United States Blinken in Africa Having a coffee time in Ethiopia (video)

“U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen in Addis Ababa on Wednesday. His agenda includes the peace deal that ended hostilities in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. (March 15)”

“Blinken’s trip to Africa’s second most populous nation comes as part of a push by President Joe Biden’s administration to step up engagement with Africa, where China and Russia have been stepping up influence.It is the highest-ranking US visit to the country since war broke out in late 2020 between Ethiopia’s government and Tigrayan rebels, fraying the US relationship with Addis Ababa as Washington alleged crimes against humanity. Blinken is expected to meet Wednesday in Addis Ababa with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed — a Nobel Peace Prize winner once seen as at the vanguard of a new generation of forward-looking African leaders, but who quickly turned into a near pariah for Washington over the war. The violence broke out when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which once dominated Ethiopian politics, attacked military installations, setting off a major offensive by Abiy’s government with backing from the country’s erstwhile adversary Eritrea.”