EXCLUSIVE: The Nobel Committee Has A Mistaken Assessment Of PM Abiy’s Commitment To Peace

With all due respect to this prestigious organization, the Norwegian Nobel Committee needs to reassess its understanding of the ongoing situation in Ethiopia. It’s the TPLF, not PM Abiy, that’s responsible for continuing the war.

By Andrew Korybko

—  American political analyst

Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Berit Reiss-Andersen said in a statement to AFP that “As Prime Minister and winner of the Peace Prize, Abiy Ahmed has a special responsibility to end the conflict and contribute to peace. The humanitarian situation is very serious and it is not acceptable that humanitarian aid does not get through sufficiently.” This is a mistaken assessment that’s inconsistent with the facts. PM Abiy has consistently worked towards peace in his country but it was victimized by a US-led Hybrid War of Terror waged by TPLF proxies who wanted to seize power at all costs.

Even so, the Ethiopian leader still recently made enormous strides towards that end following the TPLF’s crushing defeat on the battlefield last month. His phone call with US President Joe Biden represented an incipient U-turn by the American leader as explained in the author’s analysis that was published earlier in the week. The ENDF’s decision to halt its advance into Tigray, the formation of the country’s inclusive National Dialogue Committee, and the pause in prosecution of several individuals (which was initially reported as an amnesty by the Federal Communication Service) all contributed to making this possible.

The Federal Communication Service released a statement on the same day as Ms. Reiss-Andersen’s reminding the international community of how the TPLF has weaponized foreign aid shipments and thus essentially held the people of Tigray hostage. They noted how international institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO) that’s led by the formerly ruling TPLF’s Foreign Minister “remained silent” in the face of that terrorist group’s crimes against humanity. They rightly conclude that this represented a “one-sided, biased perspective” that urgently needs to be corrected by denouncing the TPLF’s terrorism.

With all due respect to this prestigious organization, the Norwegian Nobel Committee needs to reassess its understanding of the ongoing situation in Ethiopia. It’s the TPLF, not PM Abiy, that’s responsible for continuing the war. They, or more directly their US-led Western patrons, are the ones that “have a special responsibility to end the conflict and contribute to peace.” The democratically elected and internationally recognized Ethiopian government won’t talk to terrorist-designated groups like the TPLF, let alone make unilateral political concessions towards them, nor would any self-respecting state.

It’s unrealistic to expect them to do this. There is no legal or normative equivalence between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF. One leads a UN member state while the other is designated as a terrorist group by the aforesaid. PM Abiy has already done everything that he realistically can for peace. It’s now incumbent on the TPLF’s US-led Western patrons to convince their proxies to disarm, demobilize, and hand over their members who’ve committed crimes throughout the course of the conflict that their group unilaterally provoked so that they can face the justice that they deserve.

What’s so regrettable about Ms. Reiss-Andersen’s statements is that they suggest that powerful lobbying forces have successfully manipulated the mind of the person who chairs one of the world’s most influential organizations. Those who are aware of the truth shouldn’t direct their anger towards her, but towards the TPLF and its allies. She’s actually a victim of their information warfare campaign that comprises part of the much larger Hybrid War of Terror on Ethiopia. Hopefully the respected lady will invest the time in learning more about this conflict and then consider correcting her statement.