The warring sides in Ethiopia's two-year conflict this week sat at the negotiating table in Pretoria for their first formal peace talks that are scheduled to end today. The dialogue is led by the African Union, which had failed, earlier this month, to bring together teams from the Ethiopian government and the rebel Tigrayan authorities, in the face of ongoing fierce fighting on the ground. The process is being facilitated by AU Horn of Africa envoy and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, along with Kenya's former leader Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa's ex-vice president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. We spoek to  Dr Emmanuel Matambo, research director at UJ's  Centre for Africa - China Studies.