Washington Update – by Mesfin Mekonen
September 30, 2022
The atrocity occurred at a time when United Nations officials were visiting Ethiopia to investigate human rights abuses. The officials restricted their activities to the Tigray region, disregarding promises they have made to investigate extensive human rights abuses against Amhara people in the south of Ethiopia, including killings, attacks and involuntary displacement. The Abiy government’s failure to prevent or respond to the loss of life and destruction of property is criminal. Wounded and displaced people are not receiving assistance. They are in desperate need of food, shelter and protection. Unless urgent action is taken, the humanitarian disaster could spiral out of control, just as it has in places like Rwanda and Syria when the international community turned away rather than confront obvious injustice.
The government lead by Abiy has failed to stop violence, including bank robberies committed by the Shanne/Oromo Liberation Front, the abduction of University students, the killing of innocent Amhara and Gurages people by extremists, burnings Christian Orthodox churches and the destruction of proprieties in Shashemne and other Ethiopia regions. Abiy has also failed to prevent the TPLF from conducting chaos, distruction of properties, committred atrocities on innocent civilians in the Northern Ethiopia.