TIGRAY leaders and the Ethiopian government have been invited to join peace talks with the African Union (AU) this weekend as part of an intercontinental effort to end the war.

Thousands of people have been killed from conflict and starvation due to the two-year war.

It is not clear if Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) leader Debretsion Gebremichael will attend the talks in South Africa.

But Ethiopian national security adviser Redwan Hussein confirmed today that the government has accepted the invitation.

In a separate statement, the government called it “consistent with the Ethiopian government’s prior positions” that talks be mediated by the AU and be held without preconditions.

The statement does not give details about who might attend.

Tigray negotiation team member Tsadkan Gebretensa said last week that “we have agreed on an African-led process, but that should not be carte blanche for the AU to impose what should be a peace process.”

Representatives from the European Union, the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development are expected the attend the talks as observers.

The AU letter to the TPLF and the Ethiopian government said the talks would be “aimed at laying the foundation for a structured and sustained mediation” between the two sides toward a “durable resolution of the conflict.”

It follows a month’s renewed fighting in the Tigray region.

On Tuesday, an air strike hit the town of Adi Daero where displaced people were sheltering, according to an anonymous humanitarian aid worker.

They described the scene as “total carnage” and said health workers reported more than 50 people killed.

The region has been largely cut off from the world since war broke out in November 2020, with more than five million people without electricity, internet and other basic services.