UN will continue supporting Ethiopia to consolidate peace: Envoy

Addis Ababa, February 17, 2023 (FBC) – The United Nations will continue supporting Ethiopia to consolidate peace across the country and provide humanitarian assistance for the affected community, UN Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, United Nations Special Envoy of the Secretary General for the Horn of Africa, Hanna Serwaa Tetteh said the Horn of Africa is a region of great promise and opportunity.

She added that it is therefore important for us to recognize that the UN pay attention to peace and security challenges within the region to create a stable environment that promotes development.

The focus of the United Nations is to see how best to assist member states of the Horn of Africa and member states of the UN to stabilize their environment to be able to focus on the development priorities and achieving the objectives that would meet the interests of the people.

The special envoy noted that her office was an observer in the Ethiopia peace process that took place in Pretoria, adding that we continue to monitor developments with regard to the whole stabilisation of northern Ethiopia.

My colleagues who work with the UN humanitarian system have been delivering humanitarian support extensively, recognizing that this is post conflict environment. There is still much more to be done, Tetteh said.

“We sincerely look forward to supporting the people of Ethiopia in this process and we believe that your country has a lot to offer, not just for its citizen but for the rest of this continent as well.”

The envoy pointed out that the UN has been supporting (peace process) through our country team, providing humanitarian assistance in order to facilitate stabilization.

“The UN country team in Ethiopia as a whole works with the government on what the government has identified as its development priorities to make sure that we help you through our expertise and also through our ability to raise revenues and resources to implement your own development priorities, all with the view to consolidating in northern Ethiopia, consolidating the peace in the rest of Ethiopia for the promotion of development.”

According to her, the role of the UN is to work in support of its member states and to work together to consolidate peace efforts where UN is always available for that purpose.

“I appreciate the efforts that have been made by all the parties to the Ethiopian peace process with regard to Tigray and northern Ethiopia. It is promising. I think that it is important for us also to have the same focus across the rest of the country as well,” she noted.

The special envoy further explained that as an African she subscribes to the view of African solutions for African problems.

“I appreciate the need for Africa to be able to assert itself on the international stage. But we don’t live in an island. We connect with other countries as well,” she elaborated.

So, Tetteh stressed that it is important for Africans to find solutions within themselves. But it is also important to work with other organizations “where we have membership and where we have partnerships in order to achieve the desired results.”

Speaking about Ethiopia’s effort in infrastructural integration process, the special envoy said that the development in infrastructure has been significant. But it also needs to have a policy and regulatory focus as well in order to achieve the full benefits of promoting integration, according to ENA’s report.