Blinken In Ethiopia To Push Peace Accord As US Returns From Cold

 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will push for progress on a peace deal during a visit to Ethiopia

OLIVIER DOULIERY

In an effort to strengthen ties with a longtime ally and promote the peace process following a violent two-year civil war, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Ethiopia late on Tuesday.

 

Blinken's visit to the second-most populated country in Africa is a component of the administration of President Joe Biden's drive to increase engagement with Africa, where China and Russia have been asserting their influence.

 

It is the highest-ranking US visit to the nation since the conflict between Ethiopia's government and Tigrayan rebels broke out in late 2020, which strained Washington's relationship with Addis Abeba on allegations of atrocities committed there.

 

Blinken is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday in Addis Abeba. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was previously considered to be at the forefront of a new generation of forward-thinking African leaders, but he swiftly became a virtual pariah for Washington due to the war.

 

As the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which long controlled Ethiopian politics, attacked military posts, Abiy's administration launched a major onslaught with support from the nation's former enemy Eritrea.

The TPLF briefly came close to marching on the capital but, beaten back by pro-Abiy forces, agreed to disarm under a November 2 accord negotiated in South Africa's capital Pretoria by the African Union with US participation.

Molly Phee, the top US diplomat for Africa, said that Blinken's visit would aim to "help consolidate that peace" but cautioned that the US-Ethiopian relationship was not ready to go "back to normal."

 

She said that Ethiopia needed to take steps "to help break the cycle of ethnic political violence" if it wants to put the US relationship back on a "forward trajectory".

 

"The conflict that Ethiopia just endured was earth-shattering," she told reporters before departure.

 

"It involved terrible atrocities by all parties and was extremely disruptive to the country's stability and to its economy, which is also facing historic drought conditions."

 

The United States during the war suspended Ethiopia's participation in an accord that offered duty-free access for most of its exports, an issue sure to be raised by Abiy's government.