Will the United States help facilitate the exit of a defeated tyrant, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, from Ethiopia once again as it did in 1991? Jeffrey Feltman is coming to Addis Ababa tomorrow. Clearly the Tigray Defense Force and Oromo Liberation Army will not settle for peace talks when they are so close to almost certain victory. This may prevent prolonged bloodshed and misery that is otherwise destined to occur. It is interesting that Abiy Ahmed was considering allowing the still exiled Mengistu Haile Mariam to return to Ethiopia.
On May 21, 1991 President Mengistu Haile Mariam fled the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, after 12 years of war fighting the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front. At the time Alex du Waal said the only language Mengistu knew was brute force. He sapped the Ethiopian economy trying to overcome the rebel resistance. Upwards of 500,000 were killed and millions displaced in the bloody war which draws consequential similarity to the crisis under Abiy Ahmed.
