With respect, Ambassador — the record says otherwise. Dialogue requires two willing parties.

Re: Remarks at the Gibi Centre concerning the Fano movement and dialogue

Dear Ambassador Masinga,

We write to you with the respect owed to a senior diplomat of a nation whose founding values include the defence of human rights, and with the candour that the gravity of the current situation demands.

It has been reported that, in remarks delivered at the Gibi Centre, you characterised the Fano self-defence movement as unwilling to participate in dialogue. We contest this characterisation, and we respectfully ask you to consider the record.

The Fano movement — a self-organised armed resistance comprising farmers, teachers, civil servants, and young people — arose in direct response to a military campaign launched by the Ethiopian government against the Amhara regional state. It is not an insurgency that seeks conquest. It is a population defending itself.

The Amhara people and their representatives have repeatedly and publicly expressed willingness to engage in inclusive, internationally monitored peace negotiations. What they have refused is a process in which one party arrives with drones and the other is asked to disarm unilaterally, with no accountability for the documented atrocities already committed, and no guarantees of civilian protection.

The United States has significant leverage over the Ethiopian government through development finance, military cooperation agreements, and diplomatic relationships. That leverage has, with respect, not been applied proportionally to the scale of the documented violations.

We ask you to:

1. Review the documented record — compiled by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Lemkin Institute, the ECLJ, and others — before characterising the Fano movement’s position on dialogue;
2. Apply equivalent pressure on the Ethiopian government to make concrete, verifiable gestures toward peace — including ending drone strikes on civilian areas, restoring communications, and releasing political detainees;
3. Publicly acknowledge that dialogue requires two willing and accountable parties, not the unilateral capitulation of a civilian population under military attack.

The United States’ credibility as a guarantor of peace in the Horn of Africa depends on even-handedness. We urge you, Ambassador, to exercise that even-handedness now.

Yours faithfully,

Federation of Amhara Associations in Europe