US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday pressed Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on accountability for atrocities committed by all parties throughout the yearslong conflict in northern Ethiopia.
The secretary of state and the prime minister met for roughly two and a half hours in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa during Blinken’s first visit to the nation as the top US diplomat.
His trip comes months after the two major parties to the conflict – the Abiy government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front – reached a “permanent cessation of hostilities agreement” aimed at ending the bloody dispute that caused a humanitarian catastrophe and led to a significant rift in the relations between the United States and Ethiopian governments.
A top State Department official said prior to the trip, which also includes a visit to Niger, that the US is looking to “refashion our engagement with Ethiopia” following the “earthshattering” conflict.
“To put that relationship in a forward trajectory, we will continue to need steps by Ethiopia to help break the cycle of ethnic political violence that has set the country back for so many decades, including most acutely in this recent conflict,” Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee said on a call with reporters last week.
In their meeting Wednesday, Blinken and Abiy “discussed the significant progress in implementing” the cessation of hostilities agreement, including “improved humanitarian access and restoration of basic services,” according to a US State Department readout.
The two “discussed the importance of accountability for the atrocities perpetrated by all parties during the conflict” and “the need for an inclusive and comprehensive process of transitional justice,” the readout said.
CNN reported extensively on mass…
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