US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived Tuesday evening in Ethiopia, a historic ally of Washington with which ties have been strained by two years of deadly conflict in the north of the country.
He is the highest American official to come to Ethiopia since the war broke out in November 2020 between the federal government and the rebel authorities in the Tigray region.
In addition to the repair of the links damaged by this conflict, marked according to Washington by crimes against humanity, Mr. Blinken also comes to support the peace process initiated four months ago.
The agreement, signed on November 2 in Pretoria (South Africa), was negotiated under the auspices of the African Union (AU), but the United States played a crucial role with the belligerents, underline diplomatic sources.
This visit to the second most populous country in Africa (120 million inhabitants) comes against the backdrop of Washington’s efforts to strengthen an American partnership on the continent, where China and Russia are increasing their influence.
Mr. Blinken is due to meet Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed – Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for ending 20 years of open or hidden war with neighboring Eritrea – on Wednesday, which the conflict in Tigray has passed, in the eyes of Washington, symbol of a new generation of progressive African leaders to quasi-pariah.
During the discussions, Ethiopia should ask to return among the beneficiaries of AGOA, an American initiative allowing African countries to be exempt from taxes on certain exports and from which Washington has excluded Addis Ababa since January 2022.
Mr. Abiy sent the federal army to Tigray in November 2020, accusing the regional authorities who had contested his power for several months of having attacked military bases.
Tigray was then led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a party that de facto governed Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018, before being gradually marginalized when Mr. Abiy came to power.
The conflict spilled over into the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar, whose forces supported the federal army, which also received support from the army of Eritrea, a historical enemy of the TPLF.
“Mr. Blinken must place the need for justice for the atrocities committed at the center of discussions with Prime Minister Abiy,” Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
US-Ethiopian relations are not yet ready to “get back to normal”, warned Molly Phee, US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, that the Ethiopian government must take steps “to break the cycle”. of ethno-political violence” if he wants to put his relationship with Washington “back on track”.
The conflict “has been marked by terrible atrocities on the part of all parties and has enormously disrupted the stability and economy of the country, which is also facing a historic drought”, she explained to the press.
Mr. Abiy’s government has begun to restore essential services – electricity, telecommunications, banks… – which Tigray was largely deprived of during the conflict, but access to the region remains off limits to journalists.
The fighting has stopped in Tigray, but other regions remain plagued by sometimes deadly conflicts, often linked to the awakening of identity and land claims since Mr. Abiy came to power.
If the exact toll is difficult to estimate, the United States estimates that the two years of conflict in Tigray have caused some 500,000 deaths.
Russia is waging an intense diplomatic offensive in Africa, particularly towards Ethiopia – which is also the seat of the African Union (AU) – to win the support of the countries of the continent and convince them not to support the sanctions efforts. taken after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
China, for its part, has been establishing its influence in Africa for two decades, via essentially commercial relations and without pressure on the respect of human rights.
After Ethiopia, Mr. Blinken will travel to Niger on Thursday. US Vice President Kamala Harris will succeed him on the continent from the end of March, in Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia.
03/14/2023 20:26:33 – Addis Ababa (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
