A.In view of the severe famine and political crisis in Ethiopia, UN Secretary General António Guterres has significantly tightened his tone towards Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. “Our local colleagues are giving us more and more alarming eyewitness accounts of the suffering – including more and more reports of starvation-related deaths,” Guterres said on Wednesday at a special session of the UN Security Council in New York. The crisis has worsened. Access for humanitarian aid, especially to the crisis region of Tigray, was “severely restricted”, but had to be ensured “without hindrance”.
In November 2020, the government of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Abiy Ahmed began a military offensive against the People’s Liberation Front of Tigray (TPLF), which had been in power in the region of the same name in northern Ethiopia. The background to this were years of tensions between the TPLF and the government in Addis Ababa. Other actors are now involved, including Eritrean troops and militias.
“Defending the Honor of the United Nations”
Last week, the unprecedented expulsion of seven United Nations employees led to another escalation and anger at UN chief Guterres. The Foreign Ministry in Addis Abbeba accused them of being biased. “We are of the opinion that Ethiopia violates international law,” said Guterres in a rare, freely presented response to the present UN ambassador to Ethiopia. He requested documents on the specific allegations against his employees. Guterres said to journalists after the tense meeting: “I have to defend the honor of the United Nations.”
According to Guterres, up to seven million people in the regions of Tigray, Amhara and Afar are currently in urgent need of aid supplies because of the conflict. “These include more than five million people in Tigray, where an estimated 400,000 people are living in starvation-like conditions.” The TPLF accuses the government of genocide, while Abiy Ahmed accuses the organization of instigating an ethnically motivated conflict. In addition, Guterres spoke of “deeply worrying reports” of sexual violence and other crimes against women and children.
“There is no justification, none at all”
According to previous UN information, the situation in Ethiopia is the worst hunger crisis in a decade. Guterres drew a comparison on Wednesday with the 2011 Somalia famine.
The US ambassador to the United States, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, also chose clear words on Wednesday: “There is no justification for the measures taken by the Ethiopian government, absolutely none.” If the Ethiopian government does not change course, the UN Security Council will have to take action against the country.
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