Ethiopia urges Africans to boycott controversial UN rights meeting on Tigray conflict

ADDIS ABABA – The Ethiopian government has urged all African countries represented at the United Nations Human Rights Council to boycott a session slated for Friday in which the UN diplomats are expected to discuss alleged atrocities in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

Ethiopia has been in a deadly conflict that has fitted the Ethiopian government against its regional adversary Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) since November last year when elements allied to the TPLF – that is designated as a terrorist group by the Ethiopian parliament – attacked a federal army base in Tigray.

The war has been marred by allegations of atrocities that world bodies – including the United Nations – have warned may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Both sides to the conflict have been accused of involvement in those atrocities.

But the Ethiopian government has accused Western powers led by the United States of working to undermine its sovereignty as alleged atrocities committed by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in Amhara and Afar regions have gone without condemnation from the powerful countries.

The United Nations Human Rights Council is set to discuss Tigray war crimes in a session slated for Friday, but Ethiopia is now urging African countries to boycott the meeting which it has described as a political game by some Western countries that are opposed to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.

“The call is politically motivated and ignores all the Ethiopian government’s commitment to applying the recommendations of the joint UN-EHRC investigative report on the alleged human rights abuses in Tigray,” Director-General of Neighboring Countries and IGAD Affairs at the Ethiopian foreign ministry, Amb. Fissaha Shawel, said Wednesday afternoon.

He made the call during a discussion with African Ambassadors today in Addis Ababa today.

Amb. Fissaha spoke at length to underscore “the wanton destruction of human lives and properties in the Amhara and Afar regions that were under the TPLF occupation” and added that “some countries and renowned mainstream media outlets have continued to misinform the public and tarnish the image of Ethiopia.”

The Ethiopian diplomat further reiterated the federal government’s allegations against the TPLF that unnamed “supporters of the terrorist group have attempted to delegitimize and undermine the government of Ethiopia.”