
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
The alarming and untimely Statement recently issued by US State Department on Ethiopia’s political situation adds no value to the age old diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Statement indicates a double standard on the appreciative inquiry expressed by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the progress underway in Ethiopia for the effective implementation of The Agreement on the Permanent Cessation of Hostilities between the Government of Ethiopia and the TPLF. This matter is strictly Ethiopian and African and more so under the competence of the UNHRC does not require any report from the US.
The US must accept, understand and legally acknowledge that Ethiopians and Africans, of course the AU have all the capacity to resolve their own problems without any level of tutorship from the US State Department. The relationship between the two countries must never be complicated by anti-Ethiopian individuals who are entrenched.
This Statement is no less than a Chinese gong that beats to the old tone day in and day out. It only shows the extent to which the US losing sight of the objective reality in East Africa and the Horn. Moreover the conclusions made by the report are not only contradictory to the statements issued by the US Secretary of State and is also another indicator of the double reporting in Ethiopia and African after their visit to Africa. The statement quotes no official UN reports or Ethiopian sources but jumps to utter generalization on the violation of human rights and crimes against humanity in Ethiopia. The Statement resorts to a blanket condemnation of all involved in the conflict with no verification of what has actually happened on the ground at that period of time
“After careful review of the law and the facts, I have determined that members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF), Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces, and Amhara forces committed war crimes during the conflict in northern Ethiopia.”
Responding to the Statement from the US State Department, on the 21st of March, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a Statement which noted that “The Government of Ethiopia does not accept the blanket condemnations contained in the Statement and does not see any value in such a unilateral and adversarial approach.” This statement does not tally with excellent professional diplomacy and analysis typical of the US State Department for decades. The Government of the US was totally silent on the hotspots of the conflicts and the conspiracy that has been conducted on Ethiopia despite its legal, humanitarian and diplomatic approach to the crisis. The US needs to acknowledge and admit that Ethiopian and African leaders have all the capacity to ensure democracy, justice and good governance both in Ethiopia and the rest of Africa.
It is beyond doubt that the US State Department is well aware of what has been going on in this country. The biggest mistake of this ill prepared report is that it gives no evidence except for banker accusations while its own ultra-modern satellites and security systems were monitoring the entire situation for 24 hours over the last two years.
Ethiopia showed her commitment to peace, justice, accountability, human rights and restoration of stability in the country over the first months of the establishment of the reformist government by releasing hundreds of thousands of citizens who were detained in the dungeons of the previous regime, made the culprits on violation of human rights and crimes against humanity face the courts of law, granted amnesty to those who were legible.
The consistency of the political commitment demonstrated by the GoE is also evident in its decisions to issue two sets of unilateral ceasefire to let the farmers in Tigray not to miss the farm season for tilling their lands to produce food and avoid possible season of hunger. Besides, the government was spearheading in smooth delivery of food aid and medicaments to those affected by the war and had expended more than 100 billion birr to facilitate wider relief and rehabilitation programs over two years. However, the US has been testing the patience of the government by false accusations of “using hunger as a weapon of war.”
The US is now accusing all parties to the conflict with no specific legal evidence in a bid to disturb and frustrate the efforts that are being made by the Federal Government of Ethiopia and to strictly adhere to the provisions of the AoPCH chaired and coordinated by the AU.
Moreover, Ethiopia has officially declared that it is going to effectively implement the Optional Transitional Justice Policy on its own accord based on the laws of the country and pervious experience of the Federal Government. The report according to a Press Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “bears nothing new” The US needs to acknowledge that the Federal Government of Ethiopia has all the capacity needed to effectively implement the multi-faceted transitional justice policy it has issued on its own accord with no external pressure.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 25 MARCH 2023