Representatives from both sides of the conflict claimed on Wednesday that a first round of peace talks between the Ethiopian government and Oromiya rebels had ended without a deal.
The Oromos are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, and rebel groups in Oromiya, where they are concentrated, have fought the federal government for decades on the grounds that the area has been ignored and neglected.
“While the talks have been largely constructive,” a government statement said, “it was not possible to reach an agreement on some issues during this round of talks,” but the two parties agreed to continue discussing.
Since last week, mediation talks have been taking place in Zanzibar, a Tanzanian island with little autonomy.
Following the end of a two-year civil war in the northern Tigray region with the signing of a peace deal last November, the violence in Oromiya, which surrounds Addis Abeba, has become a major security headache for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), an illegal branch of the previously outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), indicated in a statement that it wished to continue conversations but that no agreement had been reached on “key issues.”
