CORRECTION: Five US Senators Call for Reform before Ethiopian Elections

 In a 29 April 2021 letter to US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, five US senators expressed concern about the increase in ethnic violence in Ethiopia, urged reform before the 5 June parliamentary elections, and called for an independent investigation of human rights abuses throughout the country.  

The senior foreign policy advisor for Senator Cardin asked that I correct my interpretation of a sentence in the letter I described as a call for postponement of Ethiopia's 5 June election.  He points out that the senators were NOT calling for the elections to be postponed.  They were calling for electoral reforms to be done in order to build public confidence in the elections - which should be held as scheduled, but not in a manner that would exacerbate tensions and lead to violence.  

My apology for misinterpreting that part of the letter.    

Ethiopia's Ethnic Clashes Spread to Somali and Afar Regions

Aljazeera published on 7 April 2021 an article titled "Over 100 Killed in Clashes in Ethiopia's Afar, Somali Regions." 

Ethnic clashes between Somali and Afar pastoralists over disputed borders have broken out, adding to Ethiopia's woes.  The Abiy Ahmed government can't seem to catch a break these days.   

Intergroup Conflicts along the Ethiopia-Kenya Border

The African Journal on Conflict Resolution published in its December 2016 issue an article titled "Competing Orders and Conflicts at the Margins of the State: Inter-group Conflicts along the Ethiopia-Kenya Border" by Asebe Regassa Rebelo.

The paper argues that inter-group conflicts in Africa, including the recurrent conflicts on the margins of the Ethiopian state along the Ethiopia-Kenya border are caused by a complex interplay of factors and involvement of actors. The conflicts should not be reduced to ethnicity and resource scarcity. The paper looks at the interaction of three ethnic groups: Borana, Gabra, and Garri.

Kenyan Domestic Politics Heat Up

Foreign Policy published on 3 September 2014 an article titled "Back to the Trenches" by Ken Opalo and Ngala Chome.  It argues that Kenya has returned to bare-knuckle politics complete with open discussion of ethnic exclusion in government and emotionally charged mass rallies.  As a result, the political temperature has been raised to a level not seen since 2007, which ended up with ethnic clashes.