Day: November 5, 2021

The White House is taking a firm stance with its onetime close ally, Ethiopia, threatening sanctions and a suspension of a key economic program over what Washington says are “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” in an ethnically motivated conflict that has killed thousands of people in the past year.

Those strong words came as the landlocked East African nation faces a rebel siege on the capital in coming months, or sooner. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front, one of the main parties fighting the government, has in recent days joined forces with the Oromo Liberation Army and is advancing on the capital, Addis Ababa.

Human rights group Amnesty International on Friday warned that the nation is “teetering on the brink of a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe” after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed this week imposed a state of emergency and urged Addis residents to take up arms to defend the city. In making this call, Abiy used language so strong and provocative that Facebook took down his post.

A short time later, President Joe Biden issued a warning that he would revoke the nation’s membership in the African Growth and Opportunities Act, a program that allows African countries to export materials to the U.S. duty-free. Ethiopia’s government says that program created 200,000 direct jobs and 1 million indirect jobs in the impoverished nation.

“We look at the impact of removal but in this case the law is clear and there are rules that governments must observe to retain their AGOA eligibility,” a senior administration official told VOA. “If Ethiopia’s AGOA benefits are revoked, the responsibility will fall solely upon the government of Prime Minister Abiy. There is still time for this determination to be reversed. We urge the government of Ethiopia to address the human rights, humanitarian and political crises by January 1 to retain or regain its AGOA eligibility.”

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called this decision “misguided.”

“Unjustified intimidation to jeopardize the economic livelihoods of innocent citizens, which we believe is propelled by the enemies of Ethiopia behind the scenes, will not give a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” the ministry said in a statement.

What now?

What will resolve this conflict, which has raged for a year? The Biden administration said it had exercised many other options before getting to this point.

“The United States has engaged with the government of Ethiopia for months, raising our concerns about gross violations of internationally recognized human rights,” the senior administration official said. “U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that Ethiopia risked losing its eligibility for AGOA under U.S. law if these violations went unaddressed.”

In September, Biden threatened harsh sanctions against all sides involved in the war, including the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The executive order warning of sanctions did not name any individuals, but the criteria are broad and extensive, including even the spouses and adult children of individuals the State Department deems to have met the criteria. The order also provides for sanctions against the regional government of the Amhara region, and the rebel TPLF.

U.S. Special Envoy Jeffrey Feltman landed in Ethiopia’s capital on Thursday and has since met with the country’s deputy prime minister and defense and finance ministers. It was unclear when or whether he would meet with Abiy.

Growing humanitarian crisis

But human rights advocates say this is more than a diplomatic disagreement. The conflict has triggered the world’s largest hunger crisis, leaving millions of people in need of humanitarian aid.

“The dire humanitarian and human rights crisis which began one year ago in Tigray has been spilling into other areas of the country,” said Deprose Muchena, regional director for eastern and southern Africa at Amnesty International. “To stop the situation [from] spiraling out of control, the Ethiopian authorities must urgently take serious action to ensure human rights and international humanitarian law are respected.”

Makila James, a senior adviser at the U.S. Institute of Peace and a former U.S. diplomat in Africa, said the situation is especially tragic considering the lengthy relationship between the United States and Ethiopia, once a staunch ally and bulwark against terrorism in the region. The U.S. is the single largest aid donor to Ethiopia.

“I think it’s very important to underscore: The U.S. has been a long-standing partner of the country, and the people of Ethiopia,” James said. “This is not a new relationship. It goes back many, many, many, many, many decades. And particularly with Prime Minister Abiy, the U.S. government had been a strong supporter, a strong partner of his democracy and reform agenda. And so there’s a great deal of disappointment and concern about what is happening in the country that has taken all of that off track.”

Ahmed Soliman, a researcher from London-based Chatham House, said time is running out to find a diplomatic solution.

“We’re at a stage where the pendulum has shifted, but the next shift is one where we’re talking about an irreversible situation,” he said. “So unless the parties can be brought to the table now, they’re not going to be brought to the table, because one side will potentially usurp the other. … I think what we need to kind of impress on the parties is that there is still an opportunity to pull back from the brink.”

James stressed that the solution has to be diplomatic.

“There is no military solution in this conflict,” she said. “It is one that is a lose-lose all around.”

On Friday, the U.S. State Department urged all Americans to leave Ethiopia “as soon as possible,” in a post on the website of the U.S. Embassy to Addis Ababa.

Source: Voice of America

Advocates for media freedom say nations in the Southern Africa Regional Bloc, SADC, are enacting restrictive cyber laws that have a chilling effect on journalism and freedom of expression.

In a hybrid forum on the state of internet regulations, Tabani Moyo, the director of Media Institute of Southern Africa, said his organization is worried about a trend toward less tolerance for journalists and dissent in the region.

He said the trend began last year, after a meeting of SADC leaders where heads of state resolved to take pre-emptive measures against what they called external interference, the impact of fake news and abuse of social media.

“In the wake of this resolution, we have seen a dangerous consensus towards crackdown of expression online,” Moyo said. “A number of southern African countries moved with speed to come up with what they referred to as cybersecurity laws and frameworks. To us, [this is] somewhat problematic as the proposed pieces of legislation have serious chilling effect on expression, media freedom and right to privacy.”

The effects have been most visible in Tanzania, where the Uhuru newspaper was suspended in August for publishing what authorities called a false story saying President Samia Suluhu Hassan would not run for office in 2025.

In September, Raia Mwema, a Swahili-language weekly, was suspended for 30 days for “repeatedly publishing false information and deliberate incitement.”

Meanwhile, Zambia’s government under former president Edgar Lungu used cyber laws to block social media, on the pretext the opposition was committing crimes with its posts on Twitter and Facebook.

SADC secretary Elias Mpedi Magosi – in a speech read by SADC director of infrastructure Rosemary Mapolao Mokoena – defended the move toward stronger internet laws.

“As more people get connected to access information, it attracts more cyber criminals to our shores,” Mokoena said. “SADC has already commenced the process to review and modernize the SADC cyber space legal regulatory and institutional frameworks. … Misinformation being spread on the safety of 5G mobile networks risks has caused a negative risk on the ICT industry.”

However, Namibia’s Minister of Information and Communication Technology Peya Mushelenga called on countries to allow free expression online.

“Thus, it is incumbent upon all players – development partners, civil society organizations, government and intergovernmental organizations – to reinforce among each other in order to safeguard and enhance guarantees the full exercise of the right to information and freedom of expression both online and offline, with a particular focus on strengthening media diversity its independence, ability as well as transparency of digital platforms,” Mushelenga said.

Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa announced this week the government had set up a cyber team to monitor what people send and receive, a move that is being condemned by many rights groups.

Source: Voice of America

The U.S. State Department on Friday urged all Americans to leave Ethiopia “as soon as possible,” according to a security alert posted on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa.

The alert called the security situation in the country “very fluid.”

According to Reuters, a group of anti-government forces threatened to march into the capital city.

The State Department also warned Americans from traveling to the country on its travel advisory website, saying: “Do not travel to Ethiopia due to armed conflict, civil unrest, communications disruptions, crime, and the potential for terrorism and kidnapping in border areas.”

The warnings come as Ethiopia sinks deeper into a crisis sparked by an ongoing war in the country’s northern Tigray region.

The Ethiopian government declared a six-month state of emergency Wednesday and called on residents to defend their neighborhoods if rebels arrive in the capital.

“Our country is facing a grave danger to its existence, sovereignty and unity. And we can’t dispel this danger through the usual law enforcement systems and procedures,” Justice Minister Gedion Timothewos said during a state media briefing.

Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the Tigray region, blamed the Ethiopian government and its allies for causing the suffering of the past year.

“The warmongers decided to continue with the war, and we entered into this war because the only option we had is to destroy our enemies by force,” he said.

Thursday marked the first anniversary of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s deployment of troops to Tigray in response to forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front seizing military bases a day earlier. The ensuing conflict has killed thousands of people, displaced several million from their homes and left 400,000 residents of Tigray facing famine, according to a July estimate by the U.N.

A joint investigation by the United Nations and the government-created Ethiopian Human Rights Commission published on Wednesday found that all sides in the conflict have committed human rights violations, including torturing civilians, gang rapes and arresting people based on ethnicity. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said some of those abuses may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Source: Voice of America

Ethiopia’s Tigray forces are joining with other armed and opposition groups in an alliance against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to seek a political transition after a year of devastating war, organizers say.

The signing in Washington on Friday includes the Tigray forces that have been fighting Ethiopian and allied forces, as well as the Oromo Liberation Army now fighting alongside the Tigray forces and seven other groups from around the country.

The alliance is forming as U.S. special envoy Jeffrey Feltman is in Ethiopia’s capital meeting with senior government officials amid calls for an immediate cease-fire and talks to end the war that has killed thousands of people since November 2020. The U.S. said he met with the deputy prime minister and defense and finance ministers on Thursday.

The new United Front of Ethiopian Federalist Forces seeks to “establish a transitional arrangement in Ethiopia” so the prime minister can go as soon as possible, organizer Yohanees Abraha, who is with the Tigray group, told The Associated Press late Thursday. “The next step will be, of course, to start meeting and communicating with countries, diplomats and international actors in Ethiopia and abroad.”

He said the new alliance is both political and military. It has had no communication with Ethiopia’s government, he added.

A spokesman for the Oromo Liberation Army, Odaa Tarbii, confirmed the new alliance. When asked whether it meant to force Abiy out, he replied that it depended on Ethiopia’s government and events over the coming weeks. “Of course we prefer if there’s a peaceful and orderly transition with Abiy being removed,” he said.

“The goal is to be as inclusive as possible. We know this transition requires all stakeholders,” he added. But as for members of the prime minister’s Prosperity Party, “there would have to be a process. Many members would have to go through investigation, possibly be prosecuted” for crimes related to the war.

The spokeswoman for the prime minister, Billene Seyoum, addressed the new alliance Thursday evening when she tweeted that “any outliers that rejected the democratic processes Ethiopia embarked upon cannot be for democratization,” pointing out Abiy’s opening-up of political space after taking office in 2018. His reforms included welcoming some opposition groups home from exile.

The spokeswoman said she had no further comment Friday, and had no information on whether the prime minister would be meeting with the U.S. special envoy.

The OLA spokesman in reply to her tweet noted that some of the people who returned to Ethiopia were later put in prison or under house arrest. “A lot of goodwill was lost over the last three years,” he said.

Other groups signing on Friday include the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front, Agaw Democratic Movement, Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement, Gambella Peoples Liberation Army, Global Kimant People Right and Justice Movement/ Kimant Democratic Party, Sidama National Liberation Front and Somali State Resistance, according to organizers.

Source: Voice of America