US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa David Satterfield in Ethiopia

March 22, 2022

Ethiopia has not confirmed if the special envoy met with the PM Abiy Ahmed or the Foreign Affairs Minister, Demeke Mekonnen. 

David Satterfield, US Special Envoy. Photo: AP Via VOA Amharic

Borkena

The US State Department on Monday announced The Special Envoy For the Horn of Africa. Ambassador David Satterfield, is in Ethiopia. 

In the two days working visit, he meets with the Ethiopian government, The African Union and The United Nations officials, and representatives of humanitarian organisations operating in the country, according to disclosure from the State Department. 

The purpose of his meeting with the officials is unspecified. 

On Monday, Mr. Satterfield met with Olusegun Obassanjo, AU High Representative for the Horn of Africa, who had been shuttling between Addis Ababa and Mekele as part of the effort to broker peace to end the conflict that brought about humanitarian, economic, and security crises in Ethiopia. 

The US Special Envoy also met with Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security. They reportedly discussed “engagement on regional affairs, including Sudan and Ethiopia.” 

The U.S. envoy is visiting the country as Ethiopians are opposing the move to approve the alleged “Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace, and Democracy Act”, H.R.6600.  Ethiopia’s Foriegn Affairs Minister on Tuesday called on Ethiopians in the Diaspora to continue to protest H.R. 6600. However, his office or the office of the Prime Minister did not remark about the visit of the U.S. special envoy. At this writing, it is unclear if he met with the Prime Minister or the Foreign Affairs Minister. 

The United States, for many Ethiopians who have been vocal on social media platforms and many analysts, had been tacitly supporting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – an entity that triggered the war when launched an unprovoked attack on several bases of the Northern Command of the Ethiopian Defence Force in November 2020. 

Ethiopians living in and outside of the country had been organising massive protest rallies to oppose the US (and its allies) policies in Ethiopia which it has been advancing under the guise of “humanitarian assistance” and protection of Human Rights.  

The United States had been denying its support to TPLF forces but was openly putting pressure on the Ethiopian government by employing different policy tools, including economic sanctions, with the objective to achieve a political settlement to the conflict. 

The United States has managed to secure the release of top TPLF leaders who were captured during a military operation in January 2021. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his party deny that the release of TPLF leaders had nothing to do with external pressure.