Thread by @GebrekirstosG

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I watched 'Taking Stock of U.S. Policy on Ethiopia: A Conversation with Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman' #USPolicyEthiopia
I put my reactions to the ambassador's points here as a Tigrayan. My thread will focus both on the spirit of his messages and on particular points 1/n

1) I understood that the US still sees Abiy as salvageable and as having the mandate to rule Ethiopia. The ambassador said the US wants to revitalize Abiy's "economic and job creation agenda". This is deeply disturbing to me and tells me Us interests override even genocide . 2/n

The spirit of the ambassador's message is that the atrocities committed on Tigray are not problems of themselves, but only to the extent they jeopardize US business and geopolitical interests in the Horn. 3/n

Accordingly, Ethiopia's unity and territorial integrity and Abiy's promise of economic and political alignment with the US override concerns of atrocities committed in Tigray. 4/n

The ambassador painted a rosy picture of Abiy's initial 'reforms' and said the US wants to revitalize Abiy's promise that he "so compellingly outlined at the start of his premiership", ignoring the fact that everything Abiy did was an effort to build clout to attack Tigray 5/n

and that the whole concept of reform was driven by genocidal undercurrents againstTigrayans. The US and the IC helped contribute to it, without understanding Ethiopia. Check an article I wrote at the beginning of the war. 6/n
ethiopia-insight.com/2020/12/18/the…

Another major point is that the ambassador is so susceptible to Abiy's accusations that to appear neutral fell to bothsidesism. 7/n tghat.com/2021/10/27/wha…

In fact, he went too far in this to the extent of adopting the line that Abiy is not equal with Tigrayan officials. The ambassador says he understands that. He also endorses the sham election and says Abiy has legitimacy to rule Ethiopia, but he doesn't do so for the TPLF. 8/n

The TPLF has been elected by ~3 million people in a legitimate and constitutional election. Recognizing Abiy's sham political party, sham election and endorsing Abiy who committed genocide as a legitimate ruler but refusing to recognize the TPLF is an insult and clear bias. 9/n

The desire to give the benefit of the doubt to Abiy Ahmed & keep him in power after #TigrayGenocide is apparently so strong that the ambassador even attributes things Abiy didn't say. E.g Abiy's national dialogue was only for parties that participated in the sham election. 10/n

But the ambassador says Abiy offered this even to Tigray. Clear signals that the US wants to keep Abiy in power were shown when
1) the ambassador called on TDF to halt operations in Amhara but not for Amhara forces to withdraw from Western Tigray.

2) He said "Tigrayn forces allying with disaffected Ethiopians is dangerous". Why?
3) Situation more alarming than it was a few month ago. Why? Because Abiy is threatened now and there is hope for end of Tigray siege?
These are hurtful, making Tigrayan suffering non-issue 11/n

The ambassador also adopts government language, affording government status to the Abiy clique, but calling the Tigray government and forces TPLF. This. for a Tigrayan, is a belittling insult. 12/n

Overall, the views expressed through the ambassador are partisan, biased and belittling from a Tigrayan perspective. It's normal for the US to advance its interests, but it should never be to the extent of supporting genocide and legitimizing genocidal leaders as legitimate. 13/n

It is important to recognize that the US (despite its welcome expressions of concerns) and the IC have failed Tigray and that Tigray is under blocakde and Tigrayans are dying in an engineered famine and lack of medication. The US hasn't changed this fact. 14/n

In the absence of any action from the IC, condemnation of TDF's advances to break the siege is tantamount to condemning Tigrayans to perish in a blocakde. This is deeply saddening and will have serious negative consequence for US image and US-Horn of Africa relations. 15/n

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