Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has dismissed "rumors" of secret peace talks with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) officials.

Presenting a report to the Ethiopian parliament Tuesday, Ahmed said rumors of him engaging in peace talks with TPLF officials in countries such as Australia and Nigeria are fairy tales.

"We're saying we want peace; this however doesn't mean we're going to do secret negotiations with TPLF, rumors of secret negotiations with TPLF have no substance," Prime Minister Ahmed told Ethiopian parliamentarians.

Ahmed, however, said the Ethiopian government is committed to peace, hinting that peace talks with TPLF are not off the agenda completely.

"If there's any victorious result that can be found through peace, we will work to the maximum to bring peace," Ahmed said. "We want peace with anybody including TPLF, because we profit from each peaceful day, the elderly isn't the one that is dying in war, it's the young who could have otherwise been working."

The TPLF and the Ethiopian National Defense Force, backed by allied forces, have been engaged in a 19-month conflict that has reportedly left tens of thousands of people dead and millions of others in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The Tigray conflict has also spilled into border areas of neighboring Afar and Amhara regions causing the deaths of thousands of civilians and displacement of tens of thousands of civilians.

The Ethiopian parliament designated the TPLF as a terrorist organization in May 2021.