HR6600, S3199 Draft Bills Intent on Controlling, Monitoring Ethiopia: American Analyst

March 26/2022 /ENA/  The draft bills HR6600 and S3199 infringe Ethiopia’s sovereignty and are intent on setting up Ethiopia controlled by the US government,” Africa political-economic analyst Lawrence Freeman noted.
 

The American analyst told ENA that “the two bills are very harsh and uncalled for imposing sanctions on Ethiopia. In fact, both bills would infringe on Ethiopian sovereignty and set up Ethiopia essentially to be a government controlled and monitored by branches of the US government.”

The draft bills are very draconian on the Ethiopian government and threaten to withhold money from even the World Bank and IMF.

Freeman strongly believes that the ongoing threat is a result of geopolitical establishment to weaken the Ethiopian government.

According to him, “these bills are part of a policy which is ongoing by the United States geopolitical establishment to weaken the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed” because  they want to control the internal politics of Ethiopia and  the Horn of Africa. 

The analyst cited, for instance, an article published in the Washington Post calling for harsher sanctions aimed at the prime minister himself.

“My concern is that the geopolitical establishment wants to weaken the prime minister and wants to promote the TPLF so that the Government of Ethiopia cannot carry on its own independent sovereign policy.”

In this regard, Freeman stressed that Ethiopia need to understand that the manipulation is being used against the prime minister and his government. 

“The manipulation is being used by playing the resolutions in the House and Senate as the harsh hard cap and then trying to appear to have Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that the state department really wants to cooperate with him.”

The truth is both are going on at the same time to manipulate the Government of Ethiopia, he added. 

Acknowledging that Ethiopia and America have been showing a positive gesture to elevate the historical diplomatic ties, the analyst expounded that this could be a great step when the Biden Administration and Antony Blinken’s State Department were promoting a policy of regime change earlier.

However, he expressed his suspicion that regime change has been replaced by regime castration, that is to weaken the central government by playing up the ethnicity group TPLF.   

The State Department on the surface appears to be taking a softer position, but “I wouldn't put much credence in this,” he elaborated.

“My  belief is that Secretary Antony Blinken is using these two  resolutions to  manipulate and intimidate the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to carry out the demands that the US has. Now we got the state department that I’m told is telling the Ethiopian government: ‘We don't support these resolutions.’…. However, I don't trust the  State Department.”

He recalled that early last year at the very beginning of the conflict Secretary Blinken claimed  genocide was going on in Tigray region, ethnic cleansing as well as rape were being used as  weapon; and those are crimes against humanity.

The Secretary initiated these claims of genocide without substantiation and evidence, Freeman noted.

Since HR6600 and S3199 are very harsh and nasty bills to be used in attacking Ethiopia, the analyst urged the people and government of Ethiopia to be proactive against the draft bills.

“ I'm convinced that the long term policy coming from the geopolitical establishment in the West is to weaken the government in Addis Ababa and promote the ethnic grouping of TPLF,” the analyst pointed out.

Freeman lauded the diaspora in the United States and other countries for their efforts of going correctly and aggressively after HR 6600.

“They've done a very good job by targeting the Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and members of the committee. ”