He made the remarks on Thursday when he inaugurated a talent development centre in Oromia regional state.

“The situation in northern Ethiopia will come to an end, peace will prevail. We will not continue fighting forever. I believe that in a short period of time, we will stand with our Tigrayan brothers for peace and development,” Mr Abiy said.

He urged Ethiopians to work together for the country’s prosperity and not to be divided along ethnic and religious lines.

On Thursday, the Ethiopian government accepted an invitation by the African Union to participate in peace talks to be held on 24 October in South Africa to end the war that has killed an unspecified number of people and displaced millions.

It came on the same day Tigrayan rebels accused Ethiopian and Eritrean forces of killing seven youth in a town that was captured by the federal army on Tuesday.