US ambassador wishes “military success” for Ethiopian rebels in leaked video
In a leaked video of a recent zoom meeting, former US ambassador Vicki Huddleston wished “military success fairly soon” for TPLF militants in Ethiopia, speaking to a top rebel leader Berhane Gebre-Christos. Huddleston was also previously a U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs and reportedly maintains close contacts with current State department officials, while the European diplomats claimed to have regular contact with present EU officials. The startling video discussion between western diplomats backed rebel conspiracy theories on the genesis of the ongoing war and promoted the overthrow of the Ethiopian government to establish a transitional regime.
In one of the most disturbing parts of the video, with no pushback from the Western diplomats, the TPLF official concluded his forces have support from ethnic Afar & Amhara; despite over a million of these communities being displaced and thousands of civilians being killed by TPLF since the government ceasefire. A recent EHRC and United Nations led investigation concluded all sides had committed abuses, though the worst atrocity was attributed to the massacre of Amharas by Tigrayan militias in Maikadra town. However, through out the leaked video, top diplomats of the United Kingdom, France, Finland, US and the EU commented in support of the alternative narrative that atrocities were committed only by the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments; going as far as asking if the TPLF would forgive Ethiopians and offer amnesty for Ethiopian government officials.
The secret meeting attended by several American and European diplomats with a Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) leader became another confirmation of Western support for the rebels; less than two weeks after a Senior US official told Politico media that USAID leader Samantha Powers openly pursued for “ways to embarrass” the Ethiopian government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Ms. Powers has key role in President Joe Biden’s National Security Council (NSC) and US foreign policy decision-making. Along with arms embargo and economic sanctions on Ethiopia, these reoccurring insider revelations are no more isolated incidents but strong evidence of Western support for rebels, an Eritrean-American expert told Yeroo media. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said on email, the Western foreign policy establishment had “invested all their diplomatic & political capital for two decades on isolating Eritrea and since 2018: everything collapsed. Even in this zoom meeting, Western diplomats re-directed blame on Isaias as if Ethiopian people had no democratic aspirations or enjoyed being ethnic cleansed and divided by a minority junta.”
While holding key positions influencing US foreign policy, Vicky Huddleston had a long history of supporting TPLF’s brutalities, even asking her government to ignore the slaughter of hundreds of Ethiopians by TPLF’s “Agazi” special forces during the 2005 post-election crisis. In a leaked Cable from 2006, she claimed to have “a strong relationship with Meles and his inner circle.” Huddleston also justified the incarceration of the then top CUD opposition leaders, including Oromo-Ethiopian Judge Birtukan Mideksa, on the grounds that CUD supports “Amhara domination” and a unitary rule against federalism. During the zoom video, Berhane similarly reiterated that TPLF supports decentralization despite the reality of the Welkait Amhara, the Raya of Oromo descent and other diverse non-Tigrayan communities being ruled under the unitary state of Tigray for decades.
This controversial meeting of TPLF leader with Western diplomats reportedly occurred on Sunday, the same day tens of thousands of Ethiopians worldwide in the diaspora held a rally condemning Western support for the rebels.
