Biden sending special envoy to Ethiopia to halt fighting

• France suspends military co-operation with Ethiopia
• AU probes tweet blasting US call for Tigray dialogue

US President Joe Biden is sending his special envoy for the Horn of Africa to Ethiopia amid international alarm at the escalation of a war that has killed thousands and created a humanitarian crisis in one of the world’s poorest regions.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, announcing the trip by envoy Jeffrey Feltman, urged Ethiopia’s government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to come to the negotiating table after nine months of conflict.
“Months of war have brought immense suffering and division to a great nation that won’t be healed through more fighting,” he tweeted late on Thursday.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Feltman’s travel.
Abiy’s federal troops and forces from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which control Tigray, have been battling since November in a war that has killed thousands of people, sparked a major refugee crisis and been marked by ethnic killings, rape as a weapon of war and a humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations warned in July that more than 100,000 children in Tigray could suffer life-threatening malnutrition in the next 12 months.
This week, the rebellious Tigrayan forces said they were in talks to forge a military alliance with insurgents from Ethiopia’s most populous region, Oromiya, heaping pressure on the government in Addis Ababa.
The leader of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), told Reuters by phone on Thursday that the group had opted to join forces with the TPLF, whom they had bitterly opposed during their three decades in power in Ethiopia, because they now have now have a common cause.
“I hope we are going to squeeze this government, and if possible – and I know it’s possible – we are going to overthrow this regime and stop this crisis,” said OLA leader Kumsa Diriba, who goes by the nom de guerre Jaal Marroo.
The government has designated both the TPLF and the OLA as terrorist organisations.
Also this week, the government urged citizens to join the ongoing battle against the resurgent Tigrayan forces.
It said all capable Ethiopians should join the army, special forces and militias to show their patriotism.
After retaking control of most of Tigray in late June and early July, Tigrayan forces have pushed into the adjoining Afar and Amhara regions, capturing the United Nations World Heritage site of Lalibela last week.
France meanwhile suspended a deal on military co-operation with Ethiopia, two sources close to the issue said yesterday.
The deal agreed between Prime Minister Ahmed and French President Emmanuel Macron in March 2019 was suspended at the beginning of July, two official sources with knowledge of the issue told AFP, asking not to be named.
Macron and Abiy had made an agreement in which France would loan €85mn ($100mn) to support landlocked Ethiopia’s ambition to build a navy.
Abiy was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in helping to end the decades-long conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.
However, international partners have grown increasingly concerned with his leadership as the conflict in the northern Tigray region intensifies.
Yesterday the African Union (AU) said that it had launched an investigation after its Twitter account lashed out at US aid chief Samantha Power for urging dialogue to end Ethiopia’s nine-month-old war.
Power, who visited Ethiopia this month, retweeted a post by US national security adviser Sullivan that called on “all parties to urgently come to the negotiating table”.
She then wrote that the “dire” humanitarian situation in Ethiopia “will get much worse unless all parties agree to dialogue & ending hostilities”.
The account for the AU, which is headquartered in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, responded swiftly – and caustically.
“Good Lord, you mean just like the time you sat and talked to ISIS and Taliban?” its post said, before using a hashtag to refer to rebels from Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region as terrorists – which is also the Ethiopian government’s position.
The post was deleted, and the AU said it was looking into the matter.
“An (AU) staff member shared personal views on this handle, contrary to AU staff rules. The now deleted tweet does not reflect the AU position, and is viewed as a serious breach of conduct. The incident is being investigated internally,” it said.