their recent history, but the war which broke out between the government of the prime minister abiy ahmed and the tigrayan people's liberation front, the tplf, two and a half years ago has been particularly devastating. tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced. plus there are also ethnic conflicts in other parts of ethiopia, such as in oromo in the west, and the amhara community are also restless. my guest is meaza ashenafi, the first woman to be appointed chiefjustice of the federal supreme court of ethiopia. now there is hope of making progress in the peace talks taking place, but will there be justice for the victims of war? chiefjustice meaza ashenafi in abbas ababa, welcome to hardtalk. look, you've got violence across many parts of ethiopia, you've got an acute food crisis as well, which means that 30 million of the country's 100 million population are in urgent need of help. this is a tough time for you to be a senior official in ethiopia. you are absolutely correct, zeinab, and this government and the people of this country have embarked on a very promising transi

you were appointed chiefjustice in 2018 by the prime minister, abiy ahmed, when he assumed power.you swore in members of a national dialogue commission, and you said that this should facilitate "an inclusive "dialogue and reconciliation "process that would heal wounds". do you want to see a kind of truth and reconciliation commission of the kind that we saw after apartheid in south africa? i don't think the south african commission and the dialogue commission interpret exactly parallel, because the dialogue commission here is mandated to facilitate citizen dialogue as well as elite dialogue, unfortunately or fortunately, in any political setting. we can't avoid elite dialogue, as well. the south african reconciliation commission is more focused on issues of healing and rehabilitation in the transitionaljustice. so, the commission is setting up its office and designing its strategy, and they have not launched it. they have a programme of works so far, from the information that i have, but going forward, it will be focusing on national dialogue. the commission will identify key issu

their recent history, but the war which broke out between the government of the prime minister abiy ahmedrticularly devastating. tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced. plus there are also ethnic conflicts in other parts of ethiopia, such as in oromo in the west, and the amhara community are also restless.