As Ethiopia descends into a civil war, the Biden Administration voiced a qualified and carefully-worded message of support for embattled Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
But in doing so, neither the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, nor Secretary of State Antony Blinken would offer a full-throated endorsement of the onetime Nobel laureate once hailed as Ethiopia’s “man for tomorrow.”
Asked Friday by Newsmax whether the administration considers Ahmed’s government the legitimate government in Ethiopia, Psaki told Newsmax she “didn’t want to speak out of turn here.” She added that she would check with the State Department.
But the president’s top spokeswoman quickly added “we have expressed significant concern [about the ongoing fighting between government troops and the Tigray People’s Liberation Army].”
That same day, while on his first African tour, Blinken was asked by CitizenTV in Nairobi, Kenya, if he was confident with Abiy Ahmed’s leadership.
“Look, this is, again, not about individual leaders,” Blinken told interviewer Linus Kaikai. “It is about the work that so many of us are doing in support of putting Ethiopia back on track. And we’ve engaged closely with Prime Minister Abiy. We’re in regular contact with him as the duly-elected leader of Ethiopia.”
Blinken, however, then said that the U.S. is “in contact as well with all of the other parties to the conflict, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Army and other groups.”
He went on to say that the “primary responsibility” of the U.S. was to support the efforts of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo “as he is working to bring people together to sit around the table.”
Working with the African Union (AU), Obasanjo has been seeking a summit between Abiy and the Tigray People’s Liberation Army.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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