Ethiopia declares ceasefire in Tigray

NAIROBI: Ethiopia's government declared an immediate, unilateral ceasefire on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) in its Tigray region after nearly eight months of deadly conflict as Tigray fighters occupied the regional capital and government soldiers retreated in a region where hundreds of thousands are suffering in the world's worst famine crisis.

The ceasefire could calm a war that has destabilized Africa's second most populous country and threatened to do the same in the wider Horn of Africa where Ethiopia has been seen as a key security ally for the West. It comes as the country awaits the results of national elections that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promoted as the centerpiece of reforms that won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.