Ethiopia: French, German foreign ministers in Ethiopia to support Tigray peace deal

The French and German foreign ministers began a two-day visit to Addis Ababa on Thursday January 12 to support the peace agreement in Tigray, more than two months after it was signed to end the two-year brutal war in this northern region of Ethiopia.

France’s Catherine Colonna and Annalena Baerbock of Germany are scheduled to meet with the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the ministers of foreign affairs and justice, as well as representatives of the African Union (AU) and human rights activists. They also plan to visit a distribution center of the World Food Program to see the implementation of a Ukrainian donation of 50,000 tons of wheat to Ethiopia and Somalia, which both European countries have financed with 14 million euros each.

The visit comes a day after Tigrayan rebels announced they were starting to hand in their heavy weapons, a key component of the 2 November peace deal to silence the guns in northern Ethiopia. Colonna said in a statement before her departure that the visit was aimed at “supporting the peace process, the fight against impunity, and reconstruction.”

According to a diplomatic source, the ministers were carrying a message from the European Union that it is ready to re-engage in Ethiopia provided the ceasefire is respected and a transitional justice mechanism is put in place. The Horn of Africa and Ethiopia in particular are among the EU’s priorities, as China seeks to boost its influence in the region, as illustrated by Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s visit to Addis Ababa this week.