APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The Eritrean government has summoned British Charge d’affaires in Asmara, capital of Eritrea over a remark attributed to a UK diplomat about Ethiopian territorial claims.
Eritrean Minister for Information, Yemane Gebre Meskel said on Friday on Twitter that the government decision has something to do with the remark during a recent visit to Mekelle of the British Ambassador to Ethiopia, Darren Welch.
Eritrea accused the UK Ambassador to Ethiopia of supporting what it calls “TPLF’s irredentist claims” – apparently territorial claims.
Gebre Meskel wrote, “British Charge d’Affaires in Asmara was summoned by DG at Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday to convey strong message to Whitehall on unwarranted remarks of British Ambassador to Ethiopia during his recent visit to Mekelle apparently endorsing TPLF’s irredentist claims”.
This week, the UK government sent a delegation to Mekelle under the leadership of its Special Envoy for the Red Sea & Horn of Africa, Sarah Montgomery.
The delegation met with Getachew Reda, whom Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed as an interim president of Tigray regional state following the Pretoria peace agreement and new political alliance after two years of a devastating war.
The British Ambassador announced new funding and partnership with the United Nations Human Rights division to investigate rights abuse during the war between TPLF and the Ethiopian government.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has been accusing Eritrea of occupying territories in the Tigray region.
Like the United States, the U.K. government has been the strong champion of the TPLF during the war.
It has been established that the war, which is said to have claimed about one million lives from both sides, started when the TPLF attacked the northern command of the Ethiopian Defense Force.
MG/as/APA