Addis Abeba — U.S. President Joe Biden renewed for the second time the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14046 with respect to Ethiopia imposing sanctions on certain persons with respect to the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Ethiopia.

President Biden first announced the Executive Order on 17 Sept. 2021, in the backdrop of then ongoing war in Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions Ethiopia, 'which has been marked by "widespread violence, atrocities, and serious human rights abuse, including those involving ethnic-based violence, rape and other forms of gender-based violence, and obstruction of humanitarian operations -- constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat."

Renewing the EO for second time on 7 September, the White House said Ethiopia "continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14046 of September 17, 2021, must continue in effect beyond September 17, 2023."

Among the conditions outlined in the full text of the EO in 2021 was US's support to promote a negotiated ceasefire and political resolution to the war, the withdrawal of Eritrean forces from Ethiopia, and to promote the unity, territorial integrity, and stability of Ethiopia.

Although the two-year atrocious war has since come to an end with a cessation of hostilities agreement signed between the federal government and the TPLF in Pretoria in November 2022, the federal government has so far failed to ensure the withdrawal of Eritrean forces who continued committing war crimes including abductions and sexual violence in Tigray's Irob Woreda,

A new report released by Amnesty International on 5 September also documented "war crimes and possible crime against humanity" that included extrajudicial killings, rape, sexual slavery and pillaging committed by Eritrean troops in the months following the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) on 02 November, 2022. The atrocities occurred primarily in the districts of Kokob Tsibah and Mariam Shewito near the Eritrean border, Amnesty said.