The committee “examined the conditions and the course of the negotiations,” he said.
The committee will be chaired by his Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen and is expected to provide Abiy with a report detailing the details within 10 to 15 days.
“We are committed to peace, be it with the TPLF (Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front) or any other organization that seeks peace,” he said.
On Tuesday night, TPLF President Debretsion Gebremichael said his group was “ready to negotiate peace consistent with the fundamental principles of human rights, democracy and accountability,” in an open letter posted to Twitter.
“We will engage in a credible, impartial and principled peace process,” the letter said, adding that the group insists that all peace talks must take place in Nairobi, Kenya, mediated by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“Our position remains that the peace process requires the engagement of a range of international partners led by the Kenyan government. These partners include the United States, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations and the African Union,” Debretsion wrote.
Once the federal committee has submitted the report and the Tigrayan forces have set out their preconditions, an announcement will be made regarding peace talks between the two, Abiy said.
The development marks a significant step towards peace negotiations between the two forces, which have been locked in a conflict for over a year and a half that has left thousands dead, hundreds of thousands left in conditions similar to starvation in Tigray and set a world-record displacements in a single year in 2021 , according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.