Trust is vital to implement Tigray's agreement, according to expert

The permanent ceasefire reportedly agreed by the Ethiopian government and the forces in Tigray represents a window of opportunity for many Tigrayans.

Such is the case of Andom Gebreyesus, a 39 year-old refugee who fled Tigray seeking refuge in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

"I hope that this will be an opportunity to reconnect with my family. I miss them very much, ....I don't know where they are. It has been two years. I don't know where my father is, I don't know where my other family members, my workmates, where my friends are. I haven't heard from them for two years because there is no telephone, no any means of communication", said the Nairobi-based Tigrayan refugee. 

According to a conflict resolution expert in Nairobi, the key element to implement the agreement is trust followed by a period of healing.

"It needs to be systematic and above all it needs to be sequenced, sequenced so that the Tigrayans are not left to their devices after handing in all their weapons then suddenly they are attacked by the centre. This has happened in many other countries and this is something to watch that trust is first built even as the disarmament is called by the agreement is actually initiated", defends Mustafa Yusuf Ali, conflict resolution expert at the HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The war in Africa’s second-most populous country, which marks two years this week, has seen abuses documented on both sides, with millions of people displaced and many near famine.