WASHINGTON, United States – The United States has expressed serious concerns about the impending elections in Ethiopia, just weeks after warning key Ethiopian and Eritrean leaders, who are closely linked to the ongoing genocide in the Tigray region.
In a statement, the United States said it was gravely concerned about the upcoming election, adding that it had reached out to community leaders and politicians, denouncing the violence that has been on the agenda for the past two months.
“The hardening of regional and ethnic divisions in several parts of Ethiopia threatens the unity and territorial integrity of the country. The period following these elections will be a critical time for Ethiopians to come together to confront these divisions,” he said. State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
“The exclusion of large segments of the electorate from this competition due to security concerns and internal displacement is particularly troubling,” Price said.
Ethiopia is preparing to hold elections on June 21 after postponing them for a year, but there are still issues to be resolved following a series of internal policies that have seen politicians at odds and even escalate in a serious conflict in Tigray.
national and regional Ethiopia
The country’s electoral council postponed elections in two regional states on Thursday, citing irregularities and problems printing ballots, moving the vote to September 6.
In his statement, Price cited potential obstacles “to a free and fair electoral process and whether Ethiopians would perceive them as credible”, including “the detention of opposition politicians”, harassment of the media, and conflict. interethnic, among others.
Already, the country is facing famine among other disasters, which have led to appeals for help from the international community. The country has been there for the ongoing war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
More than 350,000 of Tigray’s nearly 6 million people are living in conditions of famine, according to an analysis by United Nations agencies and global aid groups first reported by Reuters on Thursday. Nearly 2 million more are on the brink of such deprivation, they said. Ethiopia disputed these estimates.
Fighting since November between the Ethiopian government and the region’s ousted ruling party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF), has displaced more than 2 million people. The conflict erupted just before the main harvest, with each side blaming the other. The neighboring country of Eritrea and the neighboring Ethiopian region of Amhara have sent forces to support the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
In some of his most forceful public comments to date on the crisis, top UN humanitarian official Mark Lowcock accused Eritrean forces of “trying to deal with the Tigray people by starving them.” In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Lowcock said Eritrean soldiers and local fighters were deliberately blocking supplies to more than one million people in areas beyond government control. “Food is definitely used as a weapon of war. ”
The Ethiopian government, the United Nations and aid agencies have provided food and other aid to some 3.3 million people in Tigray since March, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. But most of that aid goes to government-controlled areas, Lowcock said.
The fact that the Ethiopian government disputes these findings only underscores the urgency of international involvement. G7 leaders should demand from Ethiopia and its allies the resumption of basic services, unhindered delivery and access of aid, and make it clear that any official who blocks aid faces hardship. immediate sanctions.
The millions of people facing famine in Tigray cannot be explained as a by-product of the seven-month armed conflict. Human Rights Watch research shows that warring parties directly contributed to this man-made disaster.
Government restrictions on access to aid to the region and basic services in the early months of the fighting pushed many people to the brink. Ethiopian, Eritrean and Amhara forces also looted property, burnt crops and attacked factories, hospitals and other infrastructure essential to the survival of the population.
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