Exclusive: Democrats urge Rubio to act on Ethiopia

Leading Senate Democrats want the US to restrict arms to Ethiopia and expand TPS amid escalating tensions. Democratic senators are urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to intervene diplomatically to address the crisis in Ethiopia, warning that renewed fighting in Tigray and escalating tensions with Eritrea could spiral into a multi-front war destabilizing the region. In a letter shared first with Semafor, lawmakers led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, asked the State Department to back an immediate ceasefire and new mediation including groups left out of the 2022 Pretoria Agreement.

They also called for halting new arms sales to Ethiopia, reinstating Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopians in the US, and surging food aid as the fighting worsens the impact of drought on a deeply food insecure population. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. — expected to succeed the retiring Shaheen and chair the committee when Democrats take the Senate in January — also signed the letter, alongside the other three Democratic members of the committee’s Africa panel.

“US diplomatic engagement has lacked the urgency, visibility, and coordination commensurate with the threat of another devastating civil war in Ethiopia and regional conflict,” the senators wrote. They warned against putting Eritrea’s Port of Assab — which Ethiopia wants to control — on the negotiating table. The State Department didn’t immediately return a request for comment. Clashes in Tigray resumed in August, and in late September the Tigray People’s Liberation Front-led regional government launched an offensive after weeks of drone and artillery attacks from Ethiopia’s government.

The TPLF was fighting alongside other armed opposition groups, but the campaign stalled within days and federal forces retook most of Tigray. Eritrean forces reportedly crossed the border to support the TPLF, though the country denies it. The Trump administration imposed visa restrictions on TPLF “hardliners” in June, but lifted its arms-export ban on Ethiopia in May and let the sanctions program targeting the conflict lapse in September. Rubio called for de-escalation during an October call with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed; a State Department statement described “peace through dialogue” as “the only path toward sustainable security, economic growth, and prosperity.”