French and German foreign ministers, Catherine Colonna and Annalena Baerbock, made an official visit to Addis Ababa on January 12 and 13.
by Noé Hochet-Bodin (Nairobi, correspondence)
It is a “deliberately political” ministerial visit that Catherine Colonna led in Ethiopia. Accompanied by her German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, the French Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs met the Ethiopian authorities for two days in the capital, Addis Ababa, to reposition the place of Europe and France while Ethiopia emerges Difficult to tiger war.
Berlin and Paris led a reconquest operation. The two chancelleries want to re -occupy abandoned political terrain during the civil war. In the Ethiopian capital, the ministers also represented the European Union (EU), still in delicacy with the authorities of Addis Ababa because of the frank positions of Brussels on human rights violations during the conflict.
“The member states have expressed their wish for a progressive re -engagement in Ethiopia, provided that the peace process continues to give results, in particular in matters of justice and the fight against impunity,” said M me colonna. In line of sight is the EU foreign affairs council on January 23, where the resumption of budget aid to Ethiopia, suspended for two years, will be discussed.
Fragile
In Ethiopia, France and Germany walk on eggs as the peace process remains fragile. On November 2, 2022, an agreement was signed in Pretoria between the government of the Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, and the insurgents of the Popular Front for Liberation of the Tiger (FPLT).
Ravaed by a fratricidal war since November 2020 and long under blockade, the province of Tiger, which has six million inhabitants, breathes again thanks to the ceasefire. Basic services and telephone lines have resumed, humanitarian aid is transported and the Tigernes forces have started to disarm. In addition, the resumption of air links to Makalé, the regional capital, allowed families separated by the conflict to find themselves.
But the Franco-German visit does not include movement in the tiger or contact with the Tigernes authorities. Journalists still do not have access to the region. Because, despite the peace efforts, the tiger remains today cut in half. In the north and west of the region, the Eritrean army and the forces of the Amhara region, both allies of Addis Ababa, continue to occupy large sections of the territory.
The Pretoria agreement, however, provides that the disarmament of the FPLT “[must] be undertaken concomitantly with the withdrawal of the region’s foreign forces”. However, again, the Eritrean soldiers occupy the cities of Aksoum or Shiré. The Eritrean and Amhara troops have executed 3,708 people since the signing of the peace agreement, according to a joint report by the authorities of the Tiger and UN agencies dating from December 30 and to which MO12345lemonde had access.
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