Ethiopia, Rebels OK Framework for Peace Talks
NAIROBI, Kenya — The Ethiopian government and rebels from the northern province of Eritrea have agreed on a framework for peace negotiations, sources close to preliminary talks said Saturday.
They said the government and the separatist Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) had settled on a list of seven international observers to attend negotiations to end the 28-year-old war, Africa’s longest conflict.
The two sides agreed earlier this week that former President Jimmy Carter and former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere should be co-chairmen of the negotiations and should choose a secretariat.
These were among procedural issues still outstanding after a first round of preliminary talks between the Soviet-backed regime and the EPLF in Atlanta in September.
The sources said agreement, achieved Saturday, the sixth day of the Nairobi talks, would be announced Monday.
The Marxist Ethiopian government and the EPLF each chose two observers, and Carter, chairman of the Nairobi talks, picked the remaining three.
The sources did not identify the observers but said they were from various countries and organizations.
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