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how the african union failed tigray E X P L A I N E D

| @omnatigray | omnatigray.org The Evolution of the African Union

On May 25, 1963, the Organization of African Unity was established in , by 32 African nations.

In 2002, the OAU evolved into the African Union (AU) with a more ambitious agenda of promoting peace and democracy. Relying on soft power, the member states normalized using diplomatic efforts to avoid conflicts or resolve them.

Ethiopia took the lead in creating the African Union and the organization’s headquarters is still located in the heart of the capital, rebuilt on the site of Ethiopia’s notorious prison, aptly named Alem Bekagn, “farewell to the world,” because prisoners rarely made it out alive during the Regime’s Red Terror.

A generation later, the capital of the AU is terrorizing its own citizens, ethnic , while jeopardizing the body’s founding principles, becoming a fine example of how a collective determination to establish and maintain democratic principles can go terribly wrong.

| @omnatigray | omnatigray.org The Against Tigray

On November 4, 2020, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed began his “law and order” operation by declaring war on the northern region of Tigray.

Abiy claimed it was to bring TPLF regional government leaders to justice, but it became clear that it was a collective punishment on Tigrayans, filled with genocide and looting of resources by the Ethiopian National Defence Force, Amhara Special Force, Fano Militia, & foreign forces, i.e. Eritrean Soldiers.

On November 22nd, the Ethiopian Government warned Tigrayans that they will be shown “no mercy” if they don’t distance themselves from the region’s leaders as it indiscriminately bombs civilians. The fighting has internationalized as Eritrea has been involved from the very beginning, refugees flood into Sudan in the thousands, and Sudan begins fighting with government supported Amhara militias over disputed land.

The fighting threatens to destabilize Ethiopia and the strategic Horn of Africa as a whole.

| @omnatigray | omnatigray.org The Failure of Mediation Abiy’s Rebuff of Mediation Efforts

Joaquim Chissano Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Kgalema Motlanth former President of Mozambique former Liberian President former President of South Africa Three AU special envoys, an initiative by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa

On November 20, 2020, the AU proposed sending a special envoy to mediate talks between the central government and Tigray regional government to end the deadly conflict.

On November 26, 2020, shortly before the three former African heads of states arrived in Addis Ababa to seek a peaceful resolution, PM Ahmed ordered the “final phase of rule of law operations,” a rebuff to the mediation efforts and challenging the foundational principles of the AU itself.

| @omnatigray | omnatigray.org The AU has the Responsibility to Diplomatically Intervene in the Tigray Conflict

PM Abiy Ahmed has resisted international mediation as “interference,” and although he appreciates AU envoy’s “elderly concern,” it was ultimately the Ethiopian government’s duty to enforce “rule of law” in Tigray.

Abiy dismissed any suggestion that they would be mediating between the Ethiopian combatants as “fake news.”

So let’s explain why that is wrong: Article 4(g) of the AU’s Constitutive Act does specify “non- interference by any member state in the internal affairs of another.” But, Article 4(h), gives the AU the right “to intervene in a member state, in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes and genocide.”

The UN, international journalists, and leaders around the world are claiming that there have been war crimes committed and Genocide Watch has placed Ethiopia at Stage 9 of Genocide.

| @omnatigray | omnatigray.org Ethiopia’s Impunity in the Eyes of the AU

AU’s blatant acceptance of Ethiopia’s rejection to mediation made a mockery of the AU’s principles of peacemaking.

Ethiopia has an outsized influence on the AU because it hosts the HQ. Other African countries have long suspected that it has a double standard.

The Ethiopian government has purged Tigrayan officers from the AU and UN missions and demanded the AU Commission dismiss its Tigrayan head of security, without a single reproach.

A senior AU diplomat remarked on Friday: “Abiy thinks that the AU is for others, not for Ethiopia.”

| @omnatigray | omnatigray.org The AU Failed Tigray

H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat was elected as the African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson on 30 January 2017 and assumed office in March 2017. He was the foreign minister and Prime Minister of Chad.

Instead of condemning the Ethiopian government’s war against its own citizens in Tigray by employing genocidal Amhara militias and Eritrean forces, HE Moussa Faki condoned Ethiopia’s “law and order” mission in his speech during the IGAD summit.

Members of the AU Staff Association, said the AU Commission is crumbling with chronic cronyism and corruption, and Accused Chairperson Faki Mahamat of “running a cartel.”

| @omnatigray | omnatigray.org Sources

https://www.usaid.gov/african-union/history https://au.int/en/cpauc5 https://au.int/en/speeches/20201220/remarks-auc-chairperson-38th-igad- extraordinary-summit https://twitter.com/AUC_MoussaFaki/status/1340738632144072711 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-9h7kdj4Bg https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/6/9/the-african-union-an-exclusive-club- for-brutish-despots https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55099908 https://twitter.com/abiyahmedali/status/1325724786547445760?lang=en https://www.france24.com/en/video/20201127-ethiopian-pm-ahmed-rejects- tigray-conflict-talks-in-au-meeting https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-abiy-ahmed-ethiopia-united- nations-kenya-f497300cca1a6560c5e8ae48fde442b5 https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ethiopias-pm-rejects-dialogue- meeting-au-envoys-74425630 https://cameroonnewsagency.com/au-staff-accuse-chairperson-of-cronyism-and- corruption/ https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/11/1078272 https://twitter.com/cyrilramaphosa/status/1330220226013782018?lang=en https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-11-26-president-ramaphosas-peace- envoys-to-ethiopia-could-get-the-mnangagwa-treatment/

| @omnatigray | omnatigray.org Stay Involved

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