BY BILAL DERSO
ADDIS ABABA– Though some officials of the Biden Administration and institutions in military business continued in backing the terrorist TPLF, influential politicians and personalities in the U.S. government opposed the approach towards Ethiopia and pushing for policy reorientation, an expert in the field said.
Speaking to local media, a lawyer and political and security analyst Blen Mamo stated that U.S. politicians and lawmakers are unable to reach consensus on the current matters of Ethiopia. Different U.S. government institutions have been issuing contradictory press statements concerning the current situations of Ethiopia and they have been hugely engaged in reversing one another’s public comments.
“The opposing remarks of the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa about TPLF forces’ looting of USAID warehouses manifests the friction.” The analyst further highlighted the emergence of two camps in the Biden Administration regarding how to handle Ethiopia’s reformist government.
Accordingly, the pro-interventionism camp, led by USAID Administrator Samantha Power, consists of neo-colonialists and liberal democrats and they believe in the use of coercive mechanisms to ‘behave’ the Ethiopian government. This camp is widely backed by private military companies.
Blen said the second camp largely consists of African American lawmakers and government officials and it tends to be a pan-African approach requesting the AU to take the lead in resolving Ethiopia’s internal problem. “In recent times, this approach has gotten more weight and its views have obtained growing acceptances among the U.S. top leadership.”
As to her, the U.S. political and military establishments’ awareness of TPLF’s intensified crimes and its dislodgement from the hearts and minds of the people of Ethiopia has been furthering the influence of the non-interventionism bloc. “The reform government’s independent-minded approach and its wider public acceptance as well as society’s overwhelming response for call for arms would supplement them.”
By the same token, Ethiopia’s consolidated diplomatic engagement with global and emerging powers including Russia, China and Turkey is expected to make the U.S. government revisit its approach. “The military agreement Ethiopia recently inked with Turkey is a game changer as the latter is a member of NATO and no member states could stand against its interest per the organization’s treaty.”
Noting the U.S. ,as a superpower, could not easily ignore Ethiopia’s independent-minded government, the analyst stated that the Biden Administration could travel a long distance and employ different mechanisms to impose its will and force the latter to embrace a preconditioned peace initiative. It is, however; unlikely the U.S. government revokes Ethiopia from AGOA.
Ethiopia’s diplomatic apparatus is expected to make an in depth analysis on the power balance of the two camps and exert consolidated engagement with other global actors with a view to reversing the unwarranted pressure and defending the country’s interest, she remarked.
The Ethiopian Herald September 5/2021
