Josep Borrell, the European Union (EU)’s foreign policy chief, called for a halt to the fighting in Ethiopia between the government army and Tigrayans, warning that it would seriously destabilize the East African region.
“I have expressed my grave concern about the increase in violence targeting ethnic groups, the many casualties, and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law,” Borrell said in a statement.
Ethiopia describes the fighting as an internal law enforcement issue, a position Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed confirmed in a statement today, Wednesday, saying, “We reject any interference in our internal affairs.”
Hundreds of people have been killed since the fighting began on the fourth of November and more than 41,000 refugees have fled to Sudan, amid reports of militia targeting civilians.
Tigrayans fired missiles at neighboring Eritrea, while Ethiopian soldiers were withdrawn from peacekeeping missions in Somalia and South Sudan.
In Somalia, Ethiopia has disarmed several hundreds of Tigrayans in an African Union peacekeeping force fighting militants linked to “Al Qaeda”.
A diplomatic and security source told “Reuters” that three Tigrayans were returned to their countries from a UN peacekeeping force in southern Sudan.
More than 10 thousand soldiers from the Tigray region were “destroyed” during the three-week conflict in the mountainous north of Ethiopia, a news agency confirmed in the Ethiopian Amhara region.
Reuters indicated that it was not possible to verify the report of the agency “Ama”, which “is run by the regional government in Amhara, where the authorities support the federal forces of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed”, and there was no immediate response from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
The agency also pointed out that telephone and Internet communications with Tigray are disabled, and access to the region is subject to strict control, which means that it is difficult to verify the statements of all parties.
