US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman is set to visit Djibouti, Ethiopia from Sunday August 15 to August 24 in a move aimed at rejigging its diplomacy in the region.
According to the U.S. Department of State, the Special Envoy Feltman will meet with senior officials in the two countries and the United Arab Emirates to discuss opportunities for the United States to promote peace and support the stability and prosperity of the Horn of Africa.
Feltman’s visit will come days after Ethiopia ended its unilateral ceasefire to reverse military gains of the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front and massacres in the Afar and Amhara regions of Ethiopia which the U.S. did not condemn.
He was in Ethiopia in early May 2021 and met with Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, and his deputy, Demeke Mekonnen.
The United States has been pressuring the Ethiopian government for an end to the conflict in Tigray through a political settlement.
The US position in the Ethiopian conflict met with skepticism, even condemnation, as demonstrated in several rallies in the capital Addis Ababa and elsewhere, as its role is understood as an effort to bring TPLF back to power.
Many of the statements from the state department condemning the Ethiopian government came under the guise of the “humanitarian crisis” in Tigray.
Recently, the US government, after the USAID administrator Samantha Power visited Sudan early this month, has been pushing the Ethiopian government to open up a “humanitarian corridor” between Sudan and Tigray when it is the longest route to the region.
The US government also knows that Sudan has invaded a vast Ethiopian territory soon after Ethiopian troops deployed to the border region were withdrawn following what the government calls a law and order enforcement operation in Tigray.
The conflict started in November 2020 after TPLF forces attacked several army bases of the Northern Command of the Ethiopian Defense Force.
MG/as/APA