US genocide expert Samantha Power to press Ethiopia on Tigray aid blockade

The US official who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on genocide is visiting Ethiopia next week to press the government to lift what the US calls a blockade on humanitarian aid to the conflict-hit Tigray region, where hundreds of thousands of people now face deadly famine, according to The Associated Press.

Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, hopes to meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has asserted that “there is no hunger in Tigray,” and with senior officials who blame the aid blockade on rival Tigray forces who have retaken much of the region and vow to pursue “enemies” beyond its borders.

The Ethiopian government’s assertion that Tigray forces are to blame is “100% not the case,” a senior USAID official told The Associated Press, adding that “our primary obstacle is the government.”

While the senior official said insecurity preventing movement along roads could be an issue, “what we’re seeing is (aid) convoys being turned around at checkpoints manned by Ethiopian soldiers or their proxies … It’s not a question of being turned around by Tigrayans. I think (the Tigray forces) have been messaging very clearly they’re ready to support humanitarian activities.”

Power has requested a meeting with Ethiopia’s prime minister, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for restoring ties with neighboring Eritrea but has since joined forces with Eritrea to wage war in the Tigray region after a political falling-out with the region’s leaders.

The conflict is now spreading into neighboring regions in Africa’s second most populous country, long a key US security ally.

Some 6 million Tigray residents have been caught in the fighting since the war began in November, when Abiy accused Tigray forces of attacking a military base.