- In a bid to defuse the escalating tensions in the Horn of Africa region a special envoy has been sent by the US.
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement has said that Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman will visit Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan through May 13.
In a bid to defuse the escalating tensions in the Horn of Africa region a special envoy has been sent by the US. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement has said that, Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman will visit Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan through May 13.
Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman will meet with officials from those governments, the United Nations and the African Union, and also political stakeholders and humanitarian groups. Blinken added that the visit highlighted the US commitment to drive a sustained diplomatic effort to address the interlinked political, security and humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa. The special envoy will coordinate U.S. policy across the region to advance that goal.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia David Shinn observed that Feltman’s visit to Eritrea is significant as it’s the first time in several years that a senior American official is meeting with senior Eritrean officials. The United States has been urging Ethiopia to end the six months old conflict in its Tigray region and also calling for allied Eritrean troops to withdraw from the region.
Since November, Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has been the epicentre of hostilities when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked army bases in the region, according to the government sources. The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, responded to the attack with a military offensive. The fighting has left at least 4.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance according to reports. Mr Shinn remarked that If Eritrea fails to withdraw the United States may treat Eritrea as something of a pariah nation in the Horn of Africa.
Another burning issue in the region is the mounting tensions between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), being built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, close to the border with Sudan. Egypt and Sudan have been demanding a legal agreement with Ethiopia before Addis Ababa begins filling the reservoir behind the mega-dam. Ignoring the demand, Ethiopia began filling it last year, a move the other two countries view as directly threatening their water and electricity supplies.
