Response to the press Statement by US State Department on Combat Operations in Northern Ethiopia
Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:02 pm
Date: 03 NOV 2021 For immediate release: Response to the press Statement by US State Department on Combat Operations in Northern Ethiopia
The Government of Tigray has consistently expressed appreciation and support for all efforts by the international community to bring about a negotiated peace and address violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Laws in Tigray. We are particularly grateful for the consistent and constructive efforts of the US government to address the conflict and ongoing humanitarian crisis.
With this in mind, we would like to address the Press Statement released by the US State Department on the 30th of October, 2021, elaborating on the context and objectives of our continued military operations in the Amhara and Afar regions.
In the first instance, we would like to once again stress that the military operations by Tigrayan forces into neighboring regions are only intended to break the inhumane siege and humanitarian blockade imposed by the Ethiopian regime. As is well known to the US government and all other international actors, more than a million Tigrayans are current, under an active famine, while millions of others are in imminent danger because of lack of medicine and other basic necessities as a result of the siege and humanitarian blockade. All remonstrations and calls for the Ethiopian regime to respect international humanitarian law have thus far been ignored leaving us with no alternative but to break the siege through military operations.
Secondly, we would like to recall that Western Tigray remains under illegal occupation by Eritrean and Amhara forces. Tigrayans, in Western Tigray, continue to face grave human rights violations including massacres, weaponized sexual violence, internment in concentration camps, looting, and economic disenfranchisement. Hundreds of thousands have been ethnically cleansed from the province and displaced to Sudan and other parts of Tigray. The Ethiopian regime has thus far rebuffed all calls for a negotiated cease-fire and has instead opted to intensify, the conflict by launching a new offensive with hundreds of thousands of new recruits in the first week of October. It has also launched nearly daily indiscriminate airstrikes on Mekelle and other densely populated areas of Tigray in a bid to collectively punish and terrorize the people of Tigray. These attacks have killed many people including children since the 17th of October.
As has been widely reported, the Ethiopian government continues to buy weapons, Including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) from a diverse assortment of sources, demonstrating its intentions to intensify and protract attacks on Tigray.
Finally, we would like to note that the ethnic profiling, mass arrest, arbitrary killings, and harassment of Tigrayans living in other parts of Ethiopia continue unabated. Indeed, the recent escalation of hate speech and incitement to violence and genocide would indicate that all Tigrayans are now in imminent danger.
It is within this larger context and in light of the solemn obligations that the Government of Tigray has to protect and defend Tigrayans to the best of its abilities that Tigrayan forces are currently undertaking combat operations. We strongly reiterate our commitment not to allow the Ethiopian regime to continue the siege it has Imposed on Tigray or to use humanitarian aid as a bargaining chip to further political goals. We aver that weaponizing starvation to collectively punish an entire people is both contrary to international law and all human decency. We would also like to stress that while there are two sides to the war on Tigray, only one side has unleashed deliberate genocidal campaign to decimate a region in collaboration domestic and foreign allies and declared an intention to wipe out an entire with total impunity. There is, nor has there ever been, any equivalence between the two sides in neither intentions nor actions.
We would like to conclude by noting that the people of Tigray have thus far been poorly served by all international mechanisms, including the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), established to address atrocities and facilitate peace. The need for a change of strategy and an urgent adoption of effective and meaningful actions is evident to all. The Government of Tigray is at all times ready to support and promote any such efforts without any reservation.
The Government of Tigray has consistently expressed appreciation and support for all efforts by the international community to bring about a negotiated peace and address violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Laws in Tigray. We are particularly grateful for the consistent and constructive efforts of the US government to address the conflict and ongoing humanitarian crisis.
With this in mind, we would like to address the Press Statement released by the US State Department on the 30th of October, 2021, elaborating on the context and objectives of our continued military operations in the Amhara and Afar regions.
In the first instance, we would like to once again stress that the military operations by Tigrayan forces into neighboring regions are only intended to break the inhumane siege and humanitarian blockade imposed by the Ethiopian regime. As is well known to the US government and all other international actors, more than a million Tigrayans are current, under an active famine, while millions of others are in imminent danger because of lack of medicine and other basic necessities as a result of the siege and humanitarian blockade. All remonstrations and calls for the Ethiopian regime to respect international humanitarian law have thus far been ignored leaving us with no alternative but to break the siege through military operations.
Secondly, we would like to recall that Western Tigray remains under illegal occupation by Eritrean and Amhara forces. Tigrayans, in Western Tigray, continue to face grave human rights violations including massacres, weaponized sexual violence, internment in concentration camps, looting, and economic disenfranchisement. Hundreds of thousands have been ethnically cleansed from the province and displaced to Sudan and other parts of Tigray. The Ethiopian regime has thus far rebuffed all calls for a negotiated cease-fire and has instead opted to intensify, the conflict by launching a new offensive with hundreds of thousands of new recruits in the first week of October. It has also launched nearly daily indiscriminate airstrikes on Mekelle and other densely populated areas of Tigray in a bid to collectively punish and terrorize the people of Tigray. These attacks have killed many people including children since the 17th of October.
As has been widely reported, the Ethiopian government continues to buy weapons, Including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) from a diverse assortment of sources, demonstrating its intentions to intensify and protract attacks on Tigray.
Finally, we would like to note that the ethnic profiling, mass arrest, arbitrary killings, and harassment of Tigrayans living in other parts of Ethiopia continue unabated. Indeed, the recent escalation of hate speech and incitement to violence and genocide would indicate that all Tigrayans are now in imminent danger.
It is within this larger context and in light of the solemn obligations that the Government of Tigray has to protect and defend Tigrayans to the best of its abilities that Tigrayan forces are currently undertaking combat operations. We strongly reiterate our commitment not to allow the Ethiopian regime to continue the siege it has Imposed on Tigray or to use humanitarian aid as a bargaining chip to further political goals. We aver that weaponizing starvation to collectively punish an entire people is both contrary to international law and all human decency. We would also like to stress that while there are two sides to the war on Tigray, only one side has unleashed deliberate genocidal campaign to decimate a region in collaboration domestic and foreign allies and declared an intention to wipe out an entire with total impunity. There is, nor has there ever been, any equivalence between the two sides in neither intentions nor actions.
We would like to conclude by noting that the people of Tigray have thus far been poorly served by all international mechanisms, including the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), established to address atrocities and facilitate peace. The need for a change of strategy and an urgent adoption of effective and meaningful actions is evident to all. The Government of Tigray is at all times ready to support and promote any such efforts without any reservation.
- Response to the press Statement by US State Department on Combat Operations in Northern Ethiopia
- Response to the press Statement by US State Department on Combat Operations in Northern Ethiopia