Ethiopia Peace Talks to Shift to African Site

Preliminary talks aimed at ending Ethiopia’s civil war in its northern Eritrea province have produced an agreement to hold expanded negotiations at a site in Africa, former President Jimmy Carter announced Friday.

Carter, who was mediator of the talks between Ethiopia’s Marxist government and the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, told reporters that no date has been set for the expanded talks.

“Subsequent talks will certainly be in Africa,” Carter said at a press conference with heads of the two delegations. He said the preliminary talks here will end Tuesday.

Asked about a cease-fire to end violence in Africa’s longest civil war in the strategic Red Sea province, Carter said he hopes both sides will take unilateral steps such as ending the fighting or releasing prisoners.

But he added, “If a cease-fire must be mutually negotiated, it would be difficult to have that before the next meeting.”

“The determination on both sides to successfully resolve the differences caused by the war is very obvious. We’ve made a lot of progress,” Carter said of the eight days of talks here.

He said the Atlanta talks had reached agreement on 10 of the 13 items on the agenda. The three remaining issues, he said, are: Who will be the two main mediators or co-chairmen for the talks in Africa, who will attend the talks as observers, and who will staff the main peace talks.

Carter said he would be willing to serve as a co-chairman once an African leader is selected as the other co-chairman.

“I would be willing to serve if they want me to,” he said.

Carter, with shirt sleeves rolled up, said the talks were held in a friendly mood, with negotiators from both sides sitting round on sofas, talking to each other, having supper together. “The lack of animosity has been total,” he said.