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He says he can invite any foreign power, including Eritrean troops.
Ethiopia did not invite Eritrean troops to participate in the Tigray region during the government’s law enforcement operation, the Foreign Ministry said.
In a weekly, Ministry spokeswoman Dina Mufti told reporters that “There is no official military agreement between the two countries. We have not made an official invitation for Eritrean troops to get involved in the Tigray region, “he said.
Following rocket fire carried out by the defunct Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) at Asmara, Eritrean troops located in the porous border area of the two neighboring countries could possibly have moved into Ethiopian territory, said Dina Mufti.
However, Dina chose not to unequivocally determine whether or not Eritrean troops have been involved.
Appeals from international human rights organizations and governments continue to demand the withdrawal of Eritrean troops from the Tigray region.
Recently, Amnesty International, the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the European Union, the United States and others deplored the involvement of Eritrean forces in the region.
Furthermore, Amnesty International’s investigation concluded that hundreds of civilians were massacred by Eritrean troops in Axum in late November 2020, an alleged atrocity amounting to a possible crime against humanity.
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) and expressed US concern about the humanitarian and human rights crisis in the Tigray region. in Ethiopia.
The US secretary also pressed the Ethiopian government for an immediate end to hostilities and the withdrawal of external forces from Tigray, including the Amhara regional security forces and Eritrean troops.
However, Dina played down the US statement calling it “ridiculous” and stating that “we don’t have any Oromo, Amhara, Tigray or other regional forces; rather there is a federal force, which acts according to the direction given by the federal government. “
As for the Eritrean forces, Dina explained, they can participate in the operation if they are invited by the Ethiopian government.
“As a sovereign nation, we can invite Somalia, Sudan or Eritrea,” Dina said, “but what we are saying is that there has been no request from Ethiopia for military support.”
The statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday stressed that the deliberate and heinous attack on the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, which brutally killed the last guardians of the Constitution, is a crime of high treason under the laws of the land.
The statement further indicated that no person or entity, nationally or internationally, is above the laws of the country and the Ethiopian government fulfills its duties to respect the law and protect the country.
The Ethiopian government has also rejected any partisan intervention and politically motivated campaigns against its administration, which it says are aimed at undermining the rule of law measures it has taken and will continue to take to bring the criminal cabal and other perpetrators to justice. .
