Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on November 3, 2021
The Biden administration is ending Ethiopia’s special trade status under U.S. law — the latest penalty imposed on the Ethiopian government amid its ongoing war with the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, the regional force that once controlled the federal government.
The decision, announced Tuesday by the White House, comes amid an expansion in the conflict, which has its anniversary Wednesday. The U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa warned it could spill out into a wider civil war, threatening even more suffering for the Ethiopian people and more instability in the region.
To halt that expansion and push both sides to negotiate, the administration has prepared targeted U.S. sanctions against figures on all sides, according to two sources familiar with the plans.
The State Department has also prepared a declaration that the Ethiopian government’s atrocities against Tigrayans constitute a genocide, both sources said, although it’s unclear whether Secretary of State Antony Blinken will sign it and when.
While those first sanctions could come soon, it’s the suspension of Ethiopia’s trade status under the African Growth and Opportunity Act on Tuesday that marked a new step. In a message to Congress, President Joe Biden said Ethiopia’s “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” made it ineligible for AGOA under the law.
The suspension is required under U.S. law, but it is also seen as another warning shot across Abiy’s bow — with a potentially strong economic impact on the country, which exports between $100 million and $200 million to the U.S. each year, according to various estimates.
But it won’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2022, so Ethiopia can still reverse the decision before its implementation, according to Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa.
“It’s not too late to retrace our steps toward the path not taken, but the change in direction must occur in days, not weeks,” he said Tuesday.
Events on the ground, however, show the war is heading in the opposite direction. Abiy’s government declared a national state of emergency Tuesday amid concern that the Tigrayan Defense Forces may move on the capital Addis Ababa after seizing towns just 160 miles to the northeast, according to the Associated Press.
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration criticized the Biden administration’s decision, saying that it was “extremely disappointed” and that the move will “reverse significant economic gains in our country and unfairly impact and harm women and children.”
“We urge the United States to support our ongoing efforts to restore peace and the rule of law — not punish our people for confronting an insurgent force that is attempting to bring down our democratically elected government,” it added in a statement.
But Feltman made clear the U.S. sees Abiy’s government as part of the problem here, in particular because its “unconscionable” blockade on the Tigray region since June has led to shortages of food, medicine, fuel,\ and cash. Some 900,000 people are facing famine-like conditions in the region, according to U.S. estimates.
The United Nations has estimated that 2,000 trucks of aid are needed per month to deal with the humanitarian crisis, but just 1,100 trucks have entered in total since the beginning of July — 13% of what’s required — per Feltman.
“Without question, the most serious obstacles are intentional government delays and denials,” he added during remarks at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “This unfortunately suggests an intentional effort by the authorities to deprive Ethiopians who are suffering of life-saving assistance. … No government should be adopting policies or allowing practices that result in mass starvation of its citizens.”
Feltman was also quick, however, to condemn the TPLF, especially for its “unacceptable” offensives into neighboring Afar and Amhara regions that have worsened the humanitarian situation. He urged them not to march on Addis, too.
💭 My Note: Yeah! That’s why we are „Addis Ethiopia/ አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ” = New Ethiopia
💭 One year after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent in troops who committed unspeakable atrocities in an attempt to crush the rebellious Tigray region, the army that he sought to vanquish is heading down the highway towards Addis Ababa. The fate of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s regime now hangs in a precarious balance
Over the weekend, fighters from the Tigrayan Defence Force seized control of parts of Dessie, a city 400km from Addis Ababa, and captured Kembolcha, with its major airport.
Abiy gambled everything on a massive offensive that he launched on 9 October, throwing tens of thousands of poorly trained and poorly equipped rookies into the fight and bragging that it would take 10 days to recapture Mekelle, the Tigray capital.
That offensive has collapsed.
Over the weekend, fighters from the Tigrayan Defence Force (TDF) seized control of parts of Dessie, a city 400km from Addis Ababa, and captured Kembolcha, with its major airport. The French analyst René Lefort wrote that in 1991 when the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) overthrew Mengistu Haile Mariam’s military junta (the Derg), it took them only a few days to travel from Dessie to Addis.
Some of the TDF military leaders were among those who liberated Addis that day, among them General Tsadkan Gebretensae, the TDF commander and military strategist who is credited with outplaying and outfoxing Abiy’s forces. No one knows the geography of the country or the road into Addis better than he does.
Having failed with the ground attack, the Ethiopian air force has repeatedly bombed Mekelle over the past fortnight, killing many civilians. The Amhara ethno-nationalists have resorted to ever more extreme language, with calls for the extermination of the Tigrayans that were reminiscent of Rwanda in 1994.
How was this setback possible, with Abiy holding such a huge advantage in numbers against a largely guerrilla force from a landlocked province, without an air force or international support? Why have the sophisticated weaponry and drones from Iran, Turkey and China proved no match for this low-tech army of footsoldiers?
“PM Abiy threw an ill-trained peasant army against a battle-hardened, formidable army with an iron will to fight and expected to win,” explained Rashid Abdi, the Kenyan expert on the Horn of Africa.
Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic country with a long history of inter-ethnic conflict, violence and resentment. The country has 80 ethnic groups, but the top five — Oromo, Amhara, Tigrayan, Afar and Somali — represent 85% of the population.
The political system that kept these tensions in check has been breaking down for decades and the forces of violent ethno-nationalism have grown.
The immediate trigger for the military conflict was Tigray’s decision to hold an unauthorised election in 2020 after Abiy postponed the country’s elections, citing Covid-19 as a pretext.
On 4 November 2020, Abiy sent a combination of ENDF troops, the Eritrean military and Amhara militias into Tigray, claiming he was responding to an attack by the Tigray military on a federal military camp.
Abiy sought to exploit the anti-Tigrayan resentment of the Amhara ethno-nationalists to crush the Tigrayans, who had been dominant in the country’s political system during the authoritarian rule of Meles Zenawi between 1991 and 2012. After Abiy’s succession to power in 2015, they remained a significant check on his power.
The ensuing conflict has been particularly violent, with upwards of several hundred thousand dead — but these are just estimates; no one seems to be counting and few independent reporters have been near the battlefields. Reports of atrocities have been random and episodic.
After the November invasion drove the TDF into the mountains, the Amhara fighters were accused of ethnic cleansing of Tigrayan villages and Amnesty International claimed that troops from Eritrea massacred hundreds of unarmed Tigrayan civilians in the town of Axum.
The turning point in the war came in June, when the TDF routed the ENDF and recaptured Mekelle. Since then, it has been a slow march to the south and the east, a war on several fronts, while Abiy tried to rebuild his army; he also signed military cooperation agreements with Russia and Turkey.
Abiy has attempted to starve the encircled Tigray into submission by blocking food aid convoys from reaching up to a million people, mostly women and children, who are near starvation. UN officials who complained of this use of hunger as a weapon — a war crime — were expelled from the country.
Abiy’s incitement of ethnic hatred in a combustible world further undermined the standing of this former hero of progressives worldwide, who won the Nobel Peace Prize a short two years ago.
His legacy, if he falls, will be a shattered country and ruined economy. With the destruction of the ENDF, and the Eritreans staying out of the recent fighting, the conflict could be entering a new phase between the Tigrayans and the Amhara that will go on even after Abiy has fallen. The more extreme Amhara faction has launched a “call to arms”.
The Tigrayans are mindful of the fact that they represent less than 5% of the country’s population and cannot rule Ethiopia alone, so they have been building alliances with other ethnic groups and political movements.
Their victories this weekend coincided with Abiy’s recent losses on other fronts to the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), now allied with the Tigrayans. There are reports that the Tigrayans have agreed to let the OLA be the ones to march into Addis, an important symbolic gesture — but the OLA do not have the same firepower as the TDF.
😈 The Oromo should be the big winners, but they are divided between those in opposition and those in Abiy’s Prosperity Party. Abiy himself is Oromo, but his support within that group is mixed.
Further ethnic conflict will cause broader turmoil in the Horn of Africa that was highlighted this past week with a military coup in Sudan.
The brutality and hatred that has been aroused by the war have cast doubt on the very survival of Ethiopia. But Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic country and dismembering it, similar to what happened to Yugoslavia in the 1990s, might precipitate a level of death and suffering that is unimaginable.
The only alternative is a national conference, an attempt to forge a viable compact, one that, unlike the EPRDF victory in 1991, opens itself to the many voices and groups in Ethiopia. Echoing South Africa’s Codesa process of the early 1990s, the call has gone out for a “new Ethiopia”.
The response of the international community, including the African Union, to the crisis in Ethiopia, has ranged from negligent to complicit. It has so far failed to construct any kind of useful framework for peace. We can only hope that in the months ahead, with a potential changing of the guard in Addis, that will change.
💭 My Note: This was exactly my thought when I heard this news, and saw the Satanic Crescent moon & star aka „Red Crescent„. Those deadly UAE drone that massacred thousands of Tigrayans is not enough. Dr. Liya Tadesse, Minister of Health is even dressed in green to thank her Emirati ‘ambulance’ deliverer. During the crusades, Islamic soldiers wore green to identify themselves.
👉 I wrote a few months earlier this:
💭Connecting the dots:
According to this new report rightly described as “horrifying”, Ethiopian Airlines is transporting weapons to Tigray via its commercial flight. Using commercial flight to transport weapons is prohibited worldwide.
It is very curious; preparing for The #TigrayGenocide evil Abiy Ahmed and his luciferian overlords brought Tigrayans to occupy key positions nationally and internationally:
The number of cargo flights between the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia has left little doubt that the U A E has taken an active role in supporting the Ethiopian military in its fight against Tigray forces in the northern parts of Ethiopia. In two months, some 70 Il-76 cargo aircraft flying out of the U A E landed in Ethiopia. While some of the large cargo aircraft appear to have landed at Addis Ababa international airport, in most other cases they landed at Harar Meda air base, undoubtedly to unload their military cargo away from prying eyes and cameras.
Still, relatively little is known about the types of weaponry and other military equipment that the U A E has supplied to the Ethiopian National Defence Force ENDF. What is known is that the Ethiopian military is deploying a large VTOL type unmanned combat aerial vehicle UCAV armed with two mortar rounds supplied by the U A E, while Ethiopia’s Republican Guard makes use of at least three types of Emirati-supplied carbines and sniper rifles. It is likely only a matter of time before more U A E-supplied weaponry starts showing up in footage from the war in Tigray.
In the meantime, the Ethiopian government made a rare acknowledgement regarding some of the equipment received from the U A E. But rather than consisting of guns or ammunition, the donated cargo on this occasion instead consisted of 50 Toyota Land Cruiser ambulances equipped for basic emergency services. The delivery of 50 ambulances would account for the cargo content of seventeen out of 68 confirmed flights by Il-76s to Ethiopia. This means that the content of 51 Il-76 cargo aircraft is unaccounted for, likely consisting of various types of armament that have yet to make their public debut in Ethiopia.
Although one might argue that the delivery of ambulances to Ethiopia’s health sector is completely unrelated to the conflict in the Tigray Region, the U A E’s decision to supply Ethiopia with Toyota Land Cruisers as ambulances strongly suggests that most of these vehicles will immediately be pressed into service with the Ethiopian military in the Tigray Region instead. The excellent off-road capabilities of the Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4 and the fact that the vehicles appear to have been drawn from military stocks, judging by their khaki paintjob certainly hints that this is indeed their intended use.
At least part of the contents carried aboard the U A E air bridge between Ethiopia and the U A E has meanwhile been identified. Their ostensibly civilian status set aside, it doesn’t seem far-fetched that many of these ambulances will end up being used on the frontline to transport wounded Ethiopian soldiers to hospitals. If this indeed is the case, it will be just one more facet of a conflict that is still growing in its totality, forcing its unwilling participants to commit ever greater amounts of manpower and equipment lest they eventually succumb to the pressures of war.
🔥 Amhara & Oromos bombing Tigray – Using Rape, Hunger & Forced Resettlement (Mengistu did it back then, Abiy Ahmed is doing the same now) as a Weapon against People in Tigray for the past 130 years:-
The great famine is estimated to have caused 3.5 million deaths. During Emperor Menelik’s Reign, Tigray was split into two regions, one of which he sold to the Italians who later named it Eritrea. Only two months after the death of Emperor Yohaness lV , Menelik signed the Wuchale treaty of 2 May 1889 conceding Eritrea to the Italians. It was not only Eritrea that Menelik gave away, he also had a hand in letting Djibouti be part of the French protectorate when he agreed the border demarcation with the French in 1887. Some huge parts of Tigray were put under Gonder. The Southern part, places like present day Alamata, Kobo etc were put under Wello Amhara administration.
👉 2. Haile Selassie (1892 – 1975)
In 1943, at the request of the Emperor Haile Selassie, the Royal British Airforce bombed two towns – Mekelle and Corbetta. Thousands of defenseless civilians lost their lives as a result of aerial bombardment. It is recorded that ‘on 14th October [1943] 54 bombs dropped in Mekelle, 6th October 14 bombs followed by another 16 bombs on 9thOctober in Hintalo, 7th/9th October 32 bombs in Corbetta’.
Between 2 and 5 million’ people died between 1958 and 1977 as a cumulative result. Haile Selassie, who was emperor at the time, refused to send any significant basic emergency food aid to the province of Tigray,
👉 3. Mengistu Hailemariam (1937 – )
1979 – 1985 + 1987
Due to organized government policies that deliberately multiplied the effects of the famine, around 1.2 million people died from this famine. Mengistu & his Children still alive & ‘well’ while Tigrayans starving again.
👉 4. Abiy Ahmed Ali (1976 – )
2018 – Until today: probably up to 500.000 already dead. 😠😠😠 😢😢😢 Unlike the past famine there is no natural or man-made drought, rather, Abiy simply uses war and hunger as a weapon. Abiy Ahmed sent his kids to America for safety, while bombing & starving Tigrayan kids!
💭 On 6 December 1935 Italians bombard Dessie village as Ethiopians fire anti aircraft guns in Ethiopia during the Ethiopian-Italian War.
Press correspondents confirm the earlier messages regarding the raid on Dessie and the bombing of the hospital, which is universally condemned as a violation of international law.
The “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent at Dessie states that pitiful scenes were witnessed throughout Saturday night. The terrified inhabitants are fleeing to the mountains, carrying their belongings. Some are bearing on their backs crippled and wounded relatives, and mothers have their babies strapped to their bodies.
The American hospital is carrying on operations under the shattered roof. Doctors, working throughout the night, performed 32 amputations. The grounds of the Seventh Day Adventist hospital, where American journalists and photographers were quartered, presented a grim scene, being littered with wounded and dying. It is the opinion of foreign doctors that the bombing was
one of the most inhuman acts on record.
💥 LONDON, December 8.
The British United Press correspondent at Dessie states that an Italian aeroplane, numbered “97,” dropped a taunting message to the Emperor. “We
salute you, Negus. Did your umbrella do you any good today! How do you
like our biscuits?”
The Emperor has ordered the departure of all citizens and the town is now practically deserted. Only a few policemen and Red Cross officials are to be seen in the pot-holed streets. A communique here announces that the Italian troops have retired and are now fortifying the line from Aksum to Adowa and Adigrat with barbed wire and machine guns every hundred yards. Ras Gugsa, in a message to chiefs in Tigre, appeals to them to follow his example and join Italy, and thus save the country from ruin. Many chiefs have sent their copy of the leaflet to the Emperor.
💥 “HOSPITAL ATTACK DELIBERATE.“
The Addis Ababa correspondent of “The Times” states: “Private impartial sources state that the attack on the Red Cross at Dessie appeared most deliberate and suggested that the Italian fliers may have thought the Emperor was there. He was, however, in the Italian Consulate buildings.
“The Government denies that Dessie is a troop centre and declares that the only armed units are police. There is not a single anti-aircraft gun there, and only one machine gun, which the Emperor himself manned during the bombardment.”
💥 MUSSOLINI’S TERMS.
💥 ROME, December 8.
The Government Spokesman has out-lined Signor Mussolini’s peace terms as
follows :
(1) The fulfillment of Italy’s right of colonial expansion.
(2) The fulfillment of Italy’s right to colonial security and defence.
(3) Consideration of the present military situation.
(4) Consideration of Italy’s economic requirements.
(5) Recognition of the difference be-tween Amharic and non-Amharic peoples
in Abyssinia in Italy’s favour, tantamount to reducing the present so-called
Empire to the central plateau south of the 14th parallel and the line of the eighth parallel and limited by the 24th and 40th meridians on the west and east.
It is explained that the frontier in the region of the 14th parallel takes into consideration the present military situation by allowing the establishment of Italian colonisation, civilisation, and exploitation of the ground already occu-
pied. The Italians declare that the voluntary withdrawal of their troops is out of the question.
It is thought unlikely that Haile Silassie would surrender such areas. Moreover, even if he consented, France probably would not abandon her already
reduced sphere of influence.
💥 TENTATIVE PEACE PLAN.
PARIS, December 8.
At the close of his conversations with Sir Samuel Hoare, which lasted the whole day, M. Laval issued the following statement this evening : “Animated by the same spirit of conciliation and friendship we have searched for a formula to serve as a basis for an amicable settlement of the Italo-Ethiopian conflict.
There is no question at pre-sent of making the result public. The British Government has not yet been informed, and once its adhesion is obtained it will be necessary to submit the formula to the governments interested and to the decision of the League. We have worked with one and the same desire, to assure as rapidly as possible a pacific, honourable settlement. We are both satisfied with the result reached.”
lt is clear that Sir Samuel Hoare and M. Laval have agreed to a tentative peace plan for submission to the League, Italy, and Abyssinia, but it must first receive the imprimatur of the British Cabinet, for which Mr Peterson is journeying to London tonight, carrying the momentous proposals. lt is reported that Sir Samuel and M. Laval agreed that if there is an unfavourable reception from Signor Mussolini, France and Britain will unquestionably recommended an oil embargo, to operate from January 1.In the meantime, at the request of the statesmen, there is no speculation on the terms of the plan, which are being kept strictly secret. All the Quaid’Orsay will admit is the total solidarity of British and French views.
💥 EXCHANGE OF TERRITORIES.
LONDON, December 8.
The “Daily Telegraph’s” diplomatic correspondent in Paris states: “The French Government has accepted the British view that a workable solution will most likely be found in an ex-change of Italian and Abyssinian terri-tories, providing Italy with fertile areas in southern Abyssinia and Abyssinia with access to the sea. It will probably be found that an entirely new propo-sal will be made respecting Tigre.
“It is emphasised that complete soli-darity has been established between the French and British Governments. “All reports from Rome indicate that the proposals, the purport of which is apparently known in official circles, will
go further than anything hitherto sug-gested.”
💥 PARIS, December 8.
Well-informed sources state that the Ogaden and Danakil districts and the whole of Tigre, except the sacred city of Aksum, would be given to Italy,
which would receive sufficient land to accommodate 1,500,000 colonists, being
double the territories which Britain agreed should be given to Italy. If Italy refuses to cede Assab to Abys-sinia, Britain is ready to give up Zeila.
A French Minister who participated in some of the discussions, said: “I be-lieve we have done good work. If I were an Italian I would accept.”
💥 ITALY IMPRESSED.
ROME, December 9.
The Franco-British formulae as re-ported are regarded as a notable improvement on the Italian viewpoint and therefore deserving of consideration.
💥 “RED CROSSES ON NEARLY EVERY HOUSE.”
(Published in “The Times.”)
LONDON, December 8
An Italian statement from the Asmara corespondent of ” The Times” says :
“The four aeroplanes which re-visited Dessie on Saturday saw no vestige of the enemy’s forces, thousands of whose tents were visible on Friday, but the observers noted that the roof of nearly every house in the town was miraculously adorned with a bright red cross.”
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