Tigray Conflict : Pan Africanists, Intellectuals Petition AU

Several months after the Tigray conflict that has killed hundreds and displaced thousands, other stakeholders have joined the call for peace. This time it is the turn of a Pan-African group of academics and intellectuals who have published an open letter in response to the lack of movement by the African Union over the conflict in Tigray (Ethiopia). The letter, signed by more than 50 well-known Africa experts, calls for a political solution and de-escalation of the conflict that  has not only killed but resulted in rape and maiming many scores. 
According to Elleni Centime Zeleke, Professor of African studies at Columbia University, New York, prominent actor of the move, the atrocities committed by both sides are such that they could not stay on the sidelines and watch innocent souls going, he told RFI. The open letter, published in English, French and Amharic by Ethiopian and international media, is directed at the African Union, because the group and others feel that the continental body has not done enough. The body, re-configured from the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and established in July 2002, was created to prevent this kind of war and conflict on the continent, she says. “The point of the AU was to act in the spirit of pan-Africanism by making sure a Rwanda and Sierra Leone scenario doesn’t occure again,” says Zeleke.
The letter calls on all actors, including the Ethiopian government, the national regio...