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Ethiopia war: Biden signs order authorising sanctions, calls for dialogue

Friday September 17 2021
Tigray.

Women mourn victims of a massacre allegedly perpetrated in Tigray in February. PHOTO | AFP

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

US President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order that authorises a wide-range of sanctions on those responsible for the Ethiopia conflict, if they refuse to agree to a ceasefire and dialogue.

In the first ever step to punish warmongers in Ethiopia since the conflict began, Biden’s order, which will be implemented if parties don’t sue for peace, said all parties to the conflict, including the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea as well as the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Amhara regional government, will be sanctioned if they violate the peace call.

Sanctions

Biden, whose administration had warned of sanctions before, says the new decision will help unlock humanitarian corridors, which have been blocked due to the conflict.

With the order, anyone attacking, looting, obstructing or destroying humanitarian aid and corridors will be punished.

Biden said the situation in Tigray “has been marked by activities that threaten the peace, security, and stability of Ethiopia and the greater Horn of Africa.”

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In particular, he singled out incidences of violence, atrocities, and serious human rights abuse, including those involving ethnic-based violence, rape and other forms of gender-based violence, and obstruction of humanitarian operations.

The president said this “constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

The sanctions will target persons, rather than their organisations, in what is seen as a targeted push to ensure ringleaders choose peace.

Their property in the US will be frozen, they will be barred from getting US Visas and Americans will be barred from doing business with anyone sanctioned over the Ethiopian conflict.

In addition, US financial institutions will be barred from advancing credit or buying equity from the person, in what may prevent targeted individuals from disposing off their assets.

Tigray conflict

Since November last year the Ethiopian government has been battling the TPLF, once a ruling party but now declared terrorist group in the country.

And although Addis Ababa has declared it a law enforcement operation, the war has led to a series of atrocities, committed by both sides.

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch said Eritrean and TPLF fighters alternately committed ‘war crimes’ on Eritrean refugees in the country. Other watchdogs like Amnesty International and the UN have acknowledged atrocities and a rising humanitarian crisis.

The order said that while maintaining pressure on those persons responsible for the crisis, “the United States will seek to ensure that appropriate personal remittances to non-blocked persons and humanitarian assistance to at-risk populations can flow to Ethiopia…through legitimate and transparent channels, including governments, international organisations, and non-profit organisations.”

“The United States supports ongoing international efforts to promote a negotiated ceasefire and political resolution of this crisis, to ensure the withdrawal of Eritrean forces from Ethiopia, and to promote the unity, territorial integrity, and stability of Ethiopia.”

The parties did not immediately respond to the threat of sanctions.

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