US Condemns Latest Round of Tigray Conflict

The United States’ government has condemned last week’s resumption of conflict that threatens to fuel famine and destabilize the Horn of Africa, following the collapse of the five-month cease-fire in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre while speaking with reporters said the Joe Biden-led administration condemned Eritrea’s reentry into the conflict, the continuing Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s offensive outside of Tigray and the Ethiopian government’s airstrikes”.

She appealed to the parties in conflict to cease hostilities, saying there is no military solution to the war.

The Whitehouse press secretary added that the U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer is set to travel to Ethiopia this weekend to urge parties to engage in negotiations to end the nearly two-year-old conflict.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that a return to active conflict “would result in widespread suffering, human rights abuses, and further economic hardships.”

The head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, also called for a “de-escalation” and the resumption of “talks to seek a peaceful solution

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have blamed each other for the latest round of violence.

The TPLF is an armed political movement that led the country as part of a ruling coalition for more than 20 years but has now been designated as a terrorist organization by Addis Ababa.