CNN's Christiane Amanpour interviews Senator Chris Coons about his recent trip to Ethiopia, April 13th, 2021· (Photo: CNN)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Updated: April 14th, 2021
New York (TADIAS) — This week in an interview with CNN’s Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour President Joe Biden’s close confidant Senator Chris Coons discussed his recent trip to Ethiopia.
As Senator Coons told Amanpour he was asked by President Biden last month to serve as his special personal emissary to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. “He met with me for five hours over two days and he was very generous with his time,” Coons shared. “I delivered a letter directly to him from President Biden and I brought a letter back to President Biden from Prime Minister Abiy.”
The Senator added:
A couple of key developments: [PM Abiy] made commitments about humanitarian access, he publicly stated that there had been human rights violations committed by his own troops, by Eritrean troops and by the TPLF and committed to an international investigation in partnership with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. Most importantly, he recognized publicly for the first time the presence of Eritrean troops in his country and then made a trip to Asmara to meet with President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea to demand he withdraw his troops. That was a significant step forward. We are looking for action across these three key commitments and there are also other regional concerns about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and a border dispute with Sudan. There was progress made on all these fronts, but there is still more that has to be done…I am going to be working with the Biden Administration to make sure those commitments are followed up.
Click here to watch the interview »
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