In Ethiopia, Blinken conditions US aid on "reconciliation" in Tigray

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with Ethiopian Finance Minister Ahmed Shide, at a UN depot in Addis Ababa, March 15, 2023. © Tiksa Negeri / Pool via AP

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The highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Ethiopia since the outbreak of the war in Tigray in November 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Wednesday, March 15, with the Ethiopian Prime Minister, representatives of the Tigrayan rebels, as well as humanitarians and members of civil society. The two countries aimed to reshape ties after two years of conflict, the end of which was sealed thanks to a peace deal signed in November in South Africa.

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With our correspondent in Nairobi, Albane Thirouard

U.S. involvement in Ethiopia will move forward as the country makes progress in "reconciliation and accountability" for atrocities committed during the Tigray conflict, Antony Blinken announced Wednesday.

Addis Ababa is pushing for the lifting of its suspension of AGOA, a law allowing certain exports to the United States without customs duties. The country had been excluded in early 2022 because of the conflict in Tigray, theaters of crimes against humanity, according to Washington.

But today, if the head of US diplomacy stressed that the peace agreement was going "in the right direction", he also recalled the need to set up a process of transitional justice "open to all and exhaustive". Human rights violations in Tigray must also cease completely, the Secretary of State stressed.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Twitter that they had agreed during their meeting to "strengthen" bilateral relations between their two countries. Antony Blinken has already announced $331 million in humanitarian assistance to help Ethiopians affected by conflict, drought and food insecurity.

Antony Blinken is due to meet this Thursday morning with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat before going to Niger. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will then succeed him on the continent at the end of the month, with trips to Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia.

► READ ALSO: Ethiopia: revelations on appalling massacres perpetrated by the Eritrean army

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  • Ethiopia
  • United States
  • Diplomacy
  • Abiy Ahmed
  • Humanitarian