Africa-Press – Ethiopia. Despite some challenges, Ethiopia has achieved commendable diplomatic victory over the past year, according to Ministry of Foreign affairs.
In his weekly media briefing, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Ambassador Dina Mufti highlighted some diplomatic challenges encountered and achievements registered during the just concluded Ethiopian year.
He said one of the positive achievements is related with the construction of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
“We were able to withstand all the pressures to take the GERD file to the UN Security Council and to further internationalize and securitize it. We showed our confidence in the ability of the African Union to lead the negotiation over the GERD guided by the principle of, “African Solutions to African problems.”
According to him, the GERD issues is a huge diplomatic victory for Ethiopia as the second round filling of the dam was also realized during the year.
The general election and the green legacy initiative were also among the positive achievements that the nation has registered over the past one year, the Spokesperson added.
The general election conducted last June was one of the victories that Ethiopia has registered as the election was acclaimed by several international observers and organizations for its fairness, democratic and peacefulness.
The green legacy initiative being implemented across the nation is another success story that Ethiopia attained to contribute its part for world climate change, he said.
The initiatives have helped the diplomats to positively portray the image of the country besides adorning Ethiopia with billions of planted seedlings, he stated.
Ethiopian embassies in the neighboring countries have also been busy sharing seedlings sent from Ethiopia to the countries that they represent in addition to sharing experiences on the project.
“Ethiopia’s commitment to share the Green Legacy Initiative showed Ethiopia’s goodwill to its the development of its neighbors, positively and collectively impact the environment and strengthen regional integration.”
The commitment to bringing Ethiopian citizen from abroad those stranded because of various difficulties has been outstanding things, he said adding that despite many other success stories, the challenges are still paramount.
According to Ambassador Dina, the participation of the diaspora has been realized with regard to protecting Ethiopian sovereignty, peace and security.
Following the unwarranted attack of the TPLF against the Ethiopian National Defense Force, the government took a successful law enforcement operation and the threat posed against the sovereignty of the country curbed.
He noted that we have seen unfair external pressure and negative portrayal of the government’s narrative by the media and some corners of the international community considering the terrorist TPLF as a victim whitewashing almost all of its misdeeds.
However, Dina said the truth, at last, is prevailing with Ethiopia’s concerted effort in shaping the social media narrative and influencing some reluctant bodies to officially condemn the wrongs of the terrorist group.
He expressed his hope that the establishment of the new government in early October will be undertaken, noting that with all-inclusive dialogue with relevant bodies, peace will be returned to the affected people in the Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions.
With Regards to Ethio-Sudan border dispute, the situation has not been improved but Ethiopia is handling the issue with utmost care and seriousness, he said.
“We still want to bring the international community to the fact that Sudanese are illegally kept occupying Ethiopia’s legitimate territory and we would like to demand our partners to push Sudanese party to withdraw,” he underlined.
On other hand, the false claim made by some Sudanese officials about the shipment of weapons by Ethiopian Airlines, is primarily to tarnish the image of Ethiopian Airlines, Dina stressed.
