Addis Ababa, October 1, 2021 (Walta) – U.S. Congressman Chris Smith accused President Joe Biden’s State Department of “failure” in foreign policy on Ethiopia. He also stressed that the current American policy is potentially “fueling tension and conflict” in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa as a whole.
According to the Congressman, the republican has been historically outspoken in promoting democracy and human rights in Ethiopia for decades. It was known for criticizing the widespread abuses by the TPLF-led past regime, which reportedly spent millions on Washington DC lobbyists to block critical Congressional resolutions over the years.
The Biden’s state department neglected equally reprehensible atrocities committed by the terrorist TPLF group which precipitated the conflict last November, Smith added.
He recalled that the terrorist TPLF leadership recently declared “the organization has attained diplomatic, legal, moral and public support” to prolong the war, rather than disarm and surrender to the Ethiopian government.
The war has triggered a humanitarian crisis in the Tigray, Amhara, and Afar states of Ethiopia, with millions displaced and thousands killed or on the brink of famine.
Having seen the congressman’s message in the footage, Atlantic Council Africa Center Director Bronwyn Bruton twitted that an admiration to Smith that he has been deeply engaged in African affairs throughout his Congressional career and brings an unusual level of expertise to the table.
Director of Balsillie School of International Affairs, International Security, Security, and Justice Adviser, UK, Horn of Africa Ann Fitz-Gerald on her part twitted that Chris Smith states the obvious and the evidence-based reality that there is another party to the conflict in Ethiopia whose atrocities and crimes require acknowledgment and that failure of the U.S. government to do so “abets a scapegoating narrative thereby fuelling additional conflict and tension”
By the same token, Researcher, Freelance Journalist, and writer on the Horn of Africa Ibrahim Idris stated in his tweet that regardless of the delay in blaming the U.S. State Department in their one-sided position from a member of the Foreign Relations Committee by accusing the Ethiopian government and not exposing TPLF practices starting from the Mai Khadra crime, and now in Amhara, and Afar states, is a move in the right direction.
(Source The Ethiopian Herald)