Amid the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, United States (US) President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Friday threatening sanctions against all sides involved in perpetuating the conflict. Biden said sanctions would be imposed if measures were not taken to end the ten-month-long Tigray war and allow aid into the region.
He said the order “establishes a new sanctions regime that will allow us to target those responsible for, or complicit in, prolonging the conflict in Ethiopia, obstructing humanitarian access, or preventing a ceasefire.”
Biden noted that the order would empower the Department of Treasury to “hold accountable” those in the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and the Amhara regional government who “continue to pursue conflict over negotiations to the detriment of the Ethiopian people.” “These sanctions are not directed at the people of Ethiopia or Eritrea, but rather the individuals and entities perpetrating the violence and driving a humanitarian disaster,” he said, adding that the US “remains committed to supporting the people of Ethiopia.”
Biden highlighted that the US provides “Ethiopia with more humanitarian and development assistance than does any other country” and would continue “to address basic needs of at-risk populations in Ethiopia.”
Moreover, a statement by the Department of Treasury mentioned that the order allows its Secretary to impose a “range of targeted sanctions” on those responsible for “contributing to the deepening of this crisis.” It added that a negotiated end to the conflict would allow the US to “reengage” in efforts to “support Ethiopia’s reforms to boost economic growth and job creation.”
In response to the order, Ethiopian Prime Minister (PM) Abiy Ahmed wrote an open letter to Biden on Friday. He stated that “Ethiopia will not succumb to the consequences of pressure engineered by disgruntled individuals for whom consolidating power is more important than the well-being of millions.” Accusing the US of “global interventions under the pretext of democratisation,” Abiy noted that Ethiopia embarked on the path of democratisation three years ago. He said the US and the West “are being misguided by reports, narratives and data distortions of global entities.”
An Open Letter to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. #Ethiopia pic.twitter.com/IzcQzSE3Tc
— Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 (@AbiyAhmedAli) September 17, 2021
Additionally, Abiy accused certain US lawmakers of friendship with “terrorist groups” like the TPLF and called on the US to “extricate itself” from rash decisions made by such policymakers. “Ethiopia has remained the US’ staunch ally in fighting the terrorism threat of Al Shabaab in the Horn [of Africa]. We expect that the US would stand by Ethiopia as a similar terrorist organisation [TPLF] threatens the region,” he said.
Meanwhile, the TPLF has responded favourably to Biden’s announcement, saying that it is ready to cooperate with the US to end the conflict that has torn Tigray apart and has magnified ethnic tensions in Ethiopia. “The executive order regarding the crisis in Ethiopia is very good. It is a long-overdue move against all those who have made it their vocation to kill children and innocent people in what is a textbook example of genocide,” TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda said on Saturday. “We in the government of Tigray are ready to cooperate with the US authorities, including by facilitating or agreeing to [an] independent investigation into allegations of any possible wrongdoing on our part,” he added.
Ethiopia has been in the middle of a severe humanitarian and political crisis since November last year, when PM Abiy ordered a military response to an attack on a federal army camp in Tigray by the TPLF, declared a “terrorist” organisation. The fighting quickly boiled over into a full-scale armed invasion by Ethiopian troops, who partnered with Eritrean soldiers in their operation.
The conflict in Tigray has killed thousands and displaced over two million and has witnessed grave human rights violations, including mass killings, rapes, and deliberate starvation. Both the Ethiopian government and the TPLF have accused each other of committing atrocities.