Addis Ababa, January 6, 2022 (Walta) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said the latest provocations and shelling of the Abala area in Afar by the TPLF forces have continued to challenge the humanitarian supply process.
MFA Spokesperson Amb. Dina Mufti gave the Ministry’s fortnight press briefing today to the media focusing on political diplomacy, updates on the humanitarian and human rights issues with regard to the conflict in the northern part of the country, citizen-centered diplomatic activities, particularly the Great Home Coming Challenge.
He said the latest provocations and shelling of the Abala area in Afar by the TPLF forces have continued to challenge the humanitarian supply process.
The Government of Ethiopia called on the international community to condemn this egregious act by the TPLF that puts the lives of many of our people in the Tigray region in danger.
The group’s attack on the humanitarian supply route shows its disregard for the people in Tigray and its profiteering attitude from creating and exacerbating the food crisis in the region, he said.
The silence of the WFP chief on the more than 1,000 hijacked trucks by the TPLF coupled with the indifference of the international community over the latest unwarranted provocations on humanitarian supply routes in the Afar region are putting many lives in danger, the spokesperson added.
The Spokesperson also rejected a report issued yesterday by the Human Rights Watch claiming the mistreatment of thousands of ethnic Tigrayans recently deported from Saudi Arabia at the hands of the Ethiopian government.
“The report is not only unsubstantiated but an irresponsible move that aimed to discredit all the efforts that the Ethiopian government has been doing to relieve the pains of our citizens that have returned from Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“The report by the Human Rights Watch seems to accuse the government of Ethiopia of not sending the returnees to the areas that have been affected by the conflict. Advancing political interests at the cost of the returnees is beyond comprehension.”
According to the Spokesperson, the Government repatriated more than 40,000 Ethiopians from Saudi Arabia in just a couple of months regardless of which ethnic group that they belong to.