Kiir claims Ethiopian gov’t intentionally blocking aid delivery to Tigray, backs AU peace efforts  

JUBA – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has claimed that the Ethiopian federal government led by Dr. Abiy Ahmed is undermining the delivery of essential aid from entering war-ravaged Tigray region, urging the Ethiopian federal government and rebellious Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to resolves problems peacefully.

This comes a day after the Ethiopian federal forces and allied regional soldiers announced capture of several towns in Afar, and Amhara regions, days after the Prime Minister appeared in combat uniforms in the front lines where federal forces are battling the TPLF that it regards as a terrorist organization.

Speaking during the closing session of the 5^th Governors’ Forum in Juba on Monday, said his government has been speaking to the Ethiopian parties to accept talks as way of resolving their differences, reiterating his government’s readiness to support peace efforts being exerted by the African Union.

“In the interest of regional stability, I am registering South Sudan’s willingness to support the African Union’s mediation in Ethiopia to help the warring parties to narrow their differences,” the South Sudanese president whose country was in a deadly conflict said.

The South Sudanese President Kiir said he has been talking to the two parties to amicably solve their differences before the situation escalates.

“These are people known to all of us and we have been with them for a very long time,” Kiir added.

The South Sudanese president further claimed that the Ethiopian government is intentionally blocking aid delivery to the war-hit Tigray region in the far north of the country and said he has also spoke to the Sudanese government over recent border clashes between the Sudanese armed forces and the Ethiopian army.

“The people in the Tigray land are now subjected to humanitarian disasters because the government has refused to allow relief to go to the affected people,” he said stressing that many people are suffering from the impasse.

“I tried to talk to General Al Burhan to stop what they might have been thinking of.  I didn’t talk to Prime Minister Abiy but I will still try to talk to him,” he added.