Ethiopia rejects US claims of ethnicity
NAIROBI – Ethiopia on Saturday dismissed U.S. allegations that there has been ethnic cleansing in Tigray, pushing back against recent criticism of its military operation in its northern region by the new government in Washington.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that he wanted to see Eritrean forces and those from the Amhara region replaced in Tigray by security forces that respect human rights and do not “commit acts of ethnic cleansing”.
“(The accusation) is a completely unfounded and false verdict against the Ethiopian government,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
“Nothing during or after the conclusion 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,” it said. “The Ethiopian government strongly opposes such allegations.” Ethiopia’s federal army expelled the former regional governing party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), from the capital Mekelle in November after what it said was a surprise attack on its forces in the region. borders Eritrea.
The government has said most fighting has ceased, but has acknowledged that there are still isolated incidents of shootings.
Ethiopia and Eritrea have denied involvement of Eritrean troops in the fighting along with Ethiopian forces, although dozens of witnesses, diplomats and an Ethiopian general have reported their presence.
Thousands of people have died after the fighting, hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes and there is a shortage of food, water and medicine in Tigray, a region of more than 5 million people.
Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said it was ready to work with international human rights experts to investigate allegations of abuse.
“The Ethiopian Government has demonstrated its readiness to engage positively and constructively with all relevant regional and international stakeholders in responding to the serious allegations of human rights violations and crimes,” it said.