Once again northern Ethiopia was brought up at the UNSC on October 21, but there was no consensus among council members to issue a public statement.  Nonetheless, Linda Thomas Greenfield provided the U.S position in a press briefing afterwards. Non-permanent member African states of the UNSC held their position that Ethiopia’s northern conflict is an internal issue that should be handled by Ethiopia and the African Union. Greenfield repeated the claim that Eritrean troops are actively engaged in battle yet failed to produce evidence for this.

Advances by Ethiopian forces elicited pleas for an immediate cessation of hostilities by the rebels, a position which has many sympathizers in the West, but had little acceptance in Ethiopia. On October 23, the Government of Ethiopia claimed, “it has liberated the historic towns of Axum and Adwa and was advancing fast in all direction towards Mekelle.

A series of mass demonstrations denouncing foreign interference in Ethiopia’s internal affairs were held in several cities across Ethiopia as well as in the diaspora. Demonstrated demanded an African led peace process, as well as an end to the TPLF insurrection in Northern Ethiopia.

The pace of ENDF advances is causing the rebels to shed their reluctance for peace talks, as a flurry of recent statements appear to welcome negotiations without preconditions. Negotiators for the TPLF as well as the Government of Ethiopia arrived in south Africa on Sunday, October 24. Fearing for their personal security, TPLF’s delegation flew on a U.S. military aircraft, accompanied by Mike Hammer, the U.S. special envoy to the Horn of Africa. The situation on the ground appeared to put the government in a stronger position than its opponents going into the talks, though it was under pressure from foreign powers, including the United States and European Union, to halt its offensive.

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As fighting between Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and Tigray rebels continues, the TPLF leadership accused both Eritrea and Ethiopia for stalled talks. The African Union’s attempted peace talks in South Africa had faltered after several prevarications by the rebels, who wanted a cessation of hostilities before willingness to join peace talks. However, Ethiopia’s government reiterated its push for talks without any preconditions.

Half a million Ethiopian high school seniors took national exams to enroll in university. The examination had been the subject of attention in recently years due to several repeated cases of fraud, leaked exams as well as cheating scandals. The ministry of education, which came under fire for these shortcomings sought to rectify these challenges in this latest round of exams. By all accounts this year’s matriculations were successfully completed, which is testament to positive reforms enacted thus far.

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent an open letter to the Republic of Ireland, accusing it of interfering in Ethiopia’s internal conflict. The letter stated, “Ireland continued attacking Ethiopia using its membership in the UN Security Council, the European Union, and elsewhere. Ethiopia’s plea to Ireland to reduce hostility and attacks against its sovereignty and territorial integrity had not been heeded”.

At week’s end, the 10^th year-round of the Tana forum was held in the city of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Guest attendees included, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, the sovereign council of Sudan, Abdul Fatah Al Burhan, the prime minister of Somalia as well as U.S Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer. The high-level forum focused on security, climate change as well as economic integration of African states.

Recent military advances of ENDF could not be hidden, as TPLF supporters flood social media outlets with statements pleading for intervention by the International Community. Opponents of the insurgents cited more concocted stories of atrocities were being used by the group as part of its disinformation campaign to garner humanitarian sympathy from Western observers. Meanwhile the Ethiopian planes drop leaflets in Tigray advising residents to disassociate from the insurgents who seek to use civilians as human shields.

The post 10/9/2022 Week in Review appeared first on Abren.

United States’ Senator Jim Inhofe led a delegation of republican Senators on his trip to Ethiopia and met with speaker of the Ethiopian parliament as well as with Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed. Jim Inhofe, United States senator from Oklahoma is viewed by many Ethiopians in the United States as a champion of Ethiopia and one that understands the true nature of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The topic of the meetings were around improving relations between the United States and Ethiopia.

Ethiopians concluded the festive month of September. The month marked celebrations, which included the Holy Cross (Meskel), as well as the Irreecha Thanksgiving festivals. Despite ongoing conflict, the joyful holidays season was an opportunity for communities to come together in hopes of a better and a peaceful future. Large public gathering in Addis Ababa as well other cities concluded peacefully.

African Union invitation for peace talks in South Africa were initially received well by the GoE as well as the TPLF rebels. However, in a letter sent to the AU, the TPLF remained ambiguous about its decision to engage in peace talks, citing logistical and security concerns around its delegation’s travel to South Africa. Later in the week, former Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta announced his withdrawal from his observer position at the peace talks slated to happen Pretoria. Many observers cite TPLF rebel leaders’ unhappiness about negotiating without a ceasefire agreement first. The rebels desperately want a ceasefire before sitting for talks.

President William Ruto of Kenya arrived in Addis Ababa for an official state visit, coinciding with the launch of Safaricom, which makes it the first non-government owned telecom company to operate in Ethiopia. The Kenya based Safaricom had invested close to a billion dollars to operate in Ethiopia. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the president toured the newly inaugurated Science and Arts museum in Addis Ababa. President Ruto praised Ethiopian efforts towards economic development despite ongoing conflict in the north of the country. Furthermore, an agreement was reached by Kenya to purchase from Ethiopia’s upcoming wheat harvest. Details of the deal were not shared publicly.

The UN human rights council voted for the continuation of its investigation in Ethiopia. The main proponents of this move were EU countries led by Finland and the United Kingdom. All African members states of the council voted against the extension of the council’s mandate to investigate human rights abuses committed in Ethiopia. The investigations have recently become a subject of controversy for subpar methodology and bias.

The post 10/3/2022 Week in Review appeared first on Abren.

In a speech at the UN’s general assembly, Foreign Minister, Demeke Mekonnen mentioned the need for the International Community to support The African Union and its peace initiatives in northern Ethiopia’s conflict. The minister mentioned, TPLF’s continued destabilizing actions posed a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ethiopia and it must be forced to accept peace.

The official response of the Permeant Mission of Ethiopia to the UN office at Geneva criticized the recent Report of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, in which it said, “nameless and faceless victims were interviewed by phone from a third country located thousands of miles away. The failure to do fieldwork rendered the methodology of the report highly unreliable”.

Furthermore, the chief author of the recent human rights report on Ethiopia, Kaari Murungi has been accused of being in cahoots with TPLF rebels in Northern Ethiopia as evidenced by here Twitter history. Murungi was privately calling for invocation of UN’s Responsibility to Protect(R2P) in April 2021, long before her appointment to the commission ang long before the findings of the commission’s investigation. Her call came during heightened social media activism by supporters of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray rebels who claimed there was a genocide against their ethnic group but failed to provide evidence. More on the serious flaws of the UN report has been provided by Abren.

TPLF officials continued to accuse Eritrea of active involvement in the recent flareup of conflict, however failed to provide tangible evidence to support the claim. Separately, in a press briefing, the group’s top general, Tadesse Worede reiterated their operational and strategic cooperation with the Oromo Liberation Army, a guerrilla force responsible for the brutal slaughter of thousands of civilians in Horo-Gudru and Guji zones of Ethiopia. In the same press briefing the general stated that “their forces had very young and motivated soldiers” The Amharic word he used to indicate “young” can also mean children.

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Ethiopia’s air force continued to strike military targets in the northern Tigray region. TPLF’s long storied propaganda channel, Dimisti Wonyane was targeted with air strikes, which cause the station to end live broadcasts.

After weeks to disparaging comments made against the African Union-led peace mediation efforts, the TPLF officially released a statement accepting the AU. The surprise turn around was a reflection of setback on its recent offensive. In addition, the group started re-incriminating Eritrea for involvement in the conflict, although little evidence was provided to back the claim.

Prime Minister Abiy attended inauguration ceremony for President William Ruto of Kenya. Not long after, President Ruto nominated former his predecessor, President Kenyatta to mediate peace in Ethiopia. The Bureau of African Affairs, welcomed this nomination. Nonetheless, beyond the symbolisms, the nomination will not amount to much given the current role played by the AU.

The post 9/19/2022 Week in Review appeared first on Abren.

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign affairs expressed dismay at the recent UN International Commission on Human Rights’ call for action against the government of Ethiopia by the UN Security council. In a statement made public, the ministry stated the actions of the commission were politically motivated. Nonetheless, the ministry reiterated the commitment of the Government of Ethiopia to continue respecting and ensuring respect for Human rights and bringing violators to justice.

Intercepted radio communication from the battlefield was leaked to the public and was circulated widely on social media. In this leaked audio, TPLF’s General Teklai Ashebir is heard repeatedly transmitting a shoot-to kill order against all retreating fighters of the insurgency, yet another sign of the group’s stymied recent offensive.

Late in the week the TPLF announced its acceptance of the the African Union to mediate talks between it and the government of Ethiopia. This volte-face is contrary to its previous position, which downplayed the role of the African Union, and was vehemently against the chief mediator, Olusegun Obasanjo. The surprise turn around is likely to be a result of its recent losses on the warfront.

The post 9/12/2022 Week in Review appeared first on Abren.

On a separate note, Prime Minster’s office announced interest in opening up Ethiopia’s banking sector to foreign direct investment, stating, “Ethiopia’s domestic financial sector, which had been a highly protected industry would start to gradually open up to foreign banks interested in investing in the nation’s financial sector”. Nonetheless, continued conflict in the country could make attracting foreign capital to the financial sector difficult.

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