The Ethiopian government on Thursday criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) chief’s unethical statement on the country’s current situation, reported The Africa News.
On Thursday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s spokeswoman, Billene Seyoum, told journalists that WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus should not have made such comments being on a high-profile position.
The comments came a day after the WHO chief said that the crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray region is the worst disaster on Earth.
He said 6 million Tigrayans have been under siege because of the conflict that started between the Ethiopian forces and Tigray forces in November 2020. He asserted that the war-hit Tigray getting lack of attention from other countries may be due to Tigrayans’ skin colour.
“I haven’t heard in the last few months any head of state talking about the Tigray situation anywhere in the developed world. Anywhere. Why?” the WHO chief asked. “Maybe the reason is the color of the skin of the people in Tigray.”
Tedros noted that the peace talks to end the conflict are ongoing, but, the world is focused on the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine, and not the tragedy playing out in Tigray. He said he has made an appeal to the Ethiopian government to resolve the conflict in Tigray peacefully. He said he also is appealing to the Russian government to end the war in Ukraine and choose peace.
The Ethiopian PM’s spokeswoman said that a government proposal for peace talks will be announced soon and stressed they must be without preconditions. She accused the Tigrayan leaders of avoiding the peace talks.
The spokeswoman dismissed Tigrayan forces’ allegations of fresh round of attacks by Ethiopian troops as a mechanism to slow down discussions on the peace process.
The Ethiopian government has already said it is willing to conduct peace talks at any time, any place but it demands the talks to be led by its preferred mediator, the African Union special envoy.
