Kjetil Tronvoll on the war on Tigray -- "African Solutions to African Problems" is a defunct idea.

Kjetil Tronvoll argues, drawing on historical experiences and founding documents, that the African Union (AU) is by design unfit to mediate between the Ethiopian (and Eritrean) regimes and the Tigray government. He says that the fact the it is based in Addis Ababa has historically hamstrung it from being an impartial mediator on Ethiopian affairs. He adds that since the normal recourse of the international community is to leave local matters to local entities, and since the AU is the local entity in charge of "African Problems", any hope that peace could come through AU-led mediation is naive. He dismisses the oft-used phrase "African solutions to African problems" as defunct. Regarding the AU High Representative Olusegun Obasanjo, he says he lacks the stamina and vigour needed to understand a complex matter. In a rather damning assessment of the inaction of the international community on the war on Tigray, he says actors in the international community have been naive to expect that Isaias-dictated Ethiopia would be stable. He accuses some actors in the international community of being patronising and lazy in not wanting to take the belligerents as rational actors, instead resorting to the condescending attitude of saying African wars are just business as usual. He advises actors in the international community to find an alternative way to bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Specifically, he urges that Mike Hammer, the US envoy to the Horn of Africa, should get a new mandate and Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State, should be more involved in the process. Kjetil Tronvoll is a professor and vice rector for research at Oslo New University College. You can follow him at https://twitter.com/KjetilTronvoll?s=... for his commentaries on Ethiopian affairs. His latest essay on Ethiopian, titled "Falling from Grace: The Collapse of Ethiopia's Ruling Coalition," can be found here: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/866991