The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Tuesday approved a resolution calling for an immediate end to all violations in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the swift withdrawal of Eritrean troops from the country, reported UN News.
The European Union-backed resolution was adopted with 20 of the 47 UNHRC members in favor, 14 opposing and 13 abstaining. It called “for an immediate halt to all human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law”.
Adem Osman Idris, Eritrea’s representative to the UNHRC, criticized the resolution, insisting that his country’s troops had left the region. Chinese delegate Jiang Duan, who voted against the EU resolution, told the UNHRC that the resolution had major defects and would further deteriorate the situation in Tigray.
The withdrawal of Eritrean troops, which the country initially denied, is also a key demand of Tigrayan leaders for ceasefire talks.
Violent clashes erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray in November last year when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched an offensive against the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), after they rejected political reforms and captured army bases. Abiy had accused the TPLF of orchestrating attacks on Ethiopian military bases in Tigray.
The Ethiopian government declared victory three weeks later when it seized the regional capital Mekelle, but the TPLF continued with the fighting. It recaptured Mekelle last month after eight months of brutal conflict with federal troops and now controls most of Tigray.
The conflict has forced over 2 million people to flee their homes and pushed around 400,000 people to the brink of famine.
The development on Tuesday came as Tigrayan forces said they have seized Alamata, the main town in southern Tigray, following the launch of a new offensive two weeks after the federal government declared a unilateral ceasefire in the face of rebel advances.
