U.S. Special Envoy for Ethiopia visits key conflict countries

Jeffrey Feltman, March 3, 2015. REUTERS - Dinuka Liyanawatte

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1 min

Diplomatic efforts continue to try to find a way out of the war tearing Ethiopia apart.

This Thursday, December 9, the special envoy of the United States for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman began a new tour.

He is due to travel to three countries: United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Egypt, to plead a negotiated outcome to the conflict.

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With our correspondent in Nairobi,

To everyone, the American special envoy comes to deliver the same message: there is no military solution to the conflict which is tearing Ethiopia apart.

The choice of countries visited during this tour is eloquent.

The United Arab Emirates first, which diplomatic sources say is helping Ethiopia receive Chinese drones, by organizing an airlift between the two countries.

Turkey then, which also provides military support to the Ethiopian Prime Minister through deliveries of drones, denied by Ankara, but again confirmed by many sources. And we know the crucial role that the air strikes played in the recent retreat of the Tigrayan rebels. More generally, Turkish exports to Ethiopia in the fields of defense and armaments have exploded this year, from 200,000 to 51 million dollars.

Finally, on the other side of the chessboard, Egypt, the last stop of the American special envoy.

Cairo maintains a long-standing enmity with the Ethiopian regime due to the threat

poses to the country's water supply.

A context that feeds in Addis Ababa fears of Egyptian support for the Tigrayan rebels who would transit through Sudan, whose new strongman, General Al-Burhan, is known for his hostility to Abyi Ahmed.

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• Ethiopia

• Egypt

• United Arab Emirates

• Turkey