March 12 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, will arrive this coming Tuesday in Ethiopia on his first visit since the declaration of a truce in the devastating conflict in the Tigray region.
The bulk of his trip to the African country will take place on March 15, one day after his arrival, where he will discuss with the Ethiopian authorities the development of the cessation of hostilities between the Ethiopian Army and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF). , a conflict that broke out in November 2020 and which, until the declaration of the truce in November last year, could have left around 600,000 dead, according to estimates by the African Union.
Blinken will focus on “promoting peace and transitional justice in northern Ethiopia” and will “meet with humanitarian partners and civil society actors to discuss humanitarian assistance delivery, food security and human rights.” , according to a statement from the State Department.
The conflict in Tigray erupted in November 2020 after a TPLF attack on the main army base, located in Mekelle, after which the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an offensive against the group.
The outbreak of the fighting came after months of tensions at the political and administrative level, including the TPLF’s refusal to recognize an electoral postponement and its decision to hold regional elections on the sidelines of Addis Ababa.
The TPLF accused Abiy of stoking tensions since he came to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to take office. Until then, the TPLF had been the dominant force within the coalition that has ruled Ethiopia since 1991, the ethnically based Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, which it viewed as an attempt to undermine his influence.
The Secretary of State will also meet with African Union Commission Chairman Musa Faki Mahamat “to discuss shared global and regional priorities and follow up on US-Africa Leaders Summit commitments regarding food security, climate and a just energy transition, the African diaspora, and global health”.
The following day, Blinken will lead the first visit by a North American Secretary of State to Niger, where he will hold a meeting with the president, Mohamed Bazum, and the Foreign Minister, Hassumi Massaudu, in the capital, Niamey, where they will discuss topics such as the program of Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Reconciliation (DDRR) of armed groups.
It is expected that Blinken will also discuss with the Nigerian authorities, great allies of the US, the terrorist violence in the Sahel region and the impact of Russia through increasingly close relations, as denounced by Washington, between the mercenaries of his Wagner group. and the countries of the region.
