The Ethiopia–Tigray peace agreement, also called the Pretoria Agreement or the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA), is a peace treaty between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) that was signed 2 November 2022, wherein both parties agreed to a "permanent cessation of hostilities" to end the Tigray war. The agreement was made effective the next day on 3 November, marking the second anniversary of the war.
The war began in November 2020, in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Primarily a conflict between the Ethiopian government and Eritrea on one side, and the TPLF on the other, the war has been characterized by war crimes, massacres of civilians, accusations of genocide, and a devastating humanitarian crisis.
On 20 December 2021, after the government successfully pushed back an incursion towards Addis Ababa, the TPLF requested a ceasefire. Fighting slowed down, and on 24 March 2022, the Ethiopian government declared "an indefinite humanitarian truce." Both Ethiopia and the TPLF initially agreed to negotiate an official end to the war; in the intervening months, however, relations became increasingly hostile, with both parties accusing each other of having no sincere interest in peace – by late August, peace talks had deteriorated completely, and the war resumed.
Following the collapse of the March–August ceasefire, wartime violence surged to a level not seen in months. Joint Ethiopian–Eritrean forces and the TPLF mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops against each other, displacing 574,000 people, and killing around 100,000 more within the span of a few weeks. By October 2022, the war overall had killed around 385,000 to 600,000 people.
The scale of the violence alarmed international observers, including the United Nations and the African Union, who urged the warring parties to return to peace negotiations. UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that "the situation in Ethiopia is spiraling out of control," and many other agencies, scholars and human rights organizations began to warn of a dramatic rise in hate speech against Tigrayans.
Attempts to renegotiate for a peace deal were attempted throughout September and early October. On 7 September, TPLF chairperson Debretsion Gebremichael sent a letter to the UN making a request for peace. He stated that, if the UN Security Council did not intervene:
"[W]e propose a cessation of hostilities that includes the following four elements:
An immediate, unconditional and complete lifting of the blockade on essential services.
Unfettered humanitarian access, including clear and agreed protocols and arrangements to this effect.
The withdrawal of Eritrean forces from every part of Ethiopian and Tigrayan territory, under international monitoring, to positions in which they can no longer pose any threat to us.
Return to the constitutionally recognized borders of Tigray as they stood prior to the outbreak of hostilities in November 2020."
On 5 October, both the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebel forces accepted an invitation by the AU to have peace talks in South Africa, initially scheduled to take place between 7–8 October. However, talks were soon postponed, reportedly due to a combination of factors, including poor planning, logistical issues, the rapid escalation of fighting, and concerns from the TPLF about not having enough information available on how the talks would be conducted. Eventually, a new date for peace negotiations was set for 25 October, where talks would take place in Pretoria, at South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
The talks were jointly mediated by AU Horn of Africa envoy and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, United States Horn of Africa envoy Mike Hammer, and former Deputy-President of South Africa Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda and Ethiopian national security advisor Redwan Hussien acted as the lead negotiators. Though originally scheduled to last from 25 to 30 October, this was later extended by a few more days.
Hopes that these talks could definitively stop the war were noted as being low; fighting did not appear to slow down, even as peace discussions began, and Eritrean forces, in particular, were reportedly still engaged in the killing of civilians for most of the negotiating period. On 28 October, Ethiopia vocalized their distrust about the motives of unspecified "western entities" during the process, alleging that "unsubstantiated and politically motivated" claims were being made about the war for a "sinister" agenda, that "irresponsible propaganda" from the TPLF was being repeated uncritically, and further stated that "venerable organizations and well-meaning actors could be unwitting participants in this campaign." Still, despite these concerns, negotiations continued.
On 2 November 2022, the Ethiopian federal government and the TPLF released a joint statement, in which they stated that they had "agreed to permanently silence the guns and end the two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia." Obasanjo explained that the agreement will involve a "systematic, orderly, smooth and coordinated disarmament."
The full agreement contains a preamble, and 15 articles, starting with the objectives of the agreement (Article 1), followed by the general principles underlying the ceasefire (Article 2). Article 13 instructs both parties to "implement this Agreement in good faith," and avoid trying to undermine it.
Permanent cessation of hostilities
The agreement forbids "all forms of hostilities," both direct and indirect; this includes participating in proxy wars, using hate speech, propaganda, airstrikes or landmines, or collaborating with any hostile "external force" against each other.