A peaceful demonstration in solidarity with the Ethiopian people and government was held in front of the US Embassy in Kingston on December 10.

The protest was in support of the Ethiopian Government’s effort to restore law and order and to put down an armed insurrection from the rebel groups led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and against all forms of foreign interference in Ethiopia’s internal affairs.

The unrest in Ethiopia started early November 2020 when the TPLF, admittedly, and without provocation, ambushed federal troops stationed in the border area to protect Ethiopia’s northern border, by the rebel forces led by the TPLF. 

Hundreds of Ethiopian officers and thousands of soldiers were captured and executed. The unrest has since spread to other regions of Ethiopia, with claims of atrocities observed in the conflict against the forces on both sides of the conflict.

The fighting has resulted in the death of millions of people and the internal displacement of civilians in the affected regions, with the threat of starvation of millions of the displaced population. 

The Rastafari community was joined by Pan-Africanists, members of the Ethiopian community in Jamaica, and the wider population of peace-loving people across Jamaica and elsewhere, who were upset at the position taken by the US and its allies in support of the rebel forces and against the democratically elected Government of Ethiopia. 

Specifically, the US and its allies have threatened to impose economic sanctions on Ethiopia.

Of particular importance is the threatened suspension of Ethiopia from participating in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which forms a critical part of Ethiopia’s industrial, manufacturing, investment and growth activities.  Suspension of Ethiopia would threaten social and economic stability and further complicate efforts at securing a just and lasting peace.

The organisers of the protest called on the US Government to use its immense power and influence in a balanced way,  in order to secure lasting peace and stability in Ethiopia in the shortest possible time. 

Additionally, the organisers of the event remain concerned at the threat to the unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia brought about by the conflict and are, therefore, calling on all foreign intervention that undermines the prospects for peace, unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia, to cease such interference and to embrace their call for an honourable settlement of the dispute among Ethiopians.  

The organizers of the event also reached out to members of the Caribbean diaspora to explain the Ethiopian Government’s perspectives, and its efforts to defeat the propaganda of Western media and TPLF. 

Yodit Hylton, Honorary Consul for Ethiopia in Jamaica. expressed that: “We are called upon to defend the motherland, and to preserve the freedoms passed on to us by our ancestors. This is an ongoing struggle to which we are being summoned to respond, in order to achieve the peace and unity Ethiopia deserves. To this end, Ethiopia invites the Caribbean Governments and people’s advocacy in the name of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, George Padmore and other great Pan Africanists, to the cause of defending Ethiopia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity from its enemies, both internal and external.”