The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia today issued statement reacting to the U.S decision to impose visa restriction of Ethiopian officials.
The statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia stated that Ethiopia “finds it unfortunate to learn about the decision by the United States to continue exerting undue pressure on Ethiopia by imposing visa restrictions on Ethiopian officials”
Below is the full statement:
“This is in addition to its previous decisions to restrict economic and security assistance to Ethiopia. In this regard, the Ethiopian Government would like to state the following points:
This decision came at a time when the Ethiopian Government has been engaging positively and constructively with the U.S.
Washington, D.C. – Joint IRI/NDI Pre-Election Assessment Delegation Releases Report on Preparations for Ethiopia 2021 Elections:
Following a high-level virtual pre-election assessment delegation conducted from April 9 to 26, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) announce the release of their joint report on the preparations for Ethiopia’s elections scheduled for June 5, 2021.
The joint IRI/NDI delegation was led by: Ambassador Johnnie Carson, NDI Board Member and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; Honorable Constance Berry Newman, IRI Board Member and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; and Honorable Ahmed Issack Hassan, former Chairperson of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia said the Government of Ethiopia has rejected European Union’s (EU) preconditions to deploy election observers describing the preconditions as violation of sovereignty of the country.
EU, which requested the government of Ethiopia to send its team of election observers has demanded the Government of Ethiopia to bring its own VSAT telecommunications for the elections observers it is planning to deploy to observe Ethiopia’s 6th general election scheduled to take place in June this year.
The EU has also demanded to announce election result ahead of Ethiopian of National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, which the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Ambassador Dina Mufti, denounced in strong terms as violation of Ethiopia’s sovereignty.