By Staff Reporter
WASHINGTON — A group of U.S. senators is calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the State Department to intervene urgently as fighting resurges in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, warning that the fragile peace brokered by the African Union in 2022 is at risk of collapse.
In a joint statement, Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Africa and Global Health Policy Subcommittee; along with Chris Coons (D-DE), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), said they were “alarmed by the deteriorating security situation in Ethiopia.”
The statement comes less than a week after the Trump administration allowed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to human rights abuses in Tigray to lapse under Executive Order 14046 — a move the senators said “emboldens belligerents that see no checks against their horrific actions.”
The lawmakers pointed to a drone strike last week by the Ethiopian military on a truck carrying U.S.-funded food aid for internally displaced people in northwestern Tigray, saying a significant portion of the assistance was damaged or destroyed. They described the military’s growing use of drones in Amhara and Oromia as “extremely concerning,” warning it risks deepening the humanitarian crisis and widening the conflict.
The senators also criticised the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) for failing to honour its commitments under the 2022 peace agreement, citing the undermining of the Interim Regional Administration, the displacement of IRA-appointed officials, refusal to disarm and forced conscription of civilians.
“The stakes are too high to risk another conflict in an already volatile Horn of Africa,” the statement read, calling on Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and TPLF leadership to de-escalate tensions. The senators urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the State Department to engage both sides “to stop the renewed conflict and return to mediation immediately.”
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