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Well-informed US analysts of US-Africa relations are troubled by the US government’s treatment of Ethiopia. In the first six months of the Biden presidency, we have witnessed a dramatic reversal in US support for a longtime ally in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia, Africa’s second largest nation, has been a regional leader, with its bold economic vision to improve the lives of its 110 million people.
Ethiopia made two major achievements under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in June and July. First, the successful national elections on June 21, and second, the partial natural infill of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Sadly, there were no big kudos from President Biden for either achievement. After the freest, fairest and most peaceful elections in Ethiopia’s history, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s only comment was: “the United States congratulates those who cast their vote on June 21. Unusual for elections in Africa, not a single individual died in the voting process in Ethiopia. In contrast, several Americans died during January 6e, violent protest against the American electoral vote.
Equally astonishing, President Biden did not welcome the second filling of nearly 14 billion cubic meters of water into the GERD reservoir, which will lead to power generation later this year. Following in former President Trump’s footsteps, the Biden administration and Democratic-controlled Congress have attempted to dissuade Ethiopia from completing the GERD. Despite Ethiopia’s important role in Africa, Prime Minister Abiy’s notable reform movement and the success of his Prosperity Party, President Biden has never spoken to the Prime Minister.
Patient voters in Ethiopia’s June 21 election
The American Agenda for Democracy
Secretary of State Blinken and several other officials in the Obama administration lead President Biden’s global foreign policy with their mantra of “democracy, human rights and the rule of law.” But what do these words mean apart from the desire to impose their world order on other nations?
Prime Minister Abiy’s Non-Ethnic Prosperity Party won an overwhelming majority in a democratic election deemed fair, free from violence and intimidation, and credible. Election in Ethiopia: a vote for peace, unity and prosperity. Millions of Ethiopians have endorsed Prime Minister Abiy’s policy, giving him a mandate to lead for another five years. This is democracy.
Shouldn’t “human rights” include the most fundamental right? the right for human beings to lead a productive and dignified life? How is this possible when Africans suffer from abject poverty, lack of food, clean water and electricity. It is not possible.
The solution lies in physical economic development which transforms living conditions. As Ethiopians like to say, “End poverty, don’t manage it”. Aid is not enough. Building vital infrastructure is an absolute necessity, not an option. More than anything else, African nations need electricity, at least a thousand gigawatts. Africa needs a minimum of 50,000 kilometers of high speed rail lines. With the billions of dollars in aid given to African countries, transformative infrastructure projects could have been built. Isn’t the right to electricity a human right?
So why has Ethiopia not been widely praised for building the GERD to produce 6,200 megawatts (6.2 gigawatts) of electricity. Physical economic development is the most fundamental of human rights.
Prime Minister Abiy responded to attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force (November 4, 2020) by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF), as a leader should. He used his nation’s military capacity to defeat the enemy in Ethiopia. Whatever grievances the TPLF may have had, a violent assault on the government army is an insurgency. The Americans learned this lesson again on January 6. Preserving the sovereign nation-state from a rebel insurgency is the most supreme responsibility of a head of state. There is no higher “rule of law”, as President Abraham Lincoln clearly understood.
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken
United States-Africa policy; Does it exist?
There are several components of US policy toward Africa that undermine Ethiopia’s notable efforts to become an economically independent and self-sustaining nation.
First, the United States does not have a long-term development policy for Africa. He is prepared to spend billions of dollars in short-term aid, but nothing on large-scale infrastructure that would actually improve living conditions. Despite all the attacks and rhetoric against China and its Belt and Road, if China withdraws from Africa, it would have a negative impact on the continent. This is because the United States would not step in to fill the void. Sadly, the last US President who understood the importance of physical economic development in Africa, and acted upon it, was John F. Kennedy.
Second, one cannot underestimate the general level of ignorance about Africa in American society, especially our elected officials. Yes, there are a few members of Congress who have knowledge of a few African nations. However, I can authoritatively point out to you, after watching Washington for decades, that the overwhelming majority of Congress, has little knowledge of the real dynamics, when implementing legislation affecting African nations, in the Taken together, there is no deep historical understanding of the African continent or the nations that make it up.
Third, the African continent is close to last on the priority list of American presidents. Often, US policy for African nations is seldom articulated until a president’s second year in office, with the exception of the standard four-page document on “talking points” on Africa.
Why African leaders Are opposed
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam-GERD, top right, will boost economic development in East Africa with its 6,200 megawatts of electrical power.
This last point may be the most difficult for many readers to understand.
After the liberation of African nations from the yoke of colonialism some 20 years ago, African leaders, who are struggling to improve living conditions on the continent, still face opposition from within and from within. ‘outside. There is a financial and political elite, perhaps identified as an oligarchy, which sees Africa for its material resources and financial gains. They attempt to exploit nations through international finance, manipulated terms of trade and commodity prices controlled by commodity cartels based in the City of London.
The main concerns of neocolonialist financial institutions have always been, if they cannot control the leadership of a country, a “divide and rule” tactic is used to weaken that nation. War and chaos are the preferred fallback alternatives to losing command of the targeted nation.
They have always opposed genuine development programs that would lift a nation out of poverty and abhor strong governments and leaders who aspire to national sovereignty. Their ideology is dominated by “geopolitics” which sees the world as a zero-sum game of winners and losers. Those with the most political and financial power are the winners. They have little desire to eradicate poverty. With the exception of the last one to two decades of China’s intervention, the West has dominated the African continent, without any demonstrable evidence that their policies have improved the standard of living of the majority of Africans. All progress in Africa is the result of national leaders, not Western politics.
Abiy is seen as a strong leader with enough personal determination to move his nation forward, as evidenced by the rise of the Prosperity Party, which was founded in opposition to ethno-nationalism.
The most recent striking example of the elimination of an African leader has been the overthrow and assassination of President Muammar Gaddafi, followed by the destruction of Libya. Remember this was done by the “liberal” Obama administration, led by Samantha Power, then Ambassador to the UN. Many of those same Obama-era agents are now part of the Biden administration. Did these individuals admit their guilt in the creation of the failed Libyan state and the destruction of North Africa after Gaddafi’s removal? These same characters are now trying to undermine Ethiopia with their false and hollow cries for “democracy, the rule of law and human rights”.
There is often a coincidence of action and interests between those who insist on implementing their “liberal” doctrine and the goals of the financial political elites.
Samantha Power, then UN Ambassador under President Obama, and now Head of USAID under President Biden. (courtesy of axios.com)
Almost nine months after Prime Minister Abiy chose to defend his nation, the TPLF, now renamed Tigray Defense Forces (TDF), continues its violent attacks against the Ethiopian state. After the unilateral declaration of June 28 of a ceasefire by the Ethiopian government, the TDF launched offensive military deployments against two neighboring regions; Afar and Amhara. Not surprisingly, there has been no declaration of condemnation of TDF by the Biden administration or Congress. Blinken and Congress have never acknowledged Ethiopia’s statement that the TPLF / TDF is a terrorist organization. Instead, they continued to insist on reconciliation. Thus, establish an equivalence between a duly constituted government and a rebel insurgent militia which intends to destroy the Ethiopian nation. This crucial failure to deny the support of Prime Minister Abiy’s government is contributing to Ethiopia’s turmoil today.
United States-Ethiopia today
Does the lack of American support for Prime Minister Abiy encourage the TDF to continue the fight? Is the United States still demanding reconciliation today with the insurgents who have announced their intention to march on Addis Ababa, the capital? Will TDF’s military campaigns against other regions trigger a bigger war? If the conflict spreads to Ethiopia, will the United States accept responsibility for its encouragement of TDF?
Who benefits if Ethiopia is torn by war? As the case of Libya has demonstrated; not Africans. If Ethiopia were to be torn apart in an inter-ethnic war, tens of millions of Africans, and not just Ethiopians, would suffer extreme hardship.
It is not too late for the Biden administration to correct its policies towards Ethiopia, before more Africans suffer from the spread of the ethno-nationalist war.
Look at my 20 minute interview below, where I discuss the conflict between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, the filling of the GERD and the US policy towards Ethiopia.
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