The United Nations Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada al Nashif, on Monday called on the Government of Ethiopia and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF) to take “immediate steps to end the violence once and for all”. for all”, after the group was willing to a new cessation of hostilities after the latest fighting in Tigray (north).
Al Nashif has advocated “a constructive and authentic dialogue” and has applauded the announcement of the TPLF, which came hours after the Ethiopian Executive assured that it was ready to organize meetings “at any time and in any place”, in an attempt to promote a dialogue to end the conflict, which broke out in November 2020.
Likewise, it has lamented that “despite the Government’s efforts, the pace of implementation of the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission continues to be slow”, for which has demanded that Addis Ababa “cooperate” and “allow access to Tigray to the United Nations International Commission of Experts”.
The Ethiopian authorities rejected last week the recent report of the Human Rights experts appointed by the United Nations and stressed that “the commission does not have competence or correct appreciation of the conflict unleashed by the TPLF, in violation of the humanitarian truce.” Thus, he stressed that “the commission cannot assume a mandate to rule on matters of peace and security” and that its behavior “reaffirms the (Ethiopian) government’s assertion that the resolution that established the commission and the commission’s work are motivated politically”.
On the other hand, Al Nashif has shown his “serious concern” about the assassinations in the framework of security operations and inter-community clashes “in the context of ethnic lines” in regions such as Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambela and Oromia, as well as on the border between Afar and Somali”. “I ask the government to do more to protect people, to quickly launch investigations and to guarantee that the victims and their families have the right to truth, justice and reparations”, he concluded.
The conflict in Ethiopia erupted after an attack by the TPLF against the Army’s main base, located in Mekelle, after which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an offensive against the group after months of political and administrative tensions. A “humanitarian truce” is currently in force, although both sides have accused each other of preventing the delivery of aid.
The TPLF has accused Abiy of stirring up tensions since he came to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to take office. Until then, the TPLF had been the dominant force within the ethnically based coalition that had governed Ethiopia since 1991, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, seeing them as an attempt to undermine his influence.
Source: Europa Press
