Foreign Affairs Democrats: ‘Trump is confused’ on Ethiopian claim

by Marty Johnson - 01/10/20 4:19 PM ET

The House Foreign Affairs Committee called out President Trump for seemingly taking credit for the peace deal brokered between Ethiopia and Eritrea that led to Ethiopia’s prime minister being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

At a campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday night, Trump told the crowd: “I made a deal, I saved a country, and I just heard that the head of that country is now getting the Nobel Peace Prize for saving the country.”

The president reportedly did not have an impact on the Ethiopia-Eritrea peace deal, but has played a role in a trying to get a deal done between Ethiopia and Egypt that will determine how quickly Ethiopia can fill its newly built damn on the upper part of the Nile River, The Washington Post reports.

The Foreign Affairs Committee tweeted that Trump was “confused” about why Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Trump is confused. [Abiy] was awarded the @NobelPrize for his efforts to bring peace to the Horn of Africa, not stalled negotiations about a new dam on the Nile,” the committee tweeted.

The majority-Democrat committee took a dig at the president, saying: “If they gave the Nobel for deals that didn’t happen, the Pres. would have a shelf full of them.”

Trump is confused.
PM @AbiyAhmedAli was awarded the @NobelPrize for his efforts to bring peace to the Horn of Africa, not stalled negotiations about a new dam on the Nile.

If they gave the Nobel for deals that didn’t happen, the Pres. would have a shelf full of them. #Ethiopia https://t.co/WhJ6nLvb6Z

— House Foreign Affairs Committee (@HouseForeign) January 10, 2020

“President Trump really believes he avoided a war as such … but that was not the case,” a senior Ethiopian government official told The Associated Press.

Eritrea was part of Ethiopia until 1993 and then in 1998 fought a bloody war to maintain its new-found independence. At least 80,000 people died in the conflict. The peace deal that Abiy brokered helped reopen the two country’s borders and reinstated diplomatic relations, according to the Post.

Tags Abiy Ahmed Donald Trump Ethiopia House Foreign Affairs Committee Nobel Peace Prize