The United States will impose visa restrictions on Eritrean and Ethiopian officials accused of adding fuel to the Tigray conflict, and regrets that they “have not taken significant steps to end hostilities”.
“The people of Tigray continue to suffer human rights abuses, atrocities, atrocities and need urgent humanitarian assistance, which is being blocked by the Ethiopian and Eritrean military as well as other armed actors,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken lamented in a statement on Sunday, May 23. .
“Despite a significant diplomatic commitment“The warlords in the Tigray conflict have not taken significant steps to put an end to the hostilities or to reach a peaceful solution to the political crisis,” he said.
Visa restrictions, even financial aid
Visa restrictions target “current or former Ethiopian or Eritrean government officials, members of the security forces and others including regional and irregular Amhara forces and members of the People’s Liberation Front. Du Tigré (TPLF)”, he said.
The United States also plans “large-scale” restrictions on financial and security assistance to Ethiopia, but plans to continue humanitarian aid in areas such as health, food and education.
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms murder, forced relocation, systemic sexual violence and other human rights abuses,” Blinken insisted. “We are also terrified destruction of public property such as water points, hospitals and medical infrastructure found in Tigray ”.
The current situation in Tigray is “horrific”, with many people dying of hunger and rape multiplying, had condemned the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, himself from this region, during a press release on 17 May.
The fighting continues
On November 4, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation against the Tigray authorities, following the TPLF, in defiance of the central government.
Mr Abiy had promised a quick victory in Tigray, but almost six months after the conquest of the regional capital Mekele by the federal army, fighting continues in the region, where the critical humanitarian situation worries the international community.
After months of denial, the Ethiopian government has acknowledged the presence there, along with its army, of Eritrean troops suspected of being involved. in many addictions – what Asmara denies.
► Read also: RFI exclusivity – Ethiopia: how the rebel forces in Tigray organize the resistance?
(With AFP)
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