Ethiopians, Eritreans protest outside US Congress to condemn American interventionism in Ethiopia

WASHINGTON — Thousands of Ethiopians, Eritreans and their allies rallied outside the US State Department on Friday as part of the #NoMore campaign opposing US intervention in the Horn of Africa. Their protest comes as the US’ chief envoy to the Horn, Jeffrey Feltman, is visiting several countries connected to the conflict after failing to secure a ceasefire.

The crowd chanted “fake news CNN” and “no more TPLF,” referring to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, a rebel group with Western support that earlier this year made a blitz on the capital from the northern Tigray state.

Their offensive was blunted and reversed by the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), the military forces loyal to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Many at the rally carried signs hailing Abiy’s democratic victory in July, the country’s first-ever contested elections, and asking why the US would support the TPLF’s attempt to overthrow him.

The Ethiopian parliament decreed the TPLF to be a terrorist organization in May, several months after the group launched an uprising by attacking ENDF forces in Tigray.

Some carried signs expressing their fears that the United States will turn Ethiopia into another war-marred failed state like Afghanistan or Libya.

“We are pro-democracy. The US government intervention has to be stopped and we are asking that US intervention be stopped against a democratically-elected Ethiopian leader,” one attendee at the rally told Sputnik. “We want to stop TPLF intervention, we want to stop TPLF brutal, absolutely brutal action in Afar and Amhara regions and all we are asking for is what the US really wants for its own citizens: having the democratically-elected government in place. That’s all we’re asking.”

Their fears are not without merit: a video leaked late last month revealed numerous Western diplomats, including the present US ambassador to Somalia, Donald Yamamoto, meeting secretly with a senior TPLF official, cheering on their military success, and speaking of a potential post-Abiy “transition government” once they captured Addis Ababa.

Another man who attended the rally brought three large signs bearing photos: one of African-American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; one of Organization of Afro-American Unity founder Malcolm X; and one of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie with African leaders who led their countries to independence from European empires, including Uganda’s Milton Obote, Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, and Zambia’s Kenneth Kuanda.

“These are African and American fighters. We are tired of the US or the West telling us what’s good for us. They fought for their rights, Ethiopia’s trying to fight for their rights also,” he told Sputnik. “The US should not be telling African countries who their leaders are.”

“It doesn’t make sense how the US wants to alienate 100 million people and choose a small group that’s terrorist, stolen billions of dollars and using that money to hire lobbyists here in the US to facilitate their agenda. It’s very misguided and it’s pushing Ethiopia towards the East. It’s not in the US’ best standard of foreign policy to allow Ethiopia to go this route,” he added.

The protesters then marched from the State Department to the US Capitol, by then numbering many thousands, in a procession that took them through the heart of the US capital city at midday.