U.S. government officials must press the Government of Ethiopia to do everything in its power to avoid armed conflict with Eritrea. The Appropriations Committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives should provide humanitarian assistance at appropriate levels to meet the basic needs of the people of Ethiopia. The U.S. Congress should actively fund and support judicial and security sector reform in Ethiopia.

In the spirit of current notification requirements for IMET and FMF funding to Ethiopia, the Appropriations Committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives should consider withholding a portion of both programs’ assistance until the Secretary of State certifies that assistance under these programs is not being used by Ethiopian security forces against Ethiopian civilians, including students and political opposition groups, with special attention to the Somali, Oromia and Gambella regions of Ethiopia.

The United States government should establish investigations to determine which units of the TFG and the Ethiopian armed forces are responsible for mass human rights violations, and military assistance should be conditioned for those units.

The U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN should call for the establishment of a long-overdue UN fact-finding mission on human rights conditions in the Somali Region.

Foreign Policy Recommendations on Eritrea

The U.S. government should make human rights central to U.S. relations with the Government of Eritrea and Eritrean civil society. The U.S. Ambassador to Eritrea and other U.S. officials should press the Government of Eritrea, directly and through mutual bilateral partners, to release all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally.

The U.S. Ambassador to Eritrea and other U.S. officials should actively monitor all political trials and visit political detainees in Asmara and other places in Eritrea, insist that trials and prison conditions adhere to international standards, and actively monitor the treatment of all prisoners of conscience and political detainees. The U.S. government must press the Government of Eritrea, directly and through mutual bilateral partners, to do everything in its power to avoid armed conflict with Ethiopia.