Abiy Ahmed told the Chinese president: He will become the king of Ethiopia and Somalia together.
Abiy Ahmed's atrocities did not stop there.
Since Abiy Ahmed came to power, Ethiopia has become a country of war after a honeymoon period between him and the Ethiopian people and Western countries, after he deceived them at the beginning of his rule.
Enthusiasm
Western governments are linked to the realization of Ethiopia's geopolitical importance in Africa. Ethiopia's pivotal role in the Horn of Africa makes it a country of great importance to the interests of Western governments, especially the United States and its religion.
Ethiopia's location makes it a strategic country to maintain the safety of maritime trade routes passing through the Red Sea, if Ethiopia obtains a sea outlet to the Red Sea and to combat piracy in the region (southern Somalia and the Indian Ocean).
Ethiopia is also a key partner for the United States in the fight against terrorism, given Ethiopia's proximity to Somalia, where the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab group, pirate groups and groups, and other groups are located,
ISIS, which is located in Puntland.
Ethiopia also plays a role in achieving stability in South Sudan. In addition, Washington's rapprochement with Ethiopia seeks to limit the influence of competing powers (such as China and Russia) in Africa.
These factors made the United States ally with successive Ethiopian governments that preceded Abiy Ahmed, regardless of those governments' human rights violations. This rapprochement continued under Abiy Ahmed's rule, until relations deteriorated with the intensification of the conflict in Tigray.
Like the United States, European countries also see Ethiopia as a strategic partner in Africa to protect international trade and combat terrorism such as Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia. In addition, Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa,
making it a major source of illegal immigration to Europe,
and illegal immigration routes from other African countries pass through it.
Therefore, European Ethiopian relations represent a cornerstone in combating illegal immigration from Africa.
Abiy Ahmed’s Face Reveals
Berhan Kidanemariam (the Ethiopian diplomat who had a friendship with Abiy Ahmed for more than 20 years and who resigned in protest over the Tigray war)
said in an interview that he found a stark contrast between Abiy Ahmed’s initial external image and the person he knew personally. Kidanemariam described Abiy Ahmed as an intelligence officer "hungry for power and obsessed with fame, wealth and tyranny.”
This became clear within a few months of Abiy Ahmed taking power, as authoritarianism and monopolization of power became the hallmarks of his rule. In 2020.
Protests escalated after the killing of an Oromo singer, known for his songs expressing the suffering of the Oromo (the ethnic group to which Abiy Ahmed belongs). Abiy Ahmed's government responded to the protests by cutting off the internet, violently suppressing the protests, and arresting opposition leaders. Over time, Abiy Ahmed's authoritarianism intensified by suppressing opposition protests and imprisoning journalists and opponents. In addition, he postponed the elections, and when he held them, they ended with his party winning in an electoral climate marred by lack of integrity and numerous violations against the opposition, including suppressing party leaders, preventing them from preparing for the elections, and preventing voters and observers from participating in the electoral process.
Ironically, the man who declared that "war is the embodiment of hell" (during his Nobel Prize acceptance ceremony) is the same one who declared war in Tigray. Abiy Ahmed postponed the elections, and replaced the consensus coalition that brought together the Ethiopian forces
with the Prosperity Party, which he dominates.
The conflict with the central government escalated, which ended with Abiy Ahmed declaring war against the Popular Front.
Instead of the man of peace quelling the conflict, he ignited a bloody civil war within his country.
Abiy Ahmed's atrocities did not stop there.
Human rights reports issued by international institutions and human rights organizations documented the involvement of the Ethiopian government and allied militias in crimes against humanity against Tigrayan civilians, amounting to genocide, including incitement to ethnic violence, killing, arrest and enforced disappearance, starvation of the population, forced displacement, in addition to sexual violence and rape of women. In 2022, after years of conflict, a peace agreement was concluded to end the war in Tigray.
But ending the war in Tigray did not quell the conflicts in Ethiopia, as another conflict broke out in the Amhara region between the central government and the Fano militias after the government's attempts to dismantle them.
The honeymoon is over
The state of praise and adulation for Abiy Ahmed that prevailed in the Western press has completely receded today. The international press has come to see Abiy Ahmed as an authoritarian leader who ignites bloody wars. Abiy Ahmed’s policies and practices have tarnished his image to a great extent, turning him into a global pariah.
The prolonged Tigray war and the atrocities committed therein were the straw that ended the honeymoon between Western governments and Abiy Ahmed. Western countries have taken action against their former ally in an attempt to stop the war.
Washington has imposed sanctions on all parties involved in the conflict.
It has also restricted visas for officials from Ethiopia and Eritrea for their role in prolonging the conflict. In addition, the United States Agency for International Development has suspended food aid to Ethiopia due to the discovery that the conflicting parties in Tigray, including the Ethiopian government, were involved in stealing aid.
As for the European Union, it has suspended its aid to Ethiopia.
The European Union has not reached an agreement on imposing economic sanctions on central government officials, but the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy has called for sanctions.
The European Union has also criticized Abiy Ahmed for failing to ensure independent elections.
France also suspended its military cooperation with Ethiopia.
A cautious Western return
The honeymoon between Abiy Ahmed and the Western powers may be over for good, but that does not mean the end of relations.
The White House lifted some restrictions on aid in light of what Washington considered an improvement in the human rights file. The US Agency for International Development announced that humanitarian aid would resume after implementing new controls to prevent the recurrence of corruption and theft. Anthony Blinken (US Secretary of State) also met with Ethiopian officials in Addis Ababa to repair bilateral relations.
Despite this, US sanctions are still in effect. President Joe Biden decided to renew the sanctions imposed for another period, after they were due to expire in September 2024.
Biden justified the renewal of the sanctions by saying that the situation in Ethiopia threatens Washington's national security and foreign policy.
It was not long before his true face was revealed. Not only did Abiy Ahmed's authoritarian face appear, suppressing the opposition and monopolizing power, but his horrific face also appeared, igniting bloody ethnic wars and committing crimes against humanity.
Observers, interested parties, and officials in the West were deceived by the false appearance created by Abiy Ahmed. They believed that he represented the hope that would rescue Ethiopia and the African continent from tyranny and conflicts. But Abiy Ahmed has frustrated Western aspirations. He has turned from an ally trusted by Western powers into a hated, unreliable figure. This transformation was not only the result of Ahmed's human rights violations, but also his role in provoking conflicts that threaten the stability of the Horn of Africa and thus threaten Western interests in the region.
However, Ethiopian-Western relations have not been completely severed. On the one hand, the troubled Ethiopian economy is in dire need of Western support and assistance. On the other hand, Ethiopia represents a strategic state that ensures the stability of the Horn of Africa, preserves Western interests related to trade, confronts terrorism, combats piracy, and reduces illegal immigration, but Abiy Ahmed has become an unreliable person.
However, the Western view of Abiy Ahmed now has become suspicious, and devoid of excessive optimism, which ended in disastrous disappointments.
During his visit to China. Abiy Ahmed told the Chinese President: He will become king of Ethiopia and Somalia together,
The Chinese President replied: This is a dream, and it is difficult to achieve and cannot be achieved unless the great powers allow it, as this region is important to the world.
Ali Bihi
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