UN: All parties to the conflict in Ethiopia are violating human rights
The United Nations said on Friday that all parties to the escalating conflict in northern Ethiopia were committing "gross human rights violations" and called on it to stop fighting.
Nada Al-Nashef, the deputy commissioner for human rights at the United Nations, said that between five and seven thousand people, including nine United Nations employees, were detained under the state of emergency declared by the government last November.
"I also deplore the increasing hate speech and incitement to violence by the federal and local authorities as well as other public figures, especially against the Tigrayans and the Oromo," she added during a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The United Nations confirmed that all parties to the 13-month-old Ethiopian conflict were committing grave violations, warning of a "spread of violence" with repercussions for the entire region.
Al-Nashef indicated that the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights continues to "receive credible reports of gross violations of human rights and abuses committed by all parties."
And she added, "The risk of an increase in hatred, violence and discrimination is very high, and it may escalate into general violence," warning that "this matter may have major repercussions not only on millions of people in Ethiopia, but also throughout the region."
In the first official response to the UN official's statements, Ethiopia considered that the Human Rights Council had turned into a "political tool" to pressure it, and criticized the session, saying that pluralism was "hijacked by the neo-colonial mentality."
"The council is being used as an instrument of political pressure," Ethiopian Ambassador Zeinbe Kebede told the Geneva-based body, denouncing "fruitless efforts to encourage terrorist rebels and aggravate the situation on the ground."
The United Nations has announced that food aid intended for famine-stricken areas in northern Ethiopia has been stolen for the second time in a few days.
On the other hand, the United Nations announced, last Tuesday, that food aid intended for famine-stricken areas in northern Ethiopia had been stolen for the second time in a few days.
The United Nations says that 3.7 million people in Amhara need humanitarian assistance due to the conflict between federal government forces and the opposition Tigray People's Liberation Front, which erupted more than a year ago in the Tigray region before spreading to the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions last July.
On December 7 and 8, the United Nations said that three WFP trucks had been seized by military personnel and used for their own purposes.
WFP warehouses in Disi and Kombolcha were looted, and large quantities of food stocks were confiscated, including food for malnourished children.
The United Nations said that some of its staff were detained at gunpoint, while aid distribution was suspended after that incident.
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