Author: Hunanian Jack

AL-Monitor
[Turkey was forced to relocate its Ethiopian embassy to Kenya after
increasing threat out of its involvement in the country’s clashes with
the Tigray rebels by supplying combat drones to Addis Ababa.]
By Fehim Tastekin
Jan. 21, 2022
Turkey has relocated its Ethiopian embassy to Kenya in the face of
increasing threats over the role of Turkish drones in the clashes
between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray rebels, proving the
warnings about potential impacts of Ankara’s drones sale to foreign
countries without setting restrictions.
The relocation was first reported by veteran diplomatic correspondent
Barcin Yinanc. While the Turkish government remains mum, a diplomatic
source, speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, confirmed
the move.
The threats to the embassy intensified by November, another source
close to the government told Al-Monitor. The Turkish Foreign Ministry
decided to move embassy activities to neighboring Kenya in
mid-December after advanced weapons were found as near as 200 meters
from the embassy compound, the source added.
Ankara’s role in clashes between the Ethiopian government and
separatist Tigray rebels in the north have become controversial both
in Ethiopia and the international community after Turkey sold
Bayraktar TB2 armed drones to Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia obtained six of the 13 TB2 drones it had purchased from
Turkey under a military cooperation deal signed between Turkey’s
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ethiopia's Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The Turkish drones have reportedly
been used in the government forces’ repulsion of the Tigray rebels
from northern Afar and Amhara regions. Tigrayans took to social media,
calling on Ankara to stop the sale.
As the anger of the ethnic Tigrayans was growing, Istanbul hosted the
Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit Dec. 16-18, with Erdogan seeking to
sell more combat drones to the continent, ignoring the backlash.
Erdogan underscores the success of the Turkish drones --manufactured
by Baykar, a company owned by the family of Erdogan’s son-in-law
Selcuk Bayraktar-- in every occasion in a bid to disperse the dark
clouds over the country's gripping economic woes.
“Even in Africa, they asked for drones and armed drones wherever I
went,” he boasted in October during a visit to Baykar, the
manufacturer of the Bayraktar. Erdogan’s remarks came just after his
Africa tour to Angola, Togo and Nigeria during which marketing drones
was the top agenda item.
During a return visit in July, Angolan President Joao Manuel Goncalves
Lourenco expressed his country’s desire to acquire Turkish combat
drones and armored military carriers. In November, Niger President
Mohamed Bazoum and Erdogan discussed the African nation’s purchase of
arms to fight extremist jihadi groups.
Having inked military cooperation agreements with 25 African
countries, Turkey has so far sold military hardware to Burkina Faso,
Algeria, Chad, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger,
Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Rwanda and Uganda. Morocco received the
first batch of 12 Turkish drones in September under a deal agreed in
May 2021.
Several factors have fueled appetite for the Turkish combat drones:
Their success in the Nagorno-Karabakh, Libyan and Syrian conflicts;
relatively cheaper price tags compared to their competitors; absence
of any pre-conditions or human rights restrictions limiting their use;
and absence of delays such as parliamentary approval.
While some hail Ankara's growing military sales, experts, including
increasing number of pro-government voices, warn that militarizing
ties with African countries could complicate Ankara’s ties with the
continent, dragging Turkey into the internal conflicts.
The Turkish government has simply dismissed these warnings, saying
that European countries’ military hardware sales to the continent
hardly spark such criticisms.
Yet Ankara can hardly avoid the criticism as Turkey’s drone sales to
Ethiopia have become particularly problematic at a time when
international organizations sound alarm on increasing civilian
casualties from government air strikes.
"At least 108 civilians have reportedly been killed and 75 others
injured since the year began as a result of air strikes allegedly
carried out by the Ethiopian air force," Liz Throssell, a spokesperson
of the UN human rights office OHCHR said in a press conference in
Geneva on Jan 14. Although the Ethiopian government does not
officially confirm the strikes were conducted by its forces, the
Tigray rebels have no air force.
Most recently, on Jan 8, an air strike on a refugee camp in the Tigray
region killed 56 people, including children and aid workers, wounding
30 and unleashing international outrage. On Jan 5, an airstrike by the
Ethiopian air forces hit a refugee camp in the southern Tigrayan town
of Mai Tsebri, killing three Eritrean refugees, including two
children.
The conflict has also landed on the radar of the Biden administration.
In a phone call with Ethiopia's premier Ahmed, President Joe Biden
expressed his concerns over the airstrikes.
In addition to the civilian casualties and rampant human rights
violations, the UN has also reported that more than 2 million people
were displaced during the clashes and that millions were at risk of
famine.
The situation prompted a rare political appeal by the Nobel Peace
Prize committee. "As prime minister and peace prize laureate Abiy
Ahmed has a special responsibility to end the conflict and contribute
to making peace.” the committee said in a statement in early January.
The armed clashes in Ethiopia reignited in September 2020 after the
government postponed the general elections due to the COVID-19
pandemic. Defying the government’s decision, rebels held regional
elections in the Tigray region. The central government declared these
elections illegal, and clashes started. The battle intensified after
an attack on an Ethiopian military base in November 2020.
The conflict will have ramifications for the future of Turkey's
relations with Ethiopia and the broader region. The clashing parties
still can find a compromise under growing international pressure, yet
Ethiopia will likely remain a diplomatic and political minefield for
Ankara.