Ethiopian Crisis: US special envoy for Horn of Africa expected in Ethiopia to discuss prospects for peace
Washington, DC, US (PANA) - US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman is to arrive in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Addis, on Thursday for meetings with senior government officials to discuss prospects for peace talks to end more than a year of fighting in the country.
The rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which is said to have marched close to Addis Ababa, said late last year that its forces have withdrawn from Afar and Amhara regions into Tigray region, while the Ethiopian Government has stated that the National Defence Force does not intend to pursue them into Tigray.
Mr. Ned Price, Spokesperson for the Department of State, told journalists at a press briefing on Tuesday that "this is in some ways an opportune time for the special envoy to engage with senior Ethiopian Government officials".
He repeated that the US seeks an immediate cessation of hostilities, an end to ongoing human rights abuses and violations, unhindered humanitarian access, and a negotiated resolution to the conflict, precisely because, in addition to the human suffering, it threatens peace and security in the Horn of Africa.
"We do believe this offers an opportunity for both sides to halt combat operations and come to the negotiating table. That will be an issue of discussion when the special envoy is in Ethiopia later this week," Mr Price said.
He reiterated that the US believes there is no military solution to the conflict, adding "we continue to support diplomacy as the first, the last, and the only option".
Mr. Price also reiterated the US call for the Ethiopian Government to start "a credible, inclusive national dialogue that includes comprehensive, transparent, transitional justice measures, including accountability for those responsible for atrocities".
In the heat of the war, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed joined soldiers on the frontline on 23 November last year "to save the country" by leading from the battlefront.
He announced early in December last year that the first phase of the push against the terrorist TPLF that had captured several towns and cities as it threatened to overrun the capital, Addis Ababa, had been successfully completed and many towns and cities had been liberated.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Wednesday that the Ethiopian authorities have "arbitrarily detained, mistreated, and forcibly disappeared" thousands of ethnic Tigrayans recently deported from Saudi Arabia.
The human rights watchdog asked Saudi Arabia to stop holding Tigrayans in abhorrent conditions and deporting them to Ethiopia. Instead, it should help the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide them with international protection.
"Ethiopian authorities have transferred Tigrayan deportees from Saudi Arabia to reception centres in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, where some were being unlawfully held," HRW said in a report on its website.
It added that the Ethiopian authorities have also apprehended Tigrayan deportees at checkpoints on the roads to Tigray or at the Semera airport in the Afar region and transferred them to detention facilities in Afar or southern Ethiopia.
-0- PANA MA 5Jan2022
