Thread by @_hudsonc

.@USAID chief travels to #Sudan and #Ethiopia this week where she will celebrate the achievements in Sudan, their turn away from genocide and authoritarianism, and admonish Ethiopia for turning toward it. reuters.com/world/africa/u…

It is oddly reminiscent of a trip she took (with the current @USAmbUN) to the Central African Republic in 2013 as that country was being torn apart by genocidal violence.
nytimes.com/2013/12/20/wor…

Even though she is in a new role now, where humanitarian access is her foremost priority in Ethiopia, where per @declanwalsh the government's "unofficial blockade" has kept more than 400k in famine conditions, I hope she raises the real risk of genocide. nytimes.com/2021/07/29/wor…

While many argue those risks are hyperbolic, to prevent it from happening you have to raise it and help officials on all sides understand the effect their dehumanizing speech is having and warn of the lessons potential perpetrators take from having massacres followed by impunity

Power's impact on the CAR crisis in 2013 was instrumental in rallying Washington's bureaucracy to engage even though CAR was not seen as strategic. Preventing genocide was a moral imperative. In #Ethiopia, we have both a strategic and moral imperative, but with much less leverage

Many argue that the leverage we do have: human rights sanctions, AGOA suspension, investment freeze, arms embargo, are most powerful when threatened but not deployed. But after 8 months of threatening and continued deterioration at what point does the US look feckless?

Like the UN, which has muted its frustration and criticism over systematic government blockages in hopes of gaining access. That clearly hasnt worked. Tough, honest and frank talk is required if we hope to have any credibility. @SamanthaJPower can at least be counted on for that.