With 10s of 1000s of civilians killed, thousands more injured, and some 2 million displaced in the Tigray region of Ethiopia in recent fighting between government forces and the opposition coalition, the Tigrayan Defense Forces, it shouldn’t be difficult for the international community to justify actions to stop the carnage. Add to this the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and increasing famine, as reported by UN agencies, and it’s impossible to miss the need to address this disaster. Humanitarian agencies still struggle to provide assistance due to Ethiopian government restrictions on travel into Tigray.
But aid is not the only political casualty of the government’s blockade; reporters are also barred from the region. And the government has effectively blocked telecommunications in and out of Tigray since November 2020. Credible, verified news stories aren’t getting out.
Now Ethiopia has a new public relations firm in Washington—Mercury Public Affairs. And new stories about atrocities committed by the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) are increasing, minus sources. Are there atrocities being committed on all sides in this conflict? Of course there are, but reporting on these must contain credible sources, or it is mere propaganda. In the meantime, the use of social media to spread unsubstantiated and inflammatory stories goes on.
It is past time for the U.S. and other key international actors to heed the warnings of the few sources that have acquired genuine evidence of what could be called ethnic cleansing and war crimes, including torture, detention and executions. These include recent reporting based on the research of a CNN investigative team, revealing the existence of tortured Tigrayan bodies floating down the Setit River in eastern Sudan. Human Rights Watch has been able to confirm atrocities against Tigrayans using eyewitness accounts, forensic analysis, satellite imagery and verification of videos and photographs. Amnesty International conducted 63 interviews with survivors of rape and other sexual violence, and further conducted interviews with medical professionals and others treating survivors in both towns and refugee camps.
While U.S. President Joe Biden has signed a new executive order authorizing broad sanctions against those continuing to fight in Tigray, his administration did not immediately impose sanctions, which could include asset freezes and travel bans. We can only hope that they don’t wait too long.
The fighting continues in Tigray, and the atrocities perpetrated against the civilian population continue to mount. More needs to be done by the international community, immediately, to stop the killing, torture, rape and starvation of civilians in Tigray, and to stop the fighting from affecting civilians in other regions.
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