APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, is alarmed at the heightened risk of genocide and related atrocity crimes in Ethiopia, following reports of continued fighting between government troops and local militias in the Tigray, Amhara, Afar and Oromia regions.
“The incident reports that we see coming out of Ethiopia are deeply disturbing and constitute a call for action,” said Special Adviser Wairimu Nderitu. “I want to particularly draw the attention of the global community to the continued presence of risk factors for genocide and related atrocity crimes in the country,” warned the Special Adviser said on Wednesday in statement.
There are reports that entire families have been killed, relatives forced to watch horrific crimes against their loved ones, while whole communities have been displaced or expelled from their homes.
“The suffering of innocent civilians should never be accepted as inevitable; rather, it must reinforce our commitment to ensure that impunity does not prevail and that all possible prevention actions are prioritized,” she said.
Alluding to her previous statements on the situation in the country over the last three years, issued on 12 November 2020, 5 February 2021, 30 July 2021, 8 November 2021 and 17 October 2022, as well as to the 14 September report by the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, which documented violations against civilians in the Amhara region and on-going violations in Tigray region of the east African region.
MG/abj/APA