Ethiopia. Samantha Power’s visit ended before start.
Samantha Power USAID director’s visit to Ethiopia failed before starting due to clear obstacles and provocations implemented by both White House and Ethiopian regime currently in power in Addis Ababa. Now what’s next?
The director of USAID, Samantha Power is visiting Ethiopia today after spending 3 days in Sudan, where she met the military and civil leaders of the Sudanese transitional government.
Power’s mission in Ethiopia would be aimed at offering a new diplomatic boost from the Biden administration which, horrified by the ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide, tries to bring to the reason all parties involved in the Ethiopian civil war. The hope is to start negotiations to resolve the crisis before the country sets out on the road to Yugoslav balkanization.
To a great surprise, Power (which holds broad mandates for action conferred by President Biden) published the American conditions for a real ceasefire and the start of the peace process, before meeting the leadership currently in power in Addis Ababa.
Starting from the need to guarantee humanitarian assistance to 7 million people in Tigray, the United States calls on all parties involved in the conflict to end hostilities, stressing that there is no military solution to the Ethiopian crisis. To lay the foundations for a peaceful solution, the White House is calling on the legitimate government of Tigray, in which the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) party holds the majority, to immediately withdraw its army from the Amhara and Afar regions. To nationalists Amhara is asking to withdraw their militias from the Tigray territories, illegally occupied during the first phase of the conflict (November 2020 — June 2021).
To the Eritrean government to withdraw its troops from Ethiopia. Currently the Eritrean army, weakened by the first 8 months of the war in Tigray, occupies Ethiopian border territories in Tigray and fights in the nearby Amhara region to stop the offensive of the regular Tigrinya army together with the Amhara militias. The United States is also calling on all parties involved in the civil war to accelerate humanitarian assistance in Tigray without hindrance.
These requests were widely disseminated to the public on Samantha Power’s Twitter page before meeting with the Ethiopian authorities. At first glance, this decision seems to go against any diplomatic logic and against the sensitivity of the Ethiopian people. It would be good practice to communicate the requests during official meetings with the various Ethiopian military political representations before making them known to the public. The contrary decision taken clashes with Ethiopian sensibility and nationalistic sentiments. According to their culture, a similar behavior adopted by a “farengi” (foreigner) shows the intention to impose alien will on the future of the nation without even discussing it in advance with the representatives of Ethiopia.
Samantha Power had already been accuse by Mesherefet propaganda of supporting the TPLF by not condemning the “alleged” crimes charged by the central government to the ruling party in Tigray. Power is also accuse of not recognize TPLF as a terrorist organization.
If on the American side Power’s visit was compromised by the spread of political requests before the official meetings, it seems Ethiopian has compromise the visit too, by an evident preventive hostility. INSA, a cyber control agency founded by Abiy in 2008, had already enter in action since last Sunday, promoting an intense and guided campaign on social networks that is clearly hostile and full of anti-imperialist and anti-American rhetoric.
The army of Trolls and fanatics nationalist Amhara who are paid to spread fakenews and ethnic hatred on the web, have published thousands of Twitter prepackaged by INSA aimed at creating an anti-American sentiment in the national public opinion and the belief that the United States is plotting a regime change in favor of the TPLF.
The government, through the official media, has released a series of statements that go towards breaking the dialogue with Power even before this happens. On Monday 2 August, the government declared its total and unshakable opposition for the opening of a humanitarian corridor from Sudan, stating that it was a “Trojan horse” to better supply arms and ammunition to the regular Tigrinya army. Instead of the Sudanese corridor, Addis Ababa regime proposes a corridor from Eritrea. Proposal deemed unacceptable given the nature of the North Korean African regime and its active involvement in the Ethiopian conflict.
The definitive act that puts an end to the talks was done yesterday by the Addis Ababa government which suspended the humanitarian activities of two important international NGOs: MSF and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). The two NGOs are among the rare humanitarian organizations that are currently able to provide partial health and food assistance to some 600,000 Ethiopian citizens in Tigray. The Ethiopian Premier refuses to offer explanations on the decision taken but everyone knows that the origin is the long-standing accusation against international NGOs of supplying weapons, ammunition and political media support to the “enemy”.
The decision to stop the work of the two groups comes as hundreds of thousands of people go hungry in the Tigray region. Food aid is urgent, and the United Nations has said life-saving interventions should be stepped up as soon as the Addis Ababa government allows unhindered access to those in need.
Diplomatic sources say that the direct meeting between Samantha Power and Abiy Amhed Ali is now also in the balance. Since Power currently represents a humanitarian agency (USAID), there would be the intention to make it meet only with her Ethiopian counterpart responsible for international cooperation.
First news about Power’s visit to Sudan leaked. The visit aimed at supporting the civilian faction of the Sudanese transitional government and preventing the current internal rifts in the armed forces that are taking place between the regular army and the RSF special forces (composed of militiamen) from escalating into open dissent and civil war . The divisions within the Sudanese army are the first reason why Sudan is hesitant to move war to Ethiopia, limiting itself to defending its territory from the constant raids of the Amhara militias and the federal army. Provocations and border wars that are periodically implemented since December 2020.
Power also visited the Ethiopian refugee camp located in the border region of Kassala. Various intelligence reports indicate that the Ethiopian refugee camps in Sudan are a recruiting tank for the regular Tigray army. Thanks to the complicity of the Sudanese military and political authorities, a strong contingent of trained and well-equipped men would have been create to be used as reserves for the Ethiopian conflict or as a support force for the newly formed Eritrean armed opposition for the liberation of their country. The main leaders of the Eritrean opposition formed a coalition: “United Eritrea” and recently met the Sudanese government behind closed doors. Diplomatic sources say that American advisers were present at the meetings.
Some African political observers interpret the decision to spread the requests before meeting the Ethiopian counterpart as a clear signal that the United States has chosen the faction that best represents its interests in the country: the TPLF. “The decision made by the White House is not a gross diplomatic error but a calculated and predetermined will to put the Ethiopian regime with its back to the wall. The talks failed in the bud and now there will be room only for iron and fire unless the Abiy government decides to capitulate”, said an African Union diplomat in a personal and anonymous intervention.
