Ethiopian PM in shuttle diplomacy as pressure mounts over Tigray conflict

 

In what would be a strategic move to find an amicable solution to the Tigray conflict, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has engaged in shuttle diplomacy, focusing on influential countries in East Africa, some of which are not stranger to wars.

Even before his weekend trips to Uganda and Rwanda, Abiy Ahmed had visited Eritrea, South Sudan and Turkey. It may have been the Asmara and Ankara trips that ignited the controversy, with a number of accusations emerging.

 

According to the sources, in Eritrea, Abi Ahmed requested military assistance in Tigray, while reports indicated that the Eritrean forces began to return to Tigray. On the other hand, Turkey was accused of aiding Ethiopia with drones, but there was no response from Ankara.

 

Over the weekend, Abiy Ahmed visited Uganda and Rwanda where he met Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame respectively. Both Rwanda and Uganda have previously faced conflicts that have killed thousands of people.

 

In 1994, Rwanda plunged into civil war in the wake of the genocide targeting the Tutsi minority and the steppes of moderates. In northern Uganda, Museveni was dealing with a rebellion that had lasted for more than three decades, led by the Lord’s Resistance Army. [LRA].

 

Although Abiy Ahmed did not elaborate on some of the major agendas on his trip to Uganda, he said, “I express my appreciation to President Kaguta Museveni for his warm welcome to Uganda and the important deliberations on various bilateral and regional issues. I look forward to meeting again. So.”

 

Perhaps it was Museveni who was a bit explicit, citing some of the main points of the discussion. According to him, security matters in Ethiopia came to light in his meetings with Abi Ahmed, adding that Addis Ababa should not recognize “ethnic federalism” policies.

 

“Our discussion focused on peace and security issues affecting Ethiopia today. Being one of the oldest non-colonial countries in Africa, Ethiopia is the pride of the continent. Africa’s problem is that we never discuss ideology, and we focus too much on diplomacy,” he said.

“I totally disagree with the politics that focuses on ethnic federalism,” Mr. Museveni wrote on his social media platforms. “We must emphasize the cause of unity and common interests because it is the only way we can thrive.”

 

Abi Ahmed accuses the Tigray Defense Forces [TDF] to cause chaos in the country, arguing that the faction, which had led the Tigray for a long time, was bent on breaking the country. But the TDF in return accuses Ethiopia of executing innocent civilians in the Tigray region.

 

In Rwanda, the two teams did not disclose some of the major issues that came up in the meetings. But both emphasized that the bilateral relations between Addis Ababa and Kigali dominated the meeting, which lasted for several hours.

 

“President Kagame is now hosting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali for a dinner following the discussion during which various topics of common interest including issues of the two countries and the region as well as global current affairs were discussed,” the Presidency of Rwanda. He pointed out.

 

“Thank you to President Paul Kagame for the warm welcome you and my delegation received. We had good discussions on bilateral and regional issues of mutual importance,” Abiy Ahmed said in a tweet.

 

But Rashid Abdi, an analyst on the Horn of Africa, suggests Abiy Ahmed’s diplomatic shuttle trips may have focused on helping Ethiopia deal with the TDF. He adds that such a move may backfire, noting that it is time for Addis Ababa to deal with the TDF.

 

In his analysis, Abdi says, “Prime Minister Abiy held talks with Museveni, Kagame and Salva Kiir in an attempt to extract support from them for the war. The message from East Africa to Ethiopia is: Stop the war, and engage the Tigray government.”

 

Both Rwanda and Uganda have participated in sending troops to neighboring countries for peacekeeping missions. Kigali has troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique, while Uganda has troops in Somalia and South Sudan.

 

The Tigray conflict erupted in November 2020 when the Turkish Defense Forces attacked the Northern Command, leading to the deployment of the Ethiopian National Defense Force. [ENDF] for the region. The NDF left in July after a ceasefire was declared but the SDF regrouped and captured most of the Afar and Amhara regions.