The United States is expressing cautious optimism about peace in Africa after Ethiopia's warring sides agreed Wednesday to a permanent cessation of hostilities. The 2-year conflict produced hundreds of thousands of victims and enormous challenges lie ahead, including getting all parties to lay down arms or withdraw.
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"The African Union's announcement of the signing of a cessation of hostilities between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front represents an important step towards peace," said State Department Spokesman Ned Price.
Major questions remain, however. Eritrea, which has fought alongside neighboring Ethiopia, was notably not part of the peace talks. It's not immediately clear to what extent its deeply repressive government, which has long considered Tigray authorities a threat, will respect the agreement.
Price also applauded the diplomatic efforts salvaged a wartime agreement that allowed Ukrainian grain and other commodities to reach world markets, with Russia saying Wednesday it would stick to the deal after Ukraine pledged not to use a designated Black Sea corridor to attack Russian forces.
READ MORE: Ethiopian government, Tigray agree to end fighting after 2 years of conflict
"By setting this initiative back on track, by working and supporting the Turks and the U.N. and the other parties to see that this initiative is not only set back in motion, but it's renewed later this month, that will ultimately inject even more predictability and stability to this marketplace, and most importantly, apply downward pressure to food prices," Price said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the renewed deal would again come on stream Wednesday, prioritizing shipments to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow reserves the right to withdraw again from the agreement if Kyiv breaks its word.
Finally, Price threatened additional sanctions against North Korea after the White House accused Pyongyang of covertly shipping a "significant number" of artillery shells to Russia in support of its invasion of Ukraine.
"Just as we're using every tool and will use every tool to counter what the Iranian provision of weapons to Russia, we will do the same when it comes to the DPRK provisions of weapons to to Russia," Price said.
The North's arms export to Russia would be a violation of U.N. resolutions that ban the country from exporting to or importing weapons from other countries.
In July, North Korea became the only nation aside from Russia and Syria to recognize the independence of the territories, Donetsk and Luhansk, further aligning with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.