A Strong Unified Talk from Africa Leaders is the only weapon to end Ethiopia’s Civil War.
The fighting between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) began just over a year ago and since then, 2 million people have been displaced in just a year, and 400, 000 now living in famine.
According to Conflict analysts, the Ethiopia’s civil war is on track to surpass Yemen’s for the grim title of world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
In what the government called a “police action,” few observers would have envisaged it culminating in Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed urging all citizens to arm themselves and defend the capital, Addis Ababa.
The situation now calls for African to show leadership and political goodwill by convening to forge a common position to arrest the situation.
This is something that does not need threats and suctions to be won, but a strong unity call by regional leaders can break the deadlock and see peace returning to the country.
Many are likely to welcome this intervention. And this is why the regional summits like the East African Community matters, because, it allows African leaders to find solution to an African Problem. The very path of which is to find peace and tranquility in the region.
The past 20 years, the continent has been fighting ever more determinedly to take the role of policeman for our own neighborhood. And this has borne some fruits. Over that same period, instability across the continent has halved.
There is need for Africa to be more self-reliant and solve their in-house problem before turning to their wealthier and more developed allies in the West, which sometimes hijack their efforts and undermine them.
African nations must be the first and final arbiters of peace on our own continent. And the efforts to bring peace in Ethiopia will be the first key test to unlock their ability to unite the continent and foster economic growth.
Two weeks ago, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta visited Abiy to push for an end to the conflict. And as the state of emergency is now in place, with neither side ready to negotiate, the regional leaders may be the last bulwark preventing an even broader and more brutal civil war.
It is time to put an end to this devastating civil war that has led to the outright violation of human rights in Ethiopia.
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