AU, USA Rule out Ending Fighting between Ethiopian Forces, TPLF

The African Union (AU) and the United States of America (USA) have announced that there is little chance of ending the current fighting between the  Ethiopian and militants of the Tigrayan Popular Liberation Front (TPLF).

It is worth noting that the TPLF and its allies took over a number of strategic towns during the last few weeks.

Nine Ethiopian rebel groups signed last Friday in Washington an agreement to topple the Ethiopian government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali either by military means or negotiations.

"Reuters"  a news agency,  quoted the African Union's envoy to the Horn of Africa, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the United Nations Political Coordinator, Rosemary Di Carlo, briefing the UN Security Council.

Speaking from Ethiopia, Obasanjo said that by the end of the week "we hope to have a program that shows" how the warring parties in Ethiopia can allow humanitarian access and a troop withdrawal that satisfies all parties.

Obasanjo added, "All these leaders here in Addis Ababa and in the north (implying to leaders of the TPLF) agree inpidually that the differences between them are political and require a political solution through dialogue, but the opportunity we have is slim and the time is short."

On its part, the US State Department said that Washington believes that there is a small window to work with the African Union to make progress in ending the conflict with the return of the US envoy to the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.

It is noteworthy that the United Nations  (UN) had warned that the risk of Ethiopia plunging into a large-scale civil war is "very real".

However, UN estimates indicate that 400,000 people in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia are living in famine-like conditions after a year of the war.