Ethiopians, who have fled the ongoing fighting in the Tigray region, are carrying their belongings after crossing the Setit River at the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in the eastern state of Kassala, Sudan December 16, 2020. REUTERS / Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah
Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war in Tigray, Ethiopia, the UN chief of staff told the Security Council on Thursday. other countries?”
The UN official, Mark Lowcock, said the humanitarian crisis in Tigray had worsened over the past month with challenges to access aid and people dying of hunger. He said the world body had seen no evidence that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea – accused of massacres and massacres in Tigray – have withdrawn.
“To be clear, the conflict is not over and things are not improving,” Lowcock said, according to his private briefing notes requested by the United States.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield noted that Thursday’s briefing was the fifth private council meeting since fighting between Ethiopian federal government forces and Tigray’s former ruling party began in November, according to diplomats familiar with her comments.
“The Security Council is united in Syria, Yemen and even Burma, where we could come together to make a statement,” she said, according to diplomats. “We ask the council to reconsider a statement on Ethiopia … Victims should know that the Security Council cares about this conflict.”
The council has so far failed to agree on a public statement on Tigray, in which Western countries stand up against Russia and China, which diplomats question whether the body – charged with maintaining international peace and security – is facing the crisis must be involved.
The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in the mountainous region of about 5 million. Eritrea has helped Ethiopian troops, although Eritrea has repeatedly denied that its forces are in Tigray.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has recognized Eritrean presence and the United Nations and the United States have demanded that Eritrean forces withdraw from Tigray.
“Neither the UN, nor any of the humanitarian organizations we work with, have seen evidence of Eritrea’s withdrawal,” Lowcock said.
GIRLS AS YOUNG AS 8 TARGETED
Lowcock said he had received a report earlier on Thursday that 150 people in Tigray had died of starvation and warned that “starvation as a weapon of war is an offense.”
Dr. Fasika Amdeselassie, the top public health official for the government-appointed interim administration in Tigray, told Reuters that at least 829 cases of sexual assault had been reported in five hospitals since the conflict began. read more
“There is no doubt that sexual assault is being used as a weapon of war in this conflict,” said Lowcock, adding that the majority of rapes were committed by men in uniform, with allegations against all warring parties.
“Nearly a quarter of the reports received by one authority are gang rape, in which multiple men assault the victim; in some cases, women have been repeatedly raped over a period of days. Girls as young as eight are targeted,” said Lowcock.
Ethiopian UN ambassador, Taye Atskeselassie Amde, told Reuters the government was investigating all rights violations. He accused Lowcock of “acting not like a humanitarian, but like an archenemy determined to demand some sort of retaliation.”
“Human rights violations are too serious and serious to be subject to speculation. It is unfortunate that the head of OCHA (the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) has resorted to such an act before the UN Security Council,” he said, adding that “there is no gap in humanitarian access.”
Eritrea’s UN mission in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lowcock’s comments. Last month, Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said that sexual assaults and rape “are anathema to Eritrean society” and should be severely punished if they occur.
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