U.S. Punishes Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea Over Human Rights Violation, Coup

By Our Foreign Correspondent

Published, Sunday, January 2, 2022

THE UNITED STATES ON SATURDAY PUNISH ETHIOPIA, MALI AND GUINEA over human rights violation and violently removing democratic government respectively.

The US cuts the three African countries from access to a duty-free trade program, following through on President Joe Biden’s threat to do so over alleged human rights violations and recent coups.

“The United States today (Saturday) terminated Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from the AGOA trade preference program due to actions taken by each of their governments in violation of the AGOA Statute,” the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said in a statement.

Ethiopian government has been variously alleged of human rights abuses since Ethiopia's military attacked the Tigray People's Liberation Front 13 months ago.  These abuses include extrajudicial killings and executions, widespread sexual and gender-based violence, torture, forced displacement, arbitrary detentions and others.

 

On the night of 24 May 2021 the Malian Army led by Vice President Assimi Goïta, who led 18^th August 2020’s coup and became vice-president of an interim government, captured President Bah N'daw, Mali's president and prime minister and toppled the transition government.

Similarly, President of Guinea Alpha Condé was captured by the country's armed forces in a coup d'état after gunfire in the capital, Conakry on 5 September 2021.

Biden said in November that Ethiopia would be cut off from the duty-free trading regime provided under the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) due to alleged human rights violations in the Tigray region, while Mali and Guinea were targeted due to recent coups.

The suspension of benefits threatens Ethiopia’s textile industry, which supplies global fashion brands, and the country’s nascent hopes of becoming a light manufacturing hub. It also piles more pressure on an economy reeling from the conflict, the coronavirus pandemic, and high inflation.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is deeply concerned by the unconstitutional change in governments in both Guinea and Mali, and by the gross violations of internationally recognized human rights being perpetrated by the Government of Ethiopia and other parties amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia,” the USTR statement said.

The AGOA trade legislation provides sub-Saharan African nations with duty-free access to the United States if they meet certain eligibility requirements, such as eliminating barriers to U.S. trade and investment and making progress toward political pluralism.

 “Each country has clear benchmarks for a pathway toward reinstatement and the Administration will work with their governments to achieve that objective,” it added.

The Washington embassies of the three African countries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ethiopia’s Trade Ministry said it November it was “extremely disappointed” by Washington’s announcement, saying the move would reverse economic gains and unfairly impact and harm women and children.

Source: Reuters