Support H.R 6600 -Concerted Effort to bring Stabilization and Peace in Ethiopia

Your Excellency, As your constituent, I would first of all like to thank you for your continued efforts to promote peace & human rights across the world, including in Ethiopia. I am writing to you today to call on you to support H.R 6600 - Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace and Democracy Act. Despite the goodwill behind the introduction of the bill, diaspora groups in support of both the Ethiopian and Eritrean regimes have engaged in misinformation and disinformation campaigns targeting members of the government deploying accusatory messages, emails, social media posts and letters. Currently these groups are engaged in attempts to mislead members of the congress by making false claims that lack credibility but are also heinous when one considers that these efforts are intended to cover up a terrible humanitarian and human rights crisis that is affecting millions of Tigrayans - an ethnic minority. This campaign is part of the propaganda and disinformation maintained by the Ethiopian government targeting the international community. It is engaged in an aggressive and at times actively hostile stance toward the international community using both mainstream media and social media to intimidate and silence the diplomatic community, humanitarian organizations, and the international media. Government officials and affiliated media and personalities deliberately disseminate conspiracies, doctored images, videos and other manipulated media to deny well-documented atrocities while at the same time maintaining a draconian communication blockade on Tigray, restricting domestic and international media, and harassing aid agencies to dilute reports. Evenmore grievously the Ethiopian government has attempted to exploit the ideals of pan-Africanism to co-opt African support for a brutal civil war within the confines of an African state. Moreover the regime of Prime Minister Abiy continues to divert all resources to further fuel the ongoing civil war while also pushing forward with the claim of national dialogue without addressing widespread concerns about lack of inclusion and transparency. Furthermore, the Ethiopian government and its allies in the diaspora have at all times worked to avoid accountability for gross violations of humanitarian and human rights laws including by hindering good faith efforts to document, assess, and address the situation. This has included aggresive attacks against human rights organizations who have reported on the war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide perpetrated on the civilian population. It is, therefore, for the US government and other good faith actors to define and ensure concerted effort to put an end to the ongoing genocide against the Tigrayan ethnic minority in Ethiopia. H.R 6600 - Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace and Democracy Act is an essential step in this regard, and I truly appreciate your support of this effort.