Tripartite Agreement (Horn of Africa)

Last updated

The Tripartite Agreement, officially the Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Cooperation Between Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, is a cooperation agreement signed by the leaders of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia on 5 September 2018. [1] Designed to "promote regional peace and security" in the Horn of Africa, the agreement was signed in Asmara by Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed, Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmaajo) and Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki. [1] The tripartite meeting was followed by tripartite meetings in November 2018 and January 2020.

Contents

Terms of September 2018 agreement

The agreement states that given their "close ties of geography, history, culture and religion as well as vital common interests" and "respecting each other's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity", the three countries agree to cooperate and "build close political, economic, social, cultural and security ties", coordinate to "promote regional peace and security" and establish a Joint High-Level Committee to coordinate the implementation. [1]

Subsequent meetings

The second tripartite meeting was planned for November 2018, with the three national leaders meeting in Gondar and Bahir Dar in Amhara Region. [2]

On 27 January 2020, Abiy, Isaias and Farmaajo held a Tripartite meeting in Asmara. They adopted a Joint Plan of Action for 2020 focussing on "peace, stability, security, and economic and social development" and including a "security" component to "combat and neutralise ... terrorism, arms and human trafficking and drugs smuggling". [3]

Reactions and analysis

The day following the agreement, Stefano Manservisi  [ de ], the European Commission's Director-General for International Cooperation and Development, welcomed the agreement, stating it "represents an important step to be welcome for peace and development in the Horn and its neighbourood". [4]

Martin Plaut, a journalist specialising in Africa, commented on the lack of a press conference following the January 2020 meeting and criticized the lack of details regarding the Tripartite plans. Plaut suggested that the January meeting, together with bilateral meetings by Abiy to an Eritrean military base in July 2020, Farmaajo to Asmara on 4 October 2020, and Isaias to the Harar Meda Airport air base in Bishoftu on 14–15 October 2020 were used by the three leaders to discuss and prepare strategy for the Tigray War. [5]

In 2021, political scientist Goitom Gebreluel described the 2018 agreement as having the "aim of moulding the regional order according to [the] domestic political ideals" of the three leaders, each of whom were "opposed to federalism, the accommodation of ethnonational diversity, and institutionalised governance" and favoured themselves as powerful leaders running centralised states. He viewed the agreement as destabilising the Horn of Africa, leading to conflicts including the Tigray War. He argued that the three leaders handled inter-state relations similarly to their handling of domestic issues, "conduct[ing] diplomacy through personal channels and resolv[ing] disputes through military means". [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaias Afwerki</span> President of Eritrea since 1993

Isaias Afwerki is an Eritrean politician and partisan who has been the first and only president of Eritrea since 1993. In addition to being president, Isaias has been the chairman of Eritrea's sole legal political party, the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abiy Ahmed</span> Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018

Abiy Ahmed Ali is the third Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018, and as the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea". Abiy served as the third chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that governed Ethiopia for 28 years and the first person of Oromo descent to hold that position. Abiy is a member of the Ethiopian parliament, and was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), one of the then four coalition parties of the EPRDF, until its rule ceased in 2019 and he formed his own party, the Prosperity Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eritrea–Ethiopia relations</span> Bilateral relations

Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have been historically adversarial. Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after the Eritrean War of Independence, after which relations were cordial. Since independence Eritrea's relationship with Ethiopia was entirely political, especially in the resuscitation and expansion of IGAD's scope. However, the 1998 Eritrean–Ethiopian War marked a turning point, and their relationship became increasingly hostile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Eritrea–Ethiopia summit</span> Bilateral summit of Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2018

The 2018 Eritrea–Ethiopia summit was a bilateral summit that took place on 8–9 July 2018 in Asmara, Eritrea, between Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and officials from the two countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Ethiopian general election</span>

The 2021 Ethiopian general election to elect members of the House of Peoples' Representatives was held on 21 June 2021 and 30 September 2021. Regional elections were also held on those dates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prosperity Party</span> Ruling political party in Ethiopia

The Prosperity Party is a political party in Ethiopia that was established on 1 December 2019 as a successor to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) by incumbent Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The merger into a countrywide party is part of Abiy's general policy of distancing the country's politics from ethnic federalism. It ran for the first time in the 2021 general election.

Events of 2020 in Ethiopia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tigray War</span> Armed conflict in Ethiopia from 2020 to 2022

The Tigray War was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between forces allied to the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on the other.

This timeline of the Tigray War is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.

Arena Tigray or Arena Tigray For Democracy and Sovereignty is an Ethiopian political party based in the Tigray Region and participating in the Medrek coalition federally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tigrayan peace process</span> Process of ending the Tigray War

The Tigrayan peace process encompasses the series of proposals, meetings, agreements and actions that aimed to resolve the Tigray War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian civil conflict (2018–present)</span> Episode of intrastate conflicts during Abiy Ahmeds administration

The ongoing Ethiopian civil conflict began with the 2018 dissolution of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (ERPDF), an ethnic federalist, dominant party political coalition. After the 20 year war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, a decade of internal tensions, two years of protests, and a state of emergency, Hailemariam Desalegn resigned on 15 February 2018 as prime minister and EPRDF chairman, and there were hopes of peace under his successor Abiy Ahmed. However, war broke out in the Tigray Region, with resurgent regional and ethnic factional attacks throughout Ethiopia. The civil wars caused substantial human rights violations, war crimes, and extrajudicial killings.

Operation Alula Aba Nega, commonly shortened to Operation Alula, was a counter-offensive during the Tigray War by the Tigray Defense Forces against the Ethiopian military and its allies in Tigray. The operation was named after Ethiopian general Ras Alula Aba Nega, who was of Tigrayan descent. The offensive was launched on 11 June 2021 and recaptured vast swaths of territory across central and eastern Tigray, including the regional capital of Mekelle.

This Timeline of the Tigray War is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Abiy Ahmed</span> Administration of Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed since 2018

Abiy Ahmed is currently the third serving Prime Minister of Ethiopia. In 2018, he became the first ever Oromo descent to assume the role of prime minister in the history of Ethiopia. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in his second year as a prime minister of Ethiopia in 2019 becoming the eighth African laureates to win the award for peace.

The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule, reducing ethnic tensions, promoting regional autonomy, and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive, both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict, and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify, authoritarian state policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eritrean involvement in the Tigray War</span> Eritrea in the Tigray War

Since the start of Tigray War in November 2020, the Eritrean government has been heavily involved in the war against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in support of the Ethiopian government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reactions to the Tigray War</span> Global reactions to the Tigray War

The events of the Tigray War have sparked numerous reactions and protests worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopia–Tigray peace agreement</span> Peace treaty signed in 2022

The Ethiopia–Tigray peace agreement, commonly called the Pretoria Agreement or the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA), is a peace treaty between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) that was signed 2 November 2022, wherein both parties agreed to a "permanent cessation of hostilities" to end the Tigray War. The agreement was made effective the next day on 3 November, marking the two-year anniversary of the war.

Anti-Eritrean sentiment is a broad opposition, bias, discrimination and hatred against Eritrea, its government and people. Anti-Eritrean attitude is prevalent amongst Tigrayan elites, who were crucial parts for downfall of the Derg regime in 1991. The 1998 border war exacerbated their relations as both parties accused each other for the territorial claims. Eritrean involvement in the Tigray War further aggravated anti-Eritrean feelings amongst Tigrayans.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Plaut, Martin (6 September 2018). "Text of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somali agreement". Eritrea Focus . Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  2. ↑ "News: Second tripartite meeting between Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia to take place in Amhara regional state". Addis Standard . 8 November 2018. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  3. ↑ "Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia adopts 2020 joint plan". Fana Broadcasting Corporate . 27 January 2020. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  4. ↑ Shaban, Abdur Rahman Alfa (6 September 2018). "Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia pact boost for regional peace, devt: EU". Africanews. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  5. ↑ Plaut, Martin (23 January 2021). "What are the war aims of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia in Tigray?". Eritrea Hub . Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  6. ↑ Goitom Gebreluel (10 May 2021). "The tripartite alliance destabilising the Horn of Africa". aljazeera.com . Wikidata   Q126881858. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.