United Nations – UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock warned on Thursday that “a campaign of destruction is taking place” Tigray Province of Ethiopia, saying that at least 4.5 million people are in need of assistance and are calling on forces in neighboring Eritrea accused of committing atrocities in Tigray to leave Ethiopia.
As the Tigray crisis enters its fourth month, Lowcock said, the humanitarian crisis is deteriorating and “more credible and widely corroborated reports from Tigray … talk about large-scale atrocities involving mass killings , rape and kidnapping of civilians, ongoing fighting throughout the region “as well as the destruction of key crops and agricultural machinery.
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Lowcock’s remarks at a closed session of the UN Security Council, obtained by CBS News, highlighted for the first time Eritrean forces as fighting on the part of the Ethiopian government and warned of a possible famine “if food does not pass and exists without agricultural revival” .
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United States had sent a “disaster response team to Ethiopia,” said Pamela Falk of CBS News. The US ambassador called on the Ethiopian government to support an immediate end to the fighting in Tigray and supported Lowcock’s call for a “prompt withdrawal of Eritrean and Amhara regional forces”.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also backed Lowcock’s request.
A press release from the Security Council on Tigray, prepared by Ireland, is still under discussion, council officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the meeting closed.
As fierce fighting continues between Ethiopian and allied forces and those who support the now-fledged Tigray leaders, who once dominated the Ethiopian government, alarm is growing about the fate of Tigray’s 6 million men. No one knows how many thousands of civilians were killed.
Reports of atrocities against Tigray residents have been detailed in The Associated Press and 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.
Asking Eritreans to leave, Lowcock said: “It is now very clear to everyone and it is openly acknowledged by Tigray government officials that the Eritrean Defense Forces are operating throughout Tigray.”
“Countless well-corroborated reports suggest their guilt for the atrocities,” he said. “Eritrean defense forces must leave Ethiopia and must not be allowed or allowed to continue their campaign of destruction before doing so.”
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Lowcock also stressed that all forces – “and this includes the Ethiopian Defense Forces, the Eritrean Defense Forces, the Tigrayan forces and the ethnic militia in parts of Ethiopia beyond the Tigray” – must, in accordance with international humanitarian law, access to people in need of assistance, “wherever they may be.”
He said many people in rural areas, who made up about 80 percent of Tigray’s population before the conflict began, remain inaccessible and their situation “is almost certainly worse” than the aid agencies have been able to reach.
“We have identified at least 600,000 people we know need help, but have not yet received any humanitarian aid,” Lowcock said. “But we suspect that the actual number of people in need who have not received any help so far is significantly higher.”
With crops and markets disrupted by the conflict, he said “food insecurity is growing”, citing “anecdotal reports of famine”, but said that “the worst is still avoidable”.
Lowcock said aid agencies are stepping up their response and urged donors to contribute a $ 400 million call for Tigray, which is set to launch next week.
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS / Reuters
The UN humanitarian chief said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told Secretary-General Guterres a few days ago – and reiterated Thursday to World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley – that he was committed to helping those in need.
“This commitment must now translate into more action on the ground,” Lowcock said, stressing that an urgent need is to provide communications equipment in Tigray so that aid agencies can communicate with each other.
Lowcock said Tigray may not be the only hot spot in Ethiopia.
“We are seeing warning signs in other regions of Ethiopia, including a military build-up on the Ethiopian-Sudanese border and a worsening ethnic conflict in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, where refugees are fleeing to Sudan,” he said.