European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell confirmed on Tuesday that Brussels and Washington will deal with caution with the peace agreement in Ethiopia and gradually restore relations with Addis Ababa.

After his meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken , Borrell said that the peace process in Ethiopia is "one of the rare good news we have in the world."

But he made it clear that the European Union and the United States must "continue to work hand in hand" to support the agreement and slowly restore relations with the government of Abiy Ahmed.

Borrell emphasized that "the message to both the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front is to make them understand that we are monitoring the settlement of the conflict and we will only normalize our relations in a gradual way, step by step."

The war broke out in November 2020 when Abiy Ahmed sent forces into Tigray with the support of Eritrea, accusing the Tigray People's Liberation Front of attacking army bases in the region.

During the conflict, the rebels advanced towards the capital, Addis Ababa, and seemed on the verge of capturing it before Abyei's forces managed to push them back.

Under the terms of the peace agreement signed in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, the TPLF agreed to disarm in return for access to Tigray, which was largely cut off from its surroundings during the war.

Since the agreement, the delivery of some basic needs and aid has resumed to Tigray, which has faced severe shortages of food, fuel, liquidity and medicine.

Last month, the Ethiopian parliament removed the Tigray People's Liberation Front from the official list of terrorist groups, a major step in the peace process.