Uhuru Kenyatta in facilitating an agreement that ends the fighting in Ethiopia and restores security for all its people.
The Ethiopian crisis has been of concern to countries, the UN and organisations given what the US has described as "significant loss of life, destruction, indiscriminate bombardment, and human rights abuses".
-0- PANA MA 24Oct2022
