US expecting new round of Ethiopia peace talks to build on cessation of hostilities

'Effective' truce comes with warning that drought and starvation are exacerbating conflict

The Afar region, the only passageway for humanitarian convoys bound for Tigray, is facing a serious food crisis due to the combined effects of the conflict in northern Ethiopia and drought in the Horn of Africa. AFP

More than a million people need food aid in the region, the World Food Programme reported. AFP

Internally displaced people sit in a tent in a makeshift camp in the village of Erebti, Ethiopia. AFP

A new round of peace talks for Ethiopia led by the African Union's representative Olusegun Obasanjo is imminent, a senior US official has said. AFP

The World Food Programme this week issued a warning that they will run out of food for Ethiopian refugees by October. AFP

The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front agreed to a truce in return for the Ethiopian government providing indefinite humanitarian aid to the region. AFP

Internally displaced people gather near Erebti, Ethiopia. AFP

More than two million civilians have been internally displaced and 5.2 million people in Tigray are in urgent need of food, the UN says. AFP

Internally displaced woman carry blankets in the makeshift camp. AFP

A member of the Afar militia takes a rest next to his weapon in the makeshift camp. AFP

Members of the Afar militia stand guard at a checkpoint near the town of Abala, Ethiopia. AFP

A convoy of lorries from the World Food Programme make their way to Tigray. AFP

USAID chief Samantha Power speaks during a joint press conference with Kenya's Public Service Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia in Nairobi. AFP

Ms Power promised aid to help avert famine in the Horn of Africa. AFP

Somalis who fled drought-stricken areas carry their belongings as they arrive at a makeshift camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia. AP

Molly Phee, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. Photo: US Mission Photo

Olusegun Obasanjo, special envoy of the African Union for the Horn of Africa, arrives at a gala dinner in Ethiopia. AFP

'We are committed to supporting talks between the parties and we're hopeful that the AU High Representative for the talks in Ethiopia, former [Nigerian] president Obasanjo, will soon announce a location and a time for those talks,' Ms Phee. Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Mr Obasanjo upon his arrival at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France. EPA

Mr Obasanjo speaks during a panel discussion for the 2015 Global Education and Skills Forum at the UAE's Atlantis Conference Centre. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Africa this week. Here, he visits the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda. AFP

Mr Blinken visits the genocide memorial in Kigali. Reuters

A new round of peace talks for Ethiopia led by African Union representative Olusegun Obasanjo is imminent, a senior US official said on Thursday.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee said the talks could begin “soon".

“We are committed to supporting talks between the parties and we're hopeful that the AU High Representative for the talks in Ethiopia, former [Nigerian] president Obasanjo, will soon announce a location and a time for those talks,” she said.

The peace negotiations will build on the cessation of hostilities that was announced in March, leading to a pause in fighting in the two-year conflict between the government in Addis Ababa and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

Ms Phee, who accompanied US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his trip to Africa this week, described the ceasefire in Ethiopia as “effective".

“There has been an effective cessation of hostilities with a so-called humanitarian ceasefire between the Ethiopian government and the forces of the TPLF that has held and that is really important,” she said.

The TPLF agreed to the truce in return for the Ethiopian government providing indefinite humanitarian aid to Tigray.

More than two million civilians have been internally displaced and 5.2 million people in the region are in urgent need of food, the UN says.

The Ethiopian government has also cracked down on militias accused of fomenting instability and has arrested more than 4,000 people in the past two months on suspicion of being linked to the Oromo Liberation Army and Al Shabab, it announced last week.

But the country is also suffering from a long-running drought that Ms Phee stressed has exacerbated the effects of the conflict.

On a trip to the Horn of Africa last month, USAID administrator Samantha Power said the organisation would provide about $1.3 billion to help combat regional drought and famine.

Meanwhile, other international organisations such as the World Food Programme this week issued a warning that they will run out of food for Ethiopian refugees by October.