President Joe Biden's administration has appointed diplomat Mike Hammer as Washington's new envoy to the Horn of Africa, as US policy faces mounting challenges in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia.
Mr Hammer is the third person to be appointed to the position in 13 months: David Satterfield left the position in April and Jeffrey Feltman left in January.
He comes to the position at a critical time, as Sudan continues to reel from a military coup, as Somalia faces increased aggression by extremist group Al Shabab, and as the conflict in Ethiopia rages on.
In a statement on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Mr Hammer's "appointment underscores our abiding commitment to diplomatic efforts in the region”, singling out the importance of “an inclusive political process towards peace, common security and prosperity for all people in Ethiopia”.
Mr Blinken reiterated Washington’s commitment to achieve “a cessation of hostilities, unhindered humanitarian access, transparent investigations into violations and human rights abuses by all actors, and a negotiated resolution to the conflict”.
Tigray war over the past year — in pictures
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Captive Ethiopian soldiers arrive at the Mekele Rehabilitation Centre in Tigray, Ethiopia, after a four-day journey from Abdi Eshir. All photos: AFP -
Women welcome Tigray People's Liberation Front fighters as they return to Mekele after seizing control of the city in June 2021. -
Ethiopians who fled the Tigray conflict wait to charge their phones at Um Raquba refugee camp in Gedaref, Sudan. -
A member of the Afar Special Forces stands in front of the debris of a house on the outskirts of the village of Bisober in Tigray. -
People hold candles and Ethiopian flags at a memorial service for the victims of the Tigray conflict in Addis Ababa. -
An Ethiopian refugee who fled fighting in Tigray waits behind a fence in a camp in Sudan. -
Refugees living in a camp in Sudan after fleeing violence in Tigray. -
A woman walks among the remains of a destroyed factory in Ataye, Ethiopia, where more than 100 civilians died in a recent flare-up of violence. -
Two members of the Amhara militia ride in the back of a pick-up truck. Amharas and Tigrayans were uneasy neighbours before the current fighting, with tension over land sparking violent clashes. -
Militias from the Amhara region have been involved in the fighting in Tigray. -
Tens of thousands of Ethiopians gather at a rally organised by the mayor of Addis Ababa to show support for the military's efforts in Tigray. -
Zeleke Alabachew, farmer and militia fighter, tends to his land near the village of Tekeldengy, Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation. -
People celebrate the liberation of opposition leaders in the city of Alamata, Ethiopia. -
A family fleeing violence sit in a former classroom at May Weyni secondary school, now hosting 10,500 displaced people, in Mekele, capital of Tigray. -
Ethiopian refugees travel to Sudan to escape violence in Tigray. -
Ethiopian refugees gather to celebrate the 46th anniversary of the Tigray People's Liberation Front at Um Raquba refugee camp in Gedaref, Sudan. The TPLF dominated Ethiopian politics before being ousted from their regional stronghold last year. -
An Ethiopian refugee sets up a tent in a camp in the town of Gedaref, Sudan, after being transported from the border reception centre. -
Pro-Tigrayan demonstrators display placards during a protest in front of the chancellery in Berlin. -
The aftermath of heavy shelling in Wukro, a city north of Mekele, in Ethiopia.
The war in Ethiopia's Tigray region, which began last July, continues and the conflict has widened, with a number of shifts in alliances. In the Amhara region this week, the Ethiopian government began mass detentions of members of the Fano militia, its former allies.
Mr Blinken's statement made no mention of other pressing crises in the region, however: in Sudan, the administration has failed to return the country to civilian rule following the military takeover at the end of October, and in Somalia, a rising threat from Al Shabab led the US to send troops to the country last month.
The new envoy brings a different portfolio to the position: while Mr Satterfield and Mr Feltman's diplomatic careers had previously focused mostly on the Middle East, Mr Hammer, among his numerous roles, served recently as ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Cameron Hudson, senior associate on African peace, security, and governance issues at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said Mr Hammer's appointment will bring a more Africa-focused hand to the position.
“He is coming from the [US State Department's] Africa Bureau and will be seen as more of a team player than perhaps previous envoys,” Mr Hudson said.
Rifts within the Bureau of African Affairs have previously undermined US policy in the region and ultimately led to Mr Satterfield’s departure.
Mr Hammer's "background in the Africa Bureau recognises a perennial complaint of our previous Horn envoys that they have largely been drawn from the Middle East and lack Africa-specific knowledge. This corrects that,” Mr Hudson told The National.
But he added that it remains unclear how much attention and diplomatic capital the administration wants to bring to this position, expressing concern that Mr Blinken had left out other major problems in the region from his statement.
“This statement, by only referencing Ethiopia, suggests that this is now established policy and that the other pressing policy concerns in the region will continue to suffer from a lack of attention from Washington,” he said.
The bigger question concerns the envoy’s mandate and “whether the administration will look to recalibrate his portfolio to account for changes on the ground in Ethiopia, the redeployment of troops to Somalia and the failing civilian transition in Sudan”, Mr Hudson said.
