MEPs of the European Parliament’s Committees on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Development (DEVE) jointly expressed, on Monday 26 September, their growing concern about the resumption of armed conflict in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, since the end of August, the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country and the increased risk of destabilisation of the entire Horn of Africa, due in particular to the active involvement of Eritrean troops on Ethiopian soil.
Their call for a permanent ceasefire, humanitarian access throughout the country and an end to impunity for atrocities committed by both the Ethiopian authorities and the Tigrayan rebels, as well as for a withdrawal of Eritrean forces, was unanimous. All agreed, as did the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS), that the resumption of peace negotiations under the aegis of the African Union was “THE priority, in a conflict of extreme complexity”.
A delegation from each of these parliamentary committees visited Addis Ababa last week (see EUROPE 13023/25).
The Vice-Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Sergei Stanishev (S&D, Bulgarian), said that in their meetings with government representatives, the President of Ethiopia, the Speaker of the House and the Chair of the Foreign Affairs and Civil Society Committee, the delegation, led by David Mc Allister (EPP, German), had called for a permanent ceasefire and peace talks under the auspices of the African Union.
The delegation members also stressed that “the EU is ready to gradually restore EU budgetary support and assistance, if certain conditions are met, including the cessation of hostilities, full and unhindered humanitarian access throughout Ethiopia, including the Tigray region”, he said.
They also expressed their strong support for transitional justice to hold perpetrators of human rights violations accountable and called for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces from Ethiopian territory and the facilitation of internal reconciliation.
The EEAS representative shared their concerns.
Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana (Greens/EFA, German), who was part of the DEVE/FEMM delegation in Addis Ababa, drew attention to the situation of Ethiopian women, a vulnerable population par excellence, because they are victims of sexual violence in the context of the conflict or “who are trafficked to Saudi Arabia and rejected on their return to the country after having been raped”. The MEP said: “We met these women, aged 17 to 27, who are ready to help others”.
Mick Wallace (The Left, Irish) noted that “the EU, like the US, China or Russia” are all keen to maintain good relations with the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, while “his government has committed repeated lies that damage his credibility”. Referring to a recently cancelled contract with Ethiopia for gas exploration on the Somali border, he asked: “Are we here for the money too?”.
Eric Andrieu (S&D, French), referring to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa, called for an end to the “iniquitous WHO rule” prohibiting food stockpiling. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)