Hundreds of Imprisoned Soldiers Still Missing in Ethiopia
A lack of transparency and available information has led observers to criticize Addis Ababa’s transitional justice efforts, saying that the government has not engaged armed groups and victims in dialogue (Al Jazeera)
U.S. Suspends Food Aid to Ethiopia, Citing Theft
Ethiopian government officials appeared to have orchestrated the widespread theft of food aid, a coalition of foreign donors including the United States said; U.S. contributions feed an estimated 12 million people in Ethiopia, where 20 million people depend on food aid amid civil conflict and drought (NYT)
Tigray Protests Oppose Foreign Troop Presence
Thousands across the region peacefully protested the continued presence of soldiers from Eritrea and Amhara, whom local authorities complain have hindered monitoring of the peace deal’s implementation (Al Jazeera)
USAID Halts Food Aid to Tigray
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) followed the United Nations in temporarily suspending food aid to Ethiopia’s Tigray region due to reports of food theft (Reuters)
Ethiopian Prime Minister Announces Peace Talks With Rebels in Oromia
The Oromo Liberation Army rebel group, from the Oromia region, has fought the Ethiopian government intermittently in the past few decades; they have clashed on a separate front from the government’s recent war with rebels in the Tigray region (Reuters)
Ethiopia Enters Preliminary Talks for $2 Billion IMF Bailout
The IMF calculated that Ethiopia will face a $6 billion debt-financing gap until 2026, Reuters reported (Reuters)
UN Probes Reports of Food Theft in Ethiopia
A letter to the World Food Program’s humanitarian partners in Ethiopia said that action should be taken to stop the theft of UN food aid and that the program will be investigating the issue; humanitarian workers told the Associated Press that enough food for one hundred thousand people recently went missing from a town in the Tigray region (AP)
Protests in Amhara Region Against Force Integration
Thousands of people in the Amhara region protested against the federal government’s plan to integrate all of Ethiopia’s regional special forces into the national army or police (Reuters)
Government Announces Integration of Regional Forces
The government said it plans to integrate all regional special forces into a national army or the police; local media reported that forces in the Amhara region have refused to surrender weapons as requested (Al Jazeera)
Ethiopia’s Abiy Says He Seeks a Peace Deal With Oromia Rebels
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he hoped his administration and fighters from the Oromia region could hold talks similar to those that the government held with rebels from the Tigray region last year, which resulted in a peace agreement; a spokesperson for the Oromo Liberation Army rebel group said negotiations would require an international mediator (AP)
Ethiopia Names Rebel Official as Head of Interim Tigray Government
Senior Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) leader Getachew Reda will be president of the new transitional government, the formation of which is a central provision of a November peace deal between Tigrayan rebels and Ethiopia’s federal government (France 24)
Ethiopia Removes TPLF From Terror List
The country’s legislature removed the Tigray People’s Liberation Front from a list of terrorist groups, a step forward on the roadmap for peace that the government and Tigrayan rebels agreed to in November (France 24)
U.S. State Department Says All Sides in Ethiopia Conflict Committed War Crimes
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused the allied Ethiopian and Eritrean militaries and fighters from Ethiopia’s Tigray and Amhara regions of committing murder, rape, and ethnic cleansing, among other crimes; he announced the allegations during the launch of the State Department’s annual human rights report (CNN)
Blinken Visits Ethiopia to Shore Up Strained Ties, Voice Support for Peace
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, to support the country’s peace process and highlight the Joe Biden administration’s push to increase U.S. engagement with Africa; Blinken has met with Ethiopia’s prime minister and will next talk to ethnic Tigrayan fighters who had battled government forces until a peace deal was reached last November (Reuters)
U.S. criticism of alleged atrocities by the government and allied Eritrean forces have strained ties, with Addis Ababa accusing Washington of meddling in its affairs (Al Jazeera)
Ahead of the visit, Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs Demeke Mekonnen Hassen said he wanted to “move forward” with bilateral relations (State)
The top U.S. diplomat to Africa, Molly Phee, said Ethiopia would need to take steps to “break the cycle of ethnic political violence” for relations to advance; Blinken will travel to Niger tomorrow (AFP)
Blinken Travels to Ethiopia
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken aims to reset U.S.-Ethiopia relations, which have worsened over U.S. accusations of war crimes committed in Ethiopia’s Tigray region; he will meet with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Tigrayan rebel leaders to discuss implementation of the two sides’ November peace deal (WaPo)
Eritrean Soldiers Massacred 300 As Peace Deal Neared
Eritrean soldiers killed more than three hundred villagers in Ethiopia’s Tigray region in the week before a November 2 peace deal to end the country’s civil war, a Washington Post investigation found; Eritrea had allied with the Ethiopian government to fight rebels in Tigray (WaPo)
Ethiopia Seeks to Prematurely Close UN-Ordered Investigation
Ethiopia has circulated a draft resolution calling for the inquiry into Tigray atrocities to end six months earlier than scheduled, which would block a final debate in the UN Human Rights Council and prevent the investigation’s findings from becoming public (Reuters)
President Afwerki Avoids Questions About Troops in Ethiopia
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki avoided questions about whether Eritrean troops remained in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, a peace agreement that called for the withdrawal of Eritrean troops was signed three months ago (Reuters)
UN High Commissioner Visits Displaced Families
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, traveled to the Tigray region to meet with families displaced by the conflict; he also met with Eritrean families at the Alemwach refugee camp in the Amhara region (VOA)
Hospitals in Tigray Struggle To Provide Care
While the November ceasefire has improved security and allowed more aid into the Tigray region, the International Committee of the Red Cross said humanitarian needs remain urgent and medical services are lacking (Reuters)
US: Eritrean Troops Still in Tigray
In contrast to statements from the Ethiopian authorities, who claim that Eritrean forces have already withdrawn, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated that although Eritrean troops moved back to the border, they are still present in Ethiopia (Reuters)
Eritrean Troops Seen Leaving Town of Shir
A resident and two humanitarian workers claim a large number of Eritrean troops left Shire early Friday morning; it is still unclear whether the troop movement represents a withdrawal from the region (Reuters)
UN Rights Investigator Calls for Full Access to Alleged Crime Scenes in Ethiopia
A UN-backed panel is probing potential atrocities committed in Ethiopia’s two-year conflict, but a senior panel member said its investigators have been denied access from some sites (Bloomberg)
French and German Foreign Ministers Visit Ethiopian Officials
The foreign ministers of France and Germany arrived in Ethiopia today to meet with officials in support of a November 2022 peace deal that ended fighting between the Ethiopian government and rebels from the Tigray region (AFP)
Tigray Forces Begin Handing Over Heavy Weaponry
Rebels in the Tigray region began turning in weapons to the Ethiopian army as part of an African Union–mediated peace process (Reuters)