On the second anniversary of the signing of the Pretoria Agreement, it is important to take stock of what the agreement has helped us achieve and what remains outstanding. The most critical objective of the Pretoria Agreement was to silence the guns that had been raging for over two years with horrific intensity across Tigray. On that score, Pretoria has been a qualified a success.
Furthermore, by redirecting the political debate away from the battlefield, the Pretoria Agreement has created opportunities for a cooperative working relationship with the Federal Government. Indeed, the Federal Government has undertaken a number of encouraging steps since the signing of the agreement, including the restoration of basic services, such as banking, telecommunications, air and ground transport etc. Overall, ongoing dialogues with the federal government have led to some progress, although much remains to be done. For its part, the Tigray Interim Administration is committed to preserving the relative peace that we have achieved thus far and working towards the full implementation of the agreement.
Ultimately, however, the success of Pretoria can only be measured by its ability to address some of the most thorny issues resulting from the war in Tigray. Among other things, there hasn't been much progress on restoring Tigray's constitionally recognized territories. The entire Western Tigray remains under the occupation of Amhara forces, with hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans continuing to be on the receiving end of brutal treatment. Eritrean forces also continue to occupy parts of Northwestern and Eastern Tigray, where atrocities in those areas are quite commonplace. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans continue to languish in IDP camps under unimaginably harsh conditions.
It's, thus, no exaggeration to claim that absent concerted efforts to resolve these issues once and for all, peace will remain elusive. Indeed, the failure to ensure the full implementation of the Pretoria Agreement will have far-reaching ramifications not just for Ethiopia's security but also for regional peace and security.
Given the fact that the Pretoria Agreement was an internationally brokered peace deal, it's vital that our regional and international partners ramp up efforts to ensure the agreement is implemented fully and without further delay. The Ethiopian people in general and the people of Tigray in particular cannot afford even the slightest chance of armed hostilities. But failure to implement the agreement is providing anti-Pretoria spoilers some traction. All stakeholders must, therefore, do what's necessary to marginalize those spoilers by helping us implement the agreement fully and expeditiously. For our part, we remain committed to the full implementation of the agreement.
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