Friday, March 3, 2023

UK Relations with Ethiopia

 The Royal United Services Institute published in February 2023 a study titled "On Shifting Ground: An Appraisal of UK Engagement in Ethiopia" by Simon Rynn.

The paper looks at UK engagement in Ethiopia from 2015 to the present, concluding that London has made some limited progress on aspects of its foreign policy agenda in the country.  But the UK has been constrained by smaller and unpredictable budgets, the unplanned merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, the absence of a detailed strategy for Ethiopia, and weaknesses with leadership.  The overriding limiting factor for UK action in Ethiopia in recent years has, however, been a worsening operating context since a change in Ethiopia's leadership in 2018.