The Ethiopian government on Tuesday rejected a report by U.N. investigators, describing it as incomplete, incoherent and unsubstantiated and intended to demonise Ethiopia, reported The VOA News.
On Monday, the UN-backed Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia said it had found evidence of widespread violations by all sides since fighting began in the northern Tigray region in November 2020.
The report alleged that the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed-led Ethiopian government has intentionally caused great suffering by denying aid to war-hit Tigray, a region of 6 million people.
Kaari Betty Murungi, one of the commission’s three independent rights experts, said the denial of food, medicine and basic services was having a devastating impact on the civilian population. She described the humanitarian crisis in Tigray as extremely shocking, both in terms of scale and duration.
In response to the report, Zenebe Kebede, Ethiopia’s permanent representative to the U.N. in Geneva, said the commission was politically motivated and its conclusions were self-contradictory and biased.
“There is not any single evidence that shows the government of Ethiopia used humanitarian aid as an instrument of war,” the Ethiopian envoy said.
He rejected the report describing as “a mockery” and “rubbish.” He said investigators had ignored atrocities by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which ruled Ethiopia for decades before Abiy came to power in 2018, and which Addis Ababa considers a terrorist group.
Fighting between government forces and their allies and rebels led by the TPLF reignited in August after a five-month lull.
Notably, both the factions have accused each other of human rights violations as the war in the northern region of Tigray rages.
Earlier this month, the Tigrayan authorities announced that they were ready to participate in talks mediated by the African Union (AU), removing an obstacle to negotiations with the Ethiopian government.
