Ethiopia Gov't, Oromo Liberation Front Agree to Reconciliation

The Ethiopian government and the regional Oromo Liberation Front, or OLF, signed a reconciliation agreement Tuesday in the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

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Lemma Megersa, the government representative, and Dawd Ibsa, the OLF representative, ratified the agreement. Workneh Gebeyehu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was also present during the event.

The agreement includes the termination of hostilities, as well as the OLF to conduct its political activities in Ethiopia through peaceful means, according to All Africa.

Both sides also agreed to the establishment of a joint committee that will guarantee that the agreement is properly adhered to and carried out.

The Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups have battled for years over arable land, as well as demanding more economic and political power in Ethiopia, which, they claim, is dominated by the smaller Tigray ethnic group.

Anti-government protests that started in late 2015, only ended when parliament declared a nationwide state of emergency in October 2016. A report from Human Rights Watch alleged that the Liyu police was responsible for the deaths of at least 21 people last year.

In 2017, hundreds of Ethiopians died as a result of clashes. The U.N. called for independent investigations into the killings.

A spokesman for the government, Negeri Lencho, placed some of the blame for the fighting between the Oromo and Somali peoples on land disputes.

“We can say hundreds of the Oromo ethnicity were killed... and there were also deaths from the Somali side, we don't know exactly how many,” Lencho told media outlets.