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Nairobi, Kenya
Ethiopia’s situation is “spiraling out of control with appalling impact on civilians” and urgently needs external oversight, the United Nations human rights chief warned on Wednesday, but Ethiopia is rejecting calls for independent investigations into the deadly fighting in her region of Tigray, saying “no I don’t need a babysitter.”
The government’s statement came amid international calls for greater transparency in the month-long fighting between Ethiopian forces and those of the fugitive Tigray regional government believed to have killed thousands, including civilians. Human rights groups have documented at least one large-scale massacre, and others are feared.
Senior government official Redwan Hussein told reporters late Tuesday that Ethiopia will invite others to request help only if it feels it “did not investigate.” To assume that the government cannot carry out such investigations “is to disparage the government,” he said.
Frustration is mounting as the North Tigray region remains largely isolated from the outside world, with food and medicine desperately needed by the population of 6 million, around 1 million of them now believed to be displaced.
The lack of transparency, with most communications and transportation links cut, has complicated efforts to verify the claims of the belligerent side.
It also undermines efforts to understand the scope of the atrocities that have been committed since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on November 4 that clashes had started with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominated the government and the Ethiopian army for nearly three decades before Mr. Abiy came to power and sidelined.
Each government now regards the other as illegal, as the TPLF opposes the postponement of the national elections until next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and considers that Mr. Abiy’s term has expired.
UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet said the situation is “extremely worrying and volatile” and that fighting is reportedly continuing in areas surrounding the capital of Tigray, Mekele, and the towns of Sheraro. and Axum, “despite government claims to the contrary.”
“We have corroborated information of serious human rights violations and abuses, including indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, looting, kidnapping and sexual violence against women and girls,” Ms. Bachelet told reporters. “There are reports of forced recruitment of Tigrayan youth to fight against their own communities.”
However, he said, with limited communications, “we have not been able to access the most affected areas.”
The Ethiopian government is rejecting what it calls external “interference,” from dialogue efforts to aid delivery, based on its history as the rare, never-colonized African country, a source of deep national pride.
The government wants to manage the delivery of aid, and on Tuesday it said its forces shot and detained members of UN personnel who allegedly passed through checkpoints while trying to reach areas where they were “not supposed to go.”
The shooting incident “is really costly” because it further delays humanitarian operations for people in Tigray who have been waiting five weeks for help, UN humanitarian spokesman Saviano Abreu told The Associated Press.
He said the six-member UN team, which was detained in Humera and released two days later, was the first to be dispatched to Tigray and was conducting safety assessments along the roads that had previously been agreed with. the government of Ethiopia. Such evaluations are crucial before aid can be transferred.
“Now we have to work on additional operational details with the government,” especially on security, Abreu said, repeating the UN call for unrestricted and unconditional access.
The shooting occurred a week after the UN and the government signed an agreement to allow humanitarian access. The agreement, crucially, allows aid only in areas under federal government control.
The need for help is fundamental. Mekele, a city of half a million inhabitants, is “basically today without medical care,” Robert Mardini, director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told reporters on Tuesday. The city’s Ayder referral hospital has run out of supplies, including fuel for power generators.
“Doctors and nurses have been forced to make horrible life and death decisions,” Mardini said. “They have suspended intensive care services and are really struggling to take over care, such as delivering babies or providing dialysis treatment.”
A joint ICRC and Ethiopian Red Cross convoy with supplies for hundreds of wounded is ready to go to Mekele, pending approval, he said. It would be the first international convoy to reach the city since the fighting began.
While the risk of insecurity remains in the capital Tigray, there are no active clashes, Mardini said.
Overall, he said, “People in Tigray have been disconnected from services for almost a month. They have had no telephone, no internet, no electricity or fuel. Cash is running out. This, of course, increases the tension. “
This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writers Edith Lederer at the United Nations and Nadine Achoui-Lesage in Geneva contributed.
