BY SOLOMON DIBABA
In a Press Statement it posted on its Face Book on the 13th of March 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that “the Ethiopian government is indeed fully cognizant of its obligations under International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, to which Ethiopia is a party.
That is why it undertook the law enforcement operations in the Tigray region with utmost precaution to avoid as much as possible collateral damage on civilians and civilian institutions. .”
The Statement stressed that the Ethiopian government also takes any allegations of human rights abuses and crimes extremely seriously. That is why it acted swiftly to undertake the necessary investigation to verify those allegations and bring perpetrators to justice.
It is in this context that a team composed of representatives from the Federal Attorney General and the Federal Police Commission has been deployed in the Tigray Region to carry out this investigative work.
In addition, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has been investigating and reporting on human rights issues, including the Mai Kadra massacre, civilian casualties, sexual violence, and allegations of discriminatory treatment, the Statement added.
“The outcome of these investigations will enable the government to bring the perpetrators to justice and comprehensively address alleged human rights violations and crimes that have occurred in the Tigray region. The EHRC has already publicized some of its preliminary findings and recommendations from its independent investigations, .” the Statement stressed.
Furthermore, the Ethiopian government has demonstrated its readiness to engage positively and constructively with all the relevant regional and international stakeholders in responding to the serious allegations of human rights abuses and crimes.
In this regard, it has already expressed its willingness to collaborate with international human rights experts and, if need be, conduct joint investigations with the relevant bodies.
It is in this spirit that the government has been engaging with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). And now, it has proposed to cooperate and engage with the relevant African Union mechanisms, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) in the investigation of alleged human rights violations in the Tigray region. Discussions are currently underway to look at the modalities for implementing this commitment.
The Statement was issued following the allegations, in fact, outright accusations of ethnic cleansing of Tigrayans by US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken during his testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on 10 March 2021, which the Statement described as completely unfounded and spurious verdict against the Ethiopian government. Nothing during or after the end of the main law enforcement operation in Tigray can be identified or defined by any standards as a targeted.
“Overblowing things out of proportion while the Ethiopian government has made its position unequivocally clear on the need for thorough investigation in collaboration with regional and international partners does not serve the purpose of justice other than unnecessarily politicizing the issue.” The statement noted.
Indeed branding the situation in Tigray as ethnic cleansing is tantamount to even describing the situation as the highest form of genocide. Such a statement uttered by the highly posted official of the State Department was not a simple slip of a tongue and will add no value to add in the process of deescalating the situation in Ethiopia’s region of Tigray.
Change and continuity is one of the characteristic features of the diplomatic relations between countries and the Ethio-US relations have passed the test of times for over a century and are not expected to drop into lukewarm relations by transitory incidents that are subject to ebb and flow.
It is regrettable that the pervious US administration has sided with Egypt in threatening to blow up Ethiopia’s flagship project, GERD, while the current US administration is accusing Ethiopia of ethnic cleansing with no ground of evidence.
The US administration needs to soberly consider the longstanding relations between the two countries and their joint struggle against terrorism in the Horn of Africa and climate change induced natural and manmade calamities in the region.
This administration needs to understand why and how Ethiopia is respectfully positioned and rooted in Africa and the world. The administration is fully aware of the details in the entire situation in Ethiopia but in reality seems to fall prey to the dangerous propaganda aimed at deliberately tarnishing Ethiopia’s credibility in the eyes of the international community and thereby prepare the ground for a regional war in the Horn of Africa.
The partnership between the two countries did not cease even when NATO and the US along with Egypt has supported the aggression waged by Siad Bare irredentist forces attacked Ethiopia to implement his dream of Greater Somalia.
Ethiopia is patiently tolerating but amicably struggling to fight of the unfounded propaganda war which is being fanned by TPLF and its sponsors across the world. History has a lot in store on tragic incidents that were triggered by false propaganda. Suffice it to recall Hitler’s genocide against the Jews that culminated in the massacre of more than 20 million Jews. This is what ethnic cleansing is and the entire world knows that Ethiopia, as a sovereign country has the right to keep law and order in its own territory without any need for consultation with any country.
Ethiopia hopes and expects that the current US Administration will come to full understanding of the situation in Tigray and in fact in the entire country.
Administrations may come and go but the everlasting relations between the peoples and governments of Ethiopia and the US shall flourish.
The Ethiopian Herald March 26/2021
