EU: "Dialogue" Only Viable Option for Ethiopia

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on Thursday, 26 November, the authorities in Ethiopia to exercise restraint and avoid ethnic targeting during the military operation, which entered its final phase against (TPLF)

“All parties should show restraint and reinforce their calls to avoid incitement to hatred and violence,” Borrell said in a speech delivered by his representative to the European Parliament.

Borrell called on the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to fulfill his pledge to distinguish between the Tigrayan people and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

“We hold the Prime Minister to his word that the government is making a distinction between the Tigrayan people and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. However, we have reports about blanket measures on the basis of ethnicity.”

“The conflict has further increased ethnic tensions, with reports of ethnically targeted measures and ethnic profiling and discrimination, hate speech and atrocities occurring,” Borrell claimed.

“All partners of Ethiopia, and in particular its neighbors, should contribute to the cessation of hostilities and to the resolution of political disputes through dialogue in the framework of the Constitution of Ethiopia.”

“In that regard, the initiative of the African Union with the appointment of three high-level envoys is welcomed and supported by the European Union. Political solutions and the search for dialogue are the only viable option for the future of Ethiopia.”