Foreign Minister Baerbock spent two days visiting Africa’s second most populous country. Russia and China play a major role in the visit to one of the poorest countries in the world.
Germany and France have offered Ethiopia increased cooperation after the peace agreement for the troubled region of Tigray. It is important that Europe “quickly shows its face,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who arrived in Ethiopia early Thursday morning for a two-day visit. The Green politician will be accompanied in the country on the Horn of Africa by her French colleague Catherine Colonna.
The Ethiopian government signed a peace agreement with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in November. According to the UN, several hundred thousand people have died in the fighting in the northern region of Ethiopia since November 2020. The background to the visit is the food crisis, which is aggravated by the Russian war in Ukraine, and increased Chinese efforts to gain more influence in the country. With around 120 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa after Nigeria and one of the poorest countries in the world.
Together, Baerbock and Colonna met President Sahle-Work Zewde in the capital Addis Ababa, who has been the first female head of state since 2018. Then there should be a meeting with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. In the early evening (local time), talks were held with Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen and his judicial colleague Gedion Timotheos.
Russia’s war is exacerbating the effects of drought
After the failure of the fifth rainy season in a row, there is a dramatic drought in Ethiopia. The country is heavily dependent on wheat and fertilizers from Ukraine and Russia.
In the afternoon, Baerbock and Colonna wanted to visit a UN World Food Program (WFP) complex in the city of Adama, which stores grain delivered from Ukraine. It is the largest WFP storage facility in Ethiopia with a capacity of 218,000 tons. 25,000 tons of wheat were delivered from the Ukraine via Djibouti at the end of December and are waiting there for distribution. According to the WFP system, grain is distributed monthly.
22 million have too little to eat
Welthungerhilfe warned that around 22 million people in Ethiopia had too little to eat. The humanitarian crisis has several causes, said Abaynah Demeke from the organization’s country office in Ethiopia of the German Press Agency: natural disasters such as locust plagues, droughts and floods. But the corona pandemic and cholera outbreaks have also weakened the country. Added to this are the many ethnic conflicts.
dealing with human rights crimes
In view of the war crimes that the UN believes have been committed by the Ethiopian government, such as the People’s Liberation Front of Tigray (TPLF), in the two-year conflict, Baerbock emphasized: “We know from our own experience that the path to peace is rarely a straight line and that dealing with human rights crimes is essential for reconciliation.”
Prime Minister Abiy received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 partly because of his policy of reconciliation with long-term rival and neighbor Eritrea. However, ethnic tensions and conflicts in the multinational state have intensified during Abiy’s tenure.
The TPLF and many people in Tigray had demanded more autonomy. After planned elections were postponed due to the corona pandemic, the TPLF held regional elections in September 2020. More than 50,000 people fled to Sudan in connection with the ensuing conflict. According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than four million people are internally displaced.
Colonna said the talks will focus on Africa’s role in global governance and efforts by the EU and the African Union (AU) regional organization to combat the effects of the war in Ukraine. The ministers want to meet with the head of the AU commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on Friday.
China is trying to gain more influence
Chinese efforts to gain influence in the country are likely to be behind the desire to quickly show face for the EU in Ethiopia. As recently as Tuesday, China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang was on his first trip abroad to visit Addis Ababa. China wants to participate in the reconstruction process in the country.
Source: Stern
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