ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Rebels from Ethiopia’s Oromiya region accused the government on Wednesday of launching a military offensive against them after a first round of peace talks ended earlier this month without a deal. The government and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) held negotiations for a week in Zanzibar in a bid to end a decades-long conflict that, in recent years, has left hundreds dead and displaced tens of thousands in Ethiopia’s most populous region. In a statement issued by its high command, the OLA said that after the first round of talks concluded on May 3, Ethiopian forces launched a “broad offensive”. The OLA is an outlawed splinter group of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a formerly banned opposition party that returned from exile after Abiy took office in 2018. (Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw and Giulia Paravicini; Writing by Giulia Paravicini; Editing by Aaron Ross and Christina Fincher)

Source: Ethiopian News May 17, 2023 21:56 UTC