Biden calls for an end to the war, the end of the ‘great persecution’ in Tigray | Conflicting Issues

United States President Joe Biden has called for an end to the war and for “ending human rights abuses” in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, just days after US rule. visa restrictions of Ethiopian and Eritrean officials accused of escalating the conflict.

Mu words On Wednesday, Biden said he was “deeply concerned” about the escalation of violence in Tigray and “the hardening of racial and ethnic divisions” in several parts of the country.

“Serious human rights abuses are taking place in Tigray, including the spread sexual violence, it is illegal and must end, ”he said.

Biden also called on Eritrean and Amhara troops to leave Tigray and for government officials to provide “immediate, uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to the area. widespread hunger“.

“The Belligerents in the Tigray region should announce and follow the fight, and the Eritrean and Amhara troops must withdraw.”

Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds more forced to flee their homes in the Tigray region since November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to arrest and disrupt the ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Five million people also need help.

Biden’s comments came after on Monday the US State department announced it was setting economic and security limits on Ethiopia, as well as visa restrictions on current or former Ethiopian and Eritrean government officials and members of the international security force.

Visa restrictions also applied to others, including Amhara and other non-violent groups and members of the TPLF, who believe that they are “responsible, or actively involved” in disrupting the solution to the problem in Tigray, He said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the measures were designed to force a ceasefire, but the Ethiopian government prosecution Biden managers intervening in their internal affairs.

On Monday, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said that if U.S. laws continue, Addis Ababa “will be forced to reconsider its relations with the United States, which could have a significant effect on our relations”.

“Attempts by US authorities to intervene [Ethiopia’s] “Internal affairs are inappropriate and completely illegal,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ethiopian government faces international pressure to prosecute Tigray human rights abuses, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, non-discriminatory killings and deportation. Show He said in March “ethnic cleansing ceremonies” took place in the area.

Ethiopia has rejected widespread violence and He said on May 21 sentenced four soldiers to civilian death or rape, placing 53 others on similar charges, though court documents were not publicly available.

The exiles ‘do not feel safe’

Earlier Wednesday, the United Nations said it was “extremely alarmed” by reports that troops had detained hundreds of migrants in Tigray camps.

The militants have detained about 200 civilians in several camps in the Shire, beating them and confiscating their phones before forcing them to board a car, according to Amnesty International reports and witnesses.

“We understand how traumatic and heartbreaking it is, not only for the relatives of the missing youths but the entire (migrating) group in the Shire,” said Elisabeth Haslund, a UN refugee spokeswoman.

“What we have seen is that (migrants) thousands have been fleeing the area because they do not feel safe and believe that the area is not safe.”

UN chief executive too was warned active action to prevent starvation in Tigray.

In December, the Ethiopian government pledged to “provide access to human resources” but large areas, especially rural areas, were still cut off due to violence, according to a report earlier this month by the UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Some parts of central, south-eastern and eastern Tigray have been closed by militants since early March, OCHA said, warning that the increase in food shortages in the region was “severe and dangerous”.