Recommendation 61

The UK Government has said that “Ethiopia is a strategically important partner for the UK in tackling poverty, regional instability and irregular migration”135 and that it “relies on a stable Ethiopia that is supportive of our foreign policy priorities in the Horn of Africa.”136, 137 The former DFID’s vision of Ethiopia was that “by 2020 Ethiopia is transforming into a stable, industrialised, resilient, more inclusive country, able to self- finance its way out of poverty and harness the potential of its youth.”138 The Integrated Review, published in March 2021, names Ethiopia as a partner in furthering shared prosperity goals, democratic values and security interests.139 In November 2020, the FCDO said, All parties to this conflict need to want to find a political solution and accept regional offers of mediation, to avoid a looming humanitarian crisis and the spread of fighting and suffering to other countries in the region. The UK has been a longstanding supporter of Ethiopia, which has established itself as a beacon of reform in Africa. This conflict is putting all of those reform efforts at risk.140 There is already unrest in other parts of Ethiopia ahead of the expected elections in June. There is violence and unrest in Amhara region and a part of Benishangul-Gumuz Region, home to the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (itself a source of tension with Egypt and Sudan) was taken over by an armed group in April.141