Updated 25 March at 10:00am (Paris)
In response to the government statement, the TPLF says it is willing to observe the truce if Tigray received humanitarian assistance “commensurate with needs on the ground and within a reasonable timeframe.”
“The Government of Tigray will do everything it can to make sure that this cessation of hostilities is a success,” the rebel group said in the statement. “We call on the Ethiopian authorities to go beyond empty promises and take concrete steps to facilities unfettered humanitarian access to Tigray.”
No humanitarian supplies have entered Tigray by road since 14 December, although limited amounts of aid have been flown in by air in recent weeks. The United Nations says that more than 90% of the region’s 6 million inhabitants are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
“Cognizant of the need to take extraordinary measures to save lives and reduce human suffering, the Government of Ethiopia hereby declares an indefinite humanitarian truce effective immediately,” the government said in a statement on Thursday.
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