Blinken to visit Ethiopia, Niger as part of push to engage with Africa and counter China's influence
Date
3/12/2023 9:10:19 AM
(MENAFN) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to Ethiopia and Niger to engage with African leaders in countering China's growing influence. The visit is part of President Joe Biden's administration's push to engage with Africa and follows high-profile visits by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and First Lady Jill Biden. Blinken's trip will focus on discussing the November peace deal that ended hostilities in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region and counter-terrorism efforts against Islamist extremists in Niger and the Sahel region. The visit will mark the first-ever by a Secretary of State to Niger, where the country has hosted US military operations to combat ISIS affiliates.
Blinken plans to meet with Ethiopian and Tigrayan officials in Addis Ababa and will focus on implementing the cessation of hostilities agreement to advance peace and promote transitional justice in northern Ethiopia. The US had suspended some preferential trade agreements with Ethiopia over the conflict in Tigray, which the country is eager to have restored. The Tigray conflict began a year after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed received a Nobel Prize for making peace with long-time rival Eritrea. The Ethiopian and Eritrean governments saw the Tigray regional leaders, who had long dominated Ethiopia's government before Mr Abiy took office, as a common threat.
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