A Displaced Ethiopian's Message to Americans

The US threatens Ethiopia and its ally Eritrea with harsh sanctions during discussion of possible negotiations between Ethiopia and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF.

Most people I spoke to during nine weeks in Ethiopia expected the TPLF to attack the Ethiopian army again when the rainy season resumed and made the army’s drones less effective. The rainy season has now resumed and there’s talk of negotiations between the TPLF and the government instead though it’s difficult to see what points the two sides would be willing or able to negotiate, and the threat of more harsh US sanctions hangs over Ethiopia’s head. American photojournalist Jemal Countess,

Ethiopian American journalist Sheba Tekeste, and I visited Jarra Camp for Internally Displaced Persons, where we spoke to camp resident Mergeta Yemane Mekonen: In a June 13 open letter to three African presidents and the leader of the United Arab Emirates, cc’ed to the Chair of the African Union’s High Commission, the AU’s High Representative for the Horn of Africa, the UN Secretary General, the UN Security Council, the EU Special Representative on Foreign Policy, the US Ambassador to the UN, and the US Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, the TPLF excoriated the African Union for not taking their side in the Ethiopian conflict, and demanded that the US, EU, UAE, UN, and African Union all be part of any peace negotiations.