Addis Ababa: The United States Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ervin Massinga, stressed the need to find ways to urgently reinvigorate the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) to facilitate disarmament and reintegration.
According to Ethiopian News Agency, the Pretoria Peace Agreement, signed on November 2, 2022, marked a significant step toward ending the war in northern Ethiopia. In February, discussions on the implementation report of the Pretoria Peace Agreement highlighted the rehabilitation training for former militants in the Tigray region, the delivery of humanitarian aid, and reconstruction initiatives as tangible outcomes of the peace agreement.
Following the peace agreement, the Federal Government took substantial actions to restore services in the region, such as banking, airlines, and telecommunications, along with infrastructure reconstruction. This enabled the people to experience the benefits of the peace accord. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in his statement to the House of People’s Representativ
es, underscored the importance of the Pretoria Peace Agreement in restoring infrastructure and services to the people of Tigray.
The United States played a facilitative role in the accord, ensuring peace was restored in the region and actively supporting its implementation for long-term stability. In an interview with the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA), U.S. Ambassador Ervin Massinga praised the agreement for its effectiveness in silencing weapons in the Tigray region. He stated, “Let’s start with applauding the Pretoria agreement, which brought silence to the guns in that terrible war, restarted services to Tigray.”
Ambassador Massinga has frequently visited Tigray to assess the implementation’s progress firsthand. While acknowledging positive strides, he emphasized the need to implement disarmament and address the situation of displaced people who continue to face hardships. He stated, “Finding ways to urgently reinvigorate the cessation of hostilities agreement and the element of allowing people to go home,
along with disarmament and reintegration and the other elements of Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) is incredibly important.”
The ambassador reaffirmed that all parties involved clearly understand the U.S. position, which is to move forward, not backward, in the pursuit of lasting peace and stability. It is to be noted that in a recent statement, Getachew Reda, the former leader of Tigray’s interim administration, mentioned that the execution of the Pretoria peace agreement, the repatriation of displaced individuals, and the rehabilitation of former militants have been obstructed by internal disputes.