U.S. Extends Suspension of Aid to Ethiopia over Violations in Tigray

Washington has decided to extend the suspension of assistance to Ethiopia for most programs in the security sector for violating human rights in Tigray, the US State Department said on Friday, days after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned from ethnic cleansing in the province.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the U.S. has decided earlier to resume certain types of aid, ones related to global health and food security, yet other programs, including ones in the security sector will remain on hold, given the current environment in Ethiopia.

Blinken called on the Ethiopian government to end hostilities in Tigray, and said on Wednesday before Congress, that he required the withdrawal of troops from Amhara and Eritrea, to be replaced by other security forces that will not violate human rights.

Tigray, which has a population of more than 5 million, suffers shortages of food, water and medicine. Thousands of Tigray people have lost their lives, during a military operation by the Ethiopian troops, while more than 60 thousands others have fled their homes.

Last week, the United Nations said that Eritrean forces were operating alongside Ethiopian forces throughout Tigray, who were responsible for the ethnic cleansing.

"The resumption of aid would be evaluated based on a number of factors, including "whether each paused program remains appropriate and timely in light of developments in Ethiopia that occurred after the pause," according to the State Department.