Ethiopian PM visits Tigray as Sudan confirms urgent talks to resolve crisis

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has paid a surprise visit to Mekelle, the capital of the country's northernmost Tigray region.

Abiy made the trip on Sunday, a day ahead of the resumption of civil services and business activities as announced by the Interim Administration for Tigray Regional State.

Abiy's visit comes a day before Sudan's premier said he had agreed with his counterpart in Addis Ababa to hold an urgent meeting of a bloc of East African countries to resolve the crisis in Tigray.

When asked for a comment by AFP, Abiy's office did not immediately respond to Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's announcement of an "emergency" meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

Hunting TPLF leaders

While in Tigray, Abiy held discussions with army generals who led a successful military operation launched by his government in November after the forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) stormed the army's northern command stationed in Tigray.

The TPLF leadership and commanders of their fighters are now being hunted down and will face criminal charges, including high treason.

Rumors are widely circulating on social media that most of the TPLF’s leaders were either apprehended or neutralised, but there has been no official confirmation.

The only confirmation made by the government so far is that former speaker of the House of the Federation Keriya Ibrahim surrendered while former ambassador to China Adisalem Balema, who held a high post with the TPLF, was captured.

READ MORE: What is behind the ethnic divide in Ethiopia?

Thousands suspected killed in fighting

According to the state-owned Ethiopian News Agency, Abiy affirmed his government's commitment to the reconstruction of Tigray and continued supply of humanitarian aid to people in the region.

Ethiopia's military operation against the Tigrayans was conducted from November 4 to 28, until the regional capital fell to the federal army.

During the operation and ensuing intense fighting, 50,000 people fled to neighbouring Sudan. Tigray was placed under a communication blackout and people in the region were cut off from food and medical supplies. 

Thousands have been killed since the start of the conflict in Tigray, according to the International Crisis Group, since Abiy ordered troops into the region to confront its dissident ruling party.

READ MORE: Ethiopia launches operation to disarm civilians in restive Tigray region

Emergency IGAD meeting on Tigray

Hamdok travelled to Addis Ababa on Sunday to discuss the Tigray conflict with Abiy, the first foreign leader to visit the Ethiopian capital since fighting broke out in the region, creating a humanitarian crisis.

"The visit led to fruitful negotiations and it was agreed to hold an emergency IGAD meeting," Hamdok's office said.

IGAD was founded in 1996 and brings together the East African nations of Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda.

Abiy, the winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, has resisted weeks of international pressure including from the US, United Nations and African Union to accept mediation.

A Sudanese government official told AFP the meeting between Hamdok and Abiy had been "fruitful, especially on the emergency meeting of IGAD" and on reviving a committee to work on delineating their shared border.

Abiy said Hamdok expressed support during face-to-face talks for the offensive against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and his campaign to disarm and apprehend its leadership.

"The Sudanese side reiterated their solidarity with the government of Ethiopia in the law enforcement operations it has been undertaking," said a statement from Abiy's office.

Hamdok also recalled support Abiy had previously extended to Sudan, it added.

READ MORE: US urges Eritrean troops to withdraw from Ethiopia's Tigray region

'Sporadic gunfire'

The Sudanese premier had urged Abiy to engage in negotiations with the TPLF when fighting broke out six weeks ago, and encouraged African mediation to resolve the conflict as it threatened to draw in the wider region.

On November 28, Abiy declared the conflict over, saying the army had captured the regional capital Mekelle.

Abiy has dismissed reports of ongoing clashes as "sporadic gunfire" not indicating major combat. Over the weekend, AFP journalists saw trucks of soldiers heading towards Tigray, and ambulances remain a common sight in southern Tigray and northern Amhara regions.

Refugee crisis

Tens of thousands of refugees have crossed the border westward into one of the most impoverished regions of Sudan, itself one of the world's poorest countries.

They have arrived in a country in the midst of a fragile political transition since last year's ouster of president Omar al Bashir, along with an economic crisis that has been particularly harsh on the eastern states where Tigray refugees have arrived.

Around 170 refugees crossed into Sudan from Tigray on Saturday, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, compared to 1,100 on December 3.

READ MORE: UN concerned over reports of killings, abductions of Eritrean refugees

Back to business 

State media reported that the provisional administration appointed to oversee Tigray was urging civil servants and businesses to return to work on Monday.

The head of the administration, Mulu Nega, was also quoted Saturday by Ethiopian News Agency as saying that anyone in Tigray in possession of a weapon, legal or illegal, should turn it over to security forces by Tuesday.

In Mehoni, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Mekelle, residents bristled at the idea of being ruled by an outsider handpicked by Addis Ababa.

"We don't want any other government. We want to be ruled by the TPLF," 30-year-old Asene Hailu told AFP.

Abiy's announcement of military action in Tigray marked a dramatic escalation of tensions between the prime minister and the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before anti-government protests swept Abiy to office in 2018.