peace talks - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

US pushes peace talks to avert ‘point of no return’ in Sudan

The United States hopes for a relaunch of talks aimed at ending the conflict in Sudan and opening up humanitarian access soon after Ramadan ends in mid-April, Washington's newly appointed envoy said on Thursday. Saudi Arabia and the United States led talks in Jeddah last year to try to reach a truce between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but the negotiations faltered amid competing international peace initiatives. "We need to restart formal talks. We hope that will happen as soon as Ramadan is over," Tom Perriello, who took up his role as U.S. special envoy to…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Mali junta eyes new peace talks after ending accord with separatists

NEWS

MALI'S junta issued a decree to establish a committee to organise national peace and reconciliation talks, a day after it ended a 2015 peace deal with Tuareg separatist rebels and accused mediator Algeria of interfering in its affairs. The decision to end the so-called Algiers accord threatens to further destabilise the conflict-torn West African nation. Algeria, which shares a border with Mali more than 1,300 km long said the decision could put the entire region at risk. In an apparent move to establish a new internal peace process, the junta's decree outlined the structure of a committee and the steps it should…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian and Tigray forces launch hotline as new peace talks begin

NEWS

HEREWARD HOLLAND and TOMMY WILKES THE Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces have established a telephone hotline to help maintain a ceasefire struck last week, and both sides met in Kenya for a new round of talks on implementing the truce. Ethiopia's government and regional forces from Tigray agreed last Wednesday to cease hostilities after talks mediated by the African Union (AU), a diplomatic breakthrough two years into a war that has killed thousands and displaced millions. The truce has raised hopes humanitarian aid can start moving back into a region where hundreds of thousands face famine. Representatives of Ethiopia's military and government and forces…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Putin says peace talks with Ukraine are at dead end, goads the West

WORLD

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin said peace talks with Ukraine had hit a dead end, using his first public comments on the conflict in more than a week to vow that his troops would win and to goad the West for failing to bring Moscow to heel. Addressing the war in public for the first time since Russian forces retreated from northern Ukraine after they were halted at the gates of Kyiv, Putin promised that Russia would achieve all of its "noble" aims in Ukraine. In the strongest signal to date that the war will grind on for longer, Putin…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

INSIGHT-With military victory elusive, W.African nations quietly back talks with Islamists

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THIAM NDIAGA and AARON ROSS TWO years after local emir Djibril Diallo fled his home in northern Burkina Faso following death threats from Islamist militants, he received an unexpected request: to return and take part in peace talks with the same people who wanted him dead. Adama Ouedraogo, deputy mayor of Diallo's hometown of Thiou, called him in January to help negotiate an end to years of attacks by jihadists against local militias and civilians that forced thousands of people to flee the area. "I told them that if everyone was sincere, I could return," said Diallo, a traditional chief…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Tigray conditions for peace named

NEWS

FORCES fighting Ethiopia's military in the Tigray region have laid out eight conditions for beginning peace talks, including the appointment of an international mediator and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered airstrikes and a ground offensive against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) - the former ruling party in the northern region - after regional forces attacked federal army bases in the region on November 4. Abiy declared victory less than a month later after the TPLF withdrew from the regional capital, Mekelle, and major towns, but low-level fighting continues. Some senior TPLF members remain at…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Afghan govt, Taliban announce breakthrough deal to pursue peace talks

WORLD

HAMID SHALIZI and ABDU QADIR SEDIQI AFGHAN government and Taliban representatives have reached a preliminary deal to press on with peace talks, their first written agreement in 19 years of war and welcomed by the United Nations and Washington. The agreement lays out the way forward for further discussion but is considered a breakthrough because it will allow negotiators to move on to more substantive issues, including talks on a ceasefire. "The procedure including its preamble of the negotiation has been finalised and from now on, the negotiation will begin on the agenda," Nader Nadery, a member of the Afghan…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Sudan peace talks offer little hope for protesters in Darfur

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NAFISA ELTAHIR and KHALID ABDELAZIZ EFFORTS to bring stability to Sudan's conflict-ridden Darfur region have failed to reassure residents fearful of rising violence which has cast a shadow over peace negotiations. The fall of President Omar al-Bashir in 2019 raised hopes that Arab militias he supported, which have been accused of atrocities, would be reined in under the civilian-military government which replaced him. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is negotiating with rebel groups that had fought Bashir. But they hold little sway 17 years after a conflict which killed 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million erupted. Over the last month, 100…