African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat on Thursday expressed his hope that the ongoing peace talks between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray rebel forces will lead to a ceasefire.

The peace talks, which entered day four, will be able to “lead to a ceasefire and opening a way to bring humanitarian support to those who are in need,” Mahamat said during a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ottawa, Canada.

Mahamat met Blinken during his working visit to Ottawa where the two reportedly exchanged views regarding political processes for peace in Africa and preparations ahead of the Africa-USA summit to be held in December.

During the meeting, Blinken praised the AU for “playing a leadership role in trying to bring to an end the violence and conflict in northern Ethiopia.”

Former Nigerian president and AU envoy Olusegun Obasanjo, former South African deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta are facilitating the talks. The initiative is strongly supported by the United States whose special envoy Mike Hammer reportedly picked up the Tigray delegation in a U.S. military aircraft on Sunday. On the other hand, the European Union is absent from the affair.

The federal government is sitting at the table with renewed confidence in the backdrop of some notable victories in the past few days, including the control of the key towns of Axum, Adwa, and Adigrat. But the head of the Tigray region, Debretsion Gebremichael, who delivered a lengthy speech on a TPLF-run Dimtsi Weyane on Monday, said that “the enemy forces’ advantage was temporary and would be reversed by the collaborative efforts of Tigrayans”.