Special envoy Mike Hammer will be in Ethiopia to attend it
Borkena
Toronto – The U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced that the U.S. Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, Mike Hammer, will be in Ethiopia between March 7 and 13.
The purpose of his trip, according to the State Department, is to “attend an African Union-hosted strategic review of the implementation of the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). ”
Abiy Ahmed’s Federal government and the TPLF, (and the Tigray Region Interim administration) have been trading accusations over the failure to implement the Pretoria agreement. The Tigray region has openly announced that the TPLF has 270,000 armed combatants. The core of the Pretoria agreement – which ended the two-years bloody war between the Federal government and TPLF – was disarmament of TPLF combatants – which is not yet implemented. The Federal gov’t and TPLF leaders had a meeting to evaluate the state of the implementation of the agreement. Last week, the Tigray Interim government announced it would only discuss the implementation of the agreement with the mediators – the African Union.
The statement from the Spokesperson of the State Department noted that the ceasefire is in place but it said “It is necessary to undertake additional steps essential to achieving a lasting peace, including expedited progress on disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration; sustained action on a credible transitional justice process; and accelerated activities to enable the return of internally displaced.”
During the war between the Federal government and TPLF, it was apparent that the United States and its allies tacitly supported the TPLF forces. The survival of the group as a viable political group is credited to these forces- according to some Ethiopian activist. The U.S. has been claiming its goal in its intervention is a peaceful and prosperous Ethiopia.
In addition to attending the AU review of the implementation, Mr. Mike Hammer will meet with Ethiopian government officials “to discuss efforts to advance dialogue to end the violence in the Amhara and Oromia regions, as well as review broader regional issues. Finally, SEHOA looks forward to engagements with representatives of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), as well as international partners.”
Abiy Ahmed’s administration started what it called law enforcement operation in the Amhara region of Ethiopia by disarming the Fano fighters – forces in the region that helped the Federal government defeat – militarily – the TPLF forces. The campaign it planned to finish within two weeks is not completed in more than eight months now but the rights abuse in the region has been spiraling as government forces have been engaged in extrajudicial killings and drone strikes targeting civilians. The state of emergency that was declared in the region for six months was last month extended by four more months.
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