In his first stop on a two-country visit to Africa, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
The trip is part of an effort to deepen U.S. engagement with the continent. U.S.-Ethiopia relations have been strained in the past two years due to a brutal civil war that left an estimated 500,000 civilians dead due to violence, starvation and lack of medical attention. Thousands more were displaced.
His trip will focus on the implementation of a peace deal brokered last November that ended hostilities in the country's northern Tigray region. "There is a cessation of hostilities agreement, which has, in fact, brought some relief to the suffering of the people of Ethiopia. Particularly in the north, in the Tigray region," Yager told VOA."Some aid can get through, communications are flowing, fuel prices are down, food prices are down, all of this is very positive."
Kate Hixon, Africa advocacy director at Amnesty International USA, argued that Blinken should center all his engagements with the government of Ethiopia around human rights.
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