Ethiopia’s national dialogue body may look into TPLF demands – official

ADDIS ABABA – A senior government official in Addis Ababa has said that the National Dialogue Commission does not exclude anyone in the Ethiopian society including the TPLF which has been designated by the Ethiopian parliament as a terrorist organization.

Recently, the TPLF called for peace talks with the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, but then put forth preconditions including that the government in Addis Ababa first accept and recognize the right of self-determination for the people of Tigray region before any negotiation could be started.

Government officials said Addis Ababa is not ready to negotiate with terrorist organizations such as the TPLF. The rebellious organization also cemented its demands and said it won’t accept talks with ceasefire unless the government in Addis Ababa answers their demands.

Speaking to Sudans Post this afternoon, a senior Ethiopian government said Addis Ababa does not intent to hold talks with the TPLF because it is a terrorist designate and who is also not willing to end the conflict which the official said the Tigray rebel group had initiated in 2020.

“The government of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is not in any way willing to negotiate with the TPLF because they have a lot of demands which cannot be achieved. That is one, number two, it is a terrorist organization and the government is not allowed by the constitution to negotiate with terrorist because we could be encouraging terrorism,” the official said.

“The only thing the TPLF can do is that it should participate in the National Dialogue process because they can speak out their problem there and the Ethiopian people will answer them,” the official added.