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Toronto – The Ethiopian government on Thursday made another remark in connection with the U.S. Ambassador’s recent “policy speech” made at the “American Gibbi” in Addis Ababa.
The recent U.S. Ambassador “policy speech” and Ethiopia’s response to it should not be taken as the relation between the two countries is “problematic” and “not strong” , Nebiyu Tedla, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia is cited as saying.
In the “policy speech,” criticized the state of human rights situation and Ethiopian Prime Minister’s Abiy Ahmed’s government’s penchant for security solutions for complex political matters that rather need dialogue. It also made what many Ethiopians understood to be a discriminatory reference to armed groups in the country. While hailing the militant Oromo nationalist group that calls itself as “Oromo Liberation Army” for engaging in peace negotiation with the government, it criticized Fano groups for not resorting to dialogue to make their. The Ambassador’s reference to Fano as “To those who call themselves Fano” outraged many Ethiopians. Dozens of OpEd pieces have been published since then.
The Federal government did not seem to like the U.S. Ambassador’s speech either. In a statement issued on May 16, the Ethiopian government criticized the “policy speech” saying “advice to the Government of Ethiopia on how best to run the affairs of the country and mention groups bent on overthrowing the elected Government by force, and known for blackmailing, kidnapping, and terrorizing civilians.”
However, during a weekly update session, Mr. Nebiyu Tedla said “if there are issues that we need to look into, we can consult and work together[with the United States]
As much as there are those who criticized the speech as one that violated diplomatic protocol, there are also those who hailed it for speaking out against Abiy Ahmed’s government on matters of human rights and the political situation in the country.
Major Ethiopian opposition parties in the country this week voiced their concern urging the government to accept the Ambassador’s call for dialogue and embark on genuine negotiation.
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It reminds me what one US diplomat said during the years before 2018. He said something about the then sitting government officials how they were told umpteen times to amend their ways but to his frustration but no dice. He said those policy making officials were stubborn and don’t listen to the advice they were given. There was nothing wrong with the Ambassador’s suggestion. There was no bossing around in it. Stop fussing and start dialogues in earnest pronto.