Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has instituted a project office to oversee the implementation of an agreement with former rebel groups.
Its creation was necessary after the government reached an agreement with main opposition parties.
The agreement covers disarmament, demobilization & reintegration of former fighters. PM Abiy appointed Tesfaye Yegezu to lead the Project Office (under the PM’s Office) tasked to coordinate this effort.
Since his coming into office in April 2018, Abiy has led a multi-sectoral reform of Ethiopia’s government machinery. Key planks of the reforms have included unbanning armed rebel groups as terrorist organisations.
The government has since held peace talks with a number of these formerly banned groups. The most recent being government’s peace deal with the Tigray Peoples Democratic Movement, TPDM.
The Eritrean government hosted the talks in Asmara. Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed in July 2018 to make peace after decades of being on a war footing with one another. Eritrea has since undertaken efforts to help ex-rebel groups it hosted to return to Ethiopia.
