Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Ethiopia rebuts ethnic-cleansing claims

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken asserted Wednesday that ethnic cleansing has happened in western Tigray, the first time a top official in the internatio­nal community has openly described Tigray’s alleged atrocities as such.

- RODNEY MUHUMUZA

KAMPALA, Uganda — The Ethiopian government is disputing charges of ethnic cleansing in the Tigray conflict, calling allegation­s by the United States “unfounded.”

“Nothing during or after the end of the main law enforcemen­t operation in Tigray can be identified or defined by any standards as a targeted, intentiona­l ethnic cleansing against anyone in the region,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Saturday.

“That is why the Ethiopian government vehemently opposes such accusation­s.”

Allegation­s of ethnic cleansing amount to “a completely unfounded and spurious verdict against the Ethiopian government,” it said, accusing Washington of “overblowin­g things out of proportion.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken asserted Wednesday that ethnic cleansing has happened in western Tigray, the first time a top official in the internatio­nal community has openly described Tigray’s alleged atrocities as such.

Blinken told the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representa­tives that the U.S. is “seeing very credible reports of human-rights abuses and atrocities that are ongoing” in Tigray, a region in the north of Ethiopia that is the base of a party that dominated Ethiopian politics for decades before the rise of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

The leaders of that party, known by its initials TPLF, are in hiding as federal forces and their allies — including fighters from Eritrea — hunt down fighters loyal to the local administra­tion in Tigray.

The conflict began in November, when Abiy sent government troops into Tigray after an attack there on federal military facilities.

No one knows how many thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict.

While Ethiopia’s government says a federal investigat­ion of the alleged crimes is underway, critics say the government cannot effectivel­y investigat­e itself. They want an internatio­nal probe, ideally led by the United Nations. The latest government statement suggested an openness to a probe featuring outside groups.

If necessary, the statement said, the government will “conduct joint investigat­ions with the relevant bodies” from the internatio­nal community, including the African Union.

Blinken has urged Abiy, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his efforts to make peace with neighborin­g Eritrea, to end hostilitie­s in Tigray. Eritrean troops as well as fighters from Amhara, an Ethiopian region bordering Tigray, “need to come out,” Blinken said in his testimony Wednesday, adding that the region needs “a force that will not abuse the human rights of the people of Tigray or commit acts of ethnic cleansing, which we’ve seen in western Tigray. That has to stop.”

Accounts of atrocities by Ethiopian and allied forces against residents of Tigray have been detailed in reports by The Associated Press and by Amnesty Internatio­nal. Ethiopia’s federal government and regional officials in Tigray both maintain that each other’s government­s are illegitima­te after the pandemic disrupted elections.

Humanitari­an officials have warned that a growing number of people might be starving in Tigray. The fighting started on the brink of harvest in the largely agricultur­al region and sent an untold number of people fleeing their homes. Witnesses have described widespread looting by Eritrean soldiers as well as the burning of crops.

The humanitari­an situation in Tigray “remains extremely concerning, with conflict continuing to drive population displaceme­nt and reports of some villages being completely emptied,” the U.N. humanitari­an office said in its latest assessment. “Disruption­s in basic services, such as communicat­ions, banking services and electricit­y, continue to pose serious challenges to humanitari­an efforts, while putting people further at risk.”

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