Members of the US House of Representatives called for an independent international investigation into what they described as the atrocities that took place in the Ethiopian Tigray region, amid reports of continuing clashes between the two parties to the fighting.
Foreign Committee Chairman Gregory Mix and Republican Member Michael McCoyle issued a statement expressing concern over reports of war crimes, forced displacement, restricted access to supplies, and the role of Eritrean forces.
The statement indicated that there are more than 4 and a half million people in urgent need of food, medical supplies and shelter, and urged the government of Ethiopia to allow access to human rights organizations, the media, and diplomats.
He called on the United States to coordinate with its partners and allies to take measures to hold human rights violators accountable, and warned that the ongoing conflict in Tigray threatens the credibility of the upcoming elections in Ethiopia and the stability of the entire region.
And US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said earlier that he wanted security forces that respect human rights and not commit "acts of ethnic cleansing" to replace the Eritrean forces and those of the Amhara region in Tigray.
Addis Ababa denies
The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered this accusation "a totally unfounded ruling against the Ethiopian government, and it lacks logic."
"Nothing during or after the main law enforcement operation in Tigray can be characterized or defined by any criterion as targeted and deliberate ethnic cleansing against anyone in this region. The Ethiopian government strongly rejects such accusations," the ministry said.
"The Ethiopian government is ready to deal positively and constructively with all relevant regional and international parties, to respond to the serious allegations of crimes and human rights violations," she added.
Causes and repercussions
It is noteworthy that the Ethiopian forces launched a military operation in the Tigray region in the north of the country last November, to expel the Tigray People's Liberation Front from the region after it attacked the headquarters of the Federal Army and announced that it did not recognize the central government in the capital Addis Ababa for not holding the legislative elections in a timely manner due to the pandemic. Corona.
Alongside Ethiopian forces and the Tigrayan Liberation Front, forces from neighboring Eritrea and a group of local militias participated in the fighting.
Thousands have died in the aftermath of the fighting and hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes, and there is a shortage of food, water and medicine in the Tigray region, which has a population of more than 5 million.
The government declared the end of the conflict in early December, but the United Nations and the United States said this week that there were reports of continuing clashes between the parties.