Ethiopian crisis: US Envoy urges warring parties to de-escalate tension, seek negotiated ceasefire
Washington, DC, US (PANA) - U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, has asked the warring parties in Ethiopia to de-escalate the tension in the country, stressing that there can be no military solution to the crisis that is threatening to tear the country apart.
"After more than a year of fighting and hundreds of thousands of casualties and people displaced by fighting, it should be clear that there is no military solution," he told a media briefing in Washington on Tuesday on his return from Ethiopia.
Mr. Feltman said the Federal government "must remove the shackles that are hindering humanitarian relief and stop offensive military actions, and the rebel Tigray Defence Force (TDF) must halt its advance on Addis Ababa".
All those in need, regardless of ethnicity or geography, should have immediate access to lifesaving humanitarian assistance, he said, urging an immediate end to human rights abuses and violations.
Mr. Feltman noted that whereas there is "some nascent progress" in trying to get the parties to move from a military confrontation to a negotiating process, the "fragile progress risks being outpaced by the alarming developments on the ground that threaten Ethiopia’s overall stability and unity".
He said Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said that his top priority is to get the Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) out of the lands that they have occupied in the states of Amhara and Afar and get them back into Tigray, adding "we share that objective".
On the other hand, he said, the TDF and TPLF leaders indicate that their top priority is to "break the de facto humanitarian siege" that the Government of Ethiopia has imposed on Tigray since July, adding "we share that objective as well".
Mr Feltman said: "The basic point is that these two objectives are not mutually exclusive. With political will, one can achieve both. Unfortunately, each side is trying to achieve its goal by military force, and each side seems to believe that it’s on the cusp of winning."
He said the objective of the US is to support diplomacy as "the only approach" to address the underlying causes of this conflict and dismissed "rumours" that the US is supporting one side as "simply false".
Mr. Feltman warned that continued war risks unraveling Africa’s second-most-populous country, the home of the African Union, and the traditional linchpin of security and stability in the strategic Horn of Africa/Red Sea area.
He said the US is putting its diplomatic tools behind the collective efforts to promote de-escalation and a negotiated ceasefire.
"It is time for the Ethiopians to pursue their objectives not on the battlefield, but at the negotiating table."
Mr. Feltman again urged US citizens in Ethiopia to leave the country now using commercial flights.
Britain, Germany and France are among countries that have also asked their citizens to leave.
Prime Minister Abiy has said that he is going to the frontline to save the country as the war escalates.
The Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) quoted him as saying in a messsage on Monday that "it is time to lead the country with sacrifice and vowed to lead army from the battlefront as of today (Tuesday)".
He said: “All of you who aspire to be one of Ethiopia’s most admired children, stand up for your country today. Let’s meet at the battlefield front. As we march to the battle the remaining will cover the gap created by us and work in all their capacity.”
Abiy has already declared a state of emergency, called his countrymen to arms, recalled retired soldiers and taken a raft security measures to halt the advance of the TPLF, whose attack on federal forces in the region's capital, Mekelle, on 3 November last year triggered the war.
Thousands of people have been killed, hundreds of thousands have been displaced while millions are in dire need for food and humanitarian services.
The African Union and the US have been leading a flurry of diplomatic activities but are yet to secure a ceasefire and negotiations for peace.
-0- PANA MA 24Nov2021
