UN (PA) – An attempt to obtain UN Security Council approval for a declaration calling for an end to violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia and to highlight the millions in need of humanitarian assistance has been abandoned on Friday night, after objections from India, Russia and especially China, UN diplomats said.
Three council diplomats said Ireland, which drafted the statement, had decided not to press for approval following the objections of the three countries.
The press release was allegedly the first by the strongest UN body on the Tigray crisis, which is entering its fourth month. It seems that fierce fighting continues between Ethiopian and allied forces and those who support the now-fledged Tigray leaders, who once dominated the Ethiopian government, and the alarm is growing over the fate of Tigray’s 6 million people. No one knows how many thousands of civilians were killed.
On Tuesday, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock warned that a “destruction campaign” was under way, saying at least 4.5 million people needed assistance and called on forces in neighboring Eritrea accused of committing atrocities in Tigray to leave Ethiopia.
The proposed statement did not mention foreign forces or sanctions – two key issues – but called for “an end to violence in Tigray”.
The draft statement also mentioned “with concern” the humanitarian situation in Tigray, “where millions of people remain in need of humanitarian assistance” and the challenge of access for humanitarian workers. He called for “full and early implementation” of the Ethiopian government’s statements of February 26 and March 3, committing to “unhindered access.”
Council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the consultations were private, said China wanted the statement to focus only on the humanitarian situation, without referring to the violence in Tigray. India wanted only a minor change, and Russia would have backed its ally China at the last minute, diplomats said.
Reports of a massacre of several hundred people by Eritrean soldiers in the holy town of Axum in Tigray have been detailed in The Associated Press reports. and then by Amnesty International. The federal government and regional officials in Tigray believe that the other’s governments are illegitimate after the elections disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Human Rights Watch echoed reports on Friday, saying Eritrean armed forces “massacred dozens of civilians, including children up to the age of 13,” in the historic town of Axum in Tigray in November 2020. It called on the UN to urgently launch an independent investigation into war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in Tigray.