US Congress Calls for Sanctions Against Ethiopia Over Tigray
💭 አታላዮቹ የአፍሪቃ ቀንድ ወሮበሎች አብዮት አህመድ አሊ እና ኢሳያስ አፈወርቂ ዓለምን በማታለል የተካኑና ሌላ የኖቤል ሽልማት በሲዖል ለመቀበል የሚሹ ዱርየዎች መሆናቸውን የአሜሪካ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት አባላት ደርሰውበታል።
💭 ይህን ዜና ያቀበለን የኤሚራቶች ሜዲያ በአሜሪካ ፈቃድ በትግራይ ሕዝብ ላይ የተጠቀሟቸውን ድሮኖች እንድንረሳቸው ለማድረግ እየሞከረ ይመስላል። ግን ኤሚራቶች የሠሩት ወንጀል አይረሳም፤ በዚህም ሆነ በዚያ ተገቢውን ዋጋ በቅርቡ ይከፍሏታል።
👉 የትግራይ ችግር ከቀጠለ የአሜሪካ ምክር ቤት ኮሚቴ በኢትዮጵያ ላይ እርምጃ እንደሚወስድ ዛተ
☆ ከሁለት የአሜሪካ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት አባላት የተላከው ደብዳቤ የቢደን አስተዳደር በትግራይ ላይ እርምጃ እንዲወስድ አሳስቧል።
☆ ባለፈው ሳምንት የኢትዮጵያ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ዓብይ አህመድ በትግራይ ከመንግስቱ ጎን በመዋጋት ላይ የኤርትራ ወታደሮች መኖራቸውን አምኖ ከክልሉ ለመልቀቅ ቃል የገቡ ሲሆን እስካሁን ግን በዚያ አቅጣጫ እንቅስቃሴ አልተደረገም።
☆ “በዜጎች ላይ የተፈጸሙ ጭካኔዎችን እና ከባድ የሰብአዊ መብቶች ጥሰትን ፣ በጣም በጠነከረ መልክ እናወግዛለን ፣ አስገድዶ መድፈር ፣ ማሰቃየት ፣ በግዳጅ መፈናቀል እና መሰወር ፣ የዘር ማፅዳት ድርጊቶች ፣ ያለፍርድ ግድያ ፣ የህክምና ተቋማትን መዝረፍ እና ማውደም እንዲሁም የእርዳታ እገዳን መገደብ ፣ ሚስተር ሜክስ እና ሚስተር ማኩል በደብዳቤያቸው ላይ ጽፈዋል።
☆ ደብዳቤው አክሎም “የግሎባል ማግኒትስኪ ባለሥልጣናትን እና ሌሎች ኢላማ የሆኑ ማዕቀቦችን ጨምሮ የ” ቢደን ”አስተዳደር ያሉትን ሁሉንም መሳሪያዎች እንዲጠቀም እናሳስባለን።
☆ A letter from two members of the US House of Representatives is urging the Biden administration to take action on Tigray.
☆ Last week, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed admitted to the presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray fighting on the side of his government and committed to their withdrawal from the region, but so far there hasn’t been movement in that direction.
☆ “We condemn in the strongest possible terms reported atrocities and gross violations of human rights committed against civilians, including rape, torture, forced displacements and disappearances, acts of ethnic cleansing, extrajudicial killings, the looting and destruction of medical facilities and restricted access to aid,” Mr Meeks and Mr McCaul wrote in their letter.
☆ “We urge the [Biden] administration to utilise all available tools, including Global Magnitsky authorities and other targeted sanctions, to hold parties accountable for their actions and bring an end to this crisis,” the letter added.
Letter floats Magnitsky sanctions among other measures if the situation doesn’t improve
A letter from two members of the US House of Representatives is urging the Biden administration to take action on Tigray.
Congress placed increased pressure on the Biden administration over the pressing humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia this week, urging it to move more forcefully and impose sanctions on the involved parties, including Addis Ababa.
A bipartisan letter from Gregory Meeks, Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and ranking Republican member Michael McCaul was dispatched on Tuesday evening to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen calling for sanctions on those fuelling the fighting in Tigray.
Ongoing fighting since November between Ethiopian troops and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has left more than 50,000 dead and has displaced hundreds of thousands, according to Ethiopia’s three opposition parties.
The UN estimated on Tuesday that 2.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, while human rights organisations have reported mass atrocities, incidents of rape and extrajudicial killings.
Last week, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed admitted to the presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray fighting on the side of his government and committed to their withdrawal from the region, but so far there hasn’t been movement in that direction.
Congress is urging the Biden administration to do more in its bid to end the fighting.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms reported atrocities and gross violations of human rights committed against civilians, including rape, torture, forced displacements and disappearances, acts of ethnic cleansing, extrajudicial killings, the looting and destruction of medical facilities and restricted access to aid,” Mr Meeks and Mr McCaul wrote in their letter.
“We urge the [Biden] administration to utilise all available tools, including Global Magnitsky authorities and other targeted sanctions, to hold parties accountable for their actions and bring an end to this crisis,” the letter added.
The Magnitsky sanctions can be used to punish human rights abuses in accordance with the Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act passed by Congress in 2012.
The letter implicates all sides in such abuses and stresses that “additional targeted accountability measures cannot wait”.
It also threatens problems for the future of US-Ethiopia bilateral relations if the situation does not improve.
“While we remain committed to the important bilateral relationship between the United States and Ethiopia, this conflict jeopardises shared political, economic and security priorities,” the two representatives wrote.
The Biden administration delinked in February a suspension of $272 million in aid to Ethiopia for the Nile dam crisis and tied it instead to current “developments”, including the Tigray conflict.
Mr Blinken described the situation in Tigray as “ethnic cleansing” speaking to Congress in March, and on Tuesday he referenced sexual assaults and continued killings in the region.
“The report we’re releasing today shows that the trend lines on human rights continue to move in the wrong direction … We see it in the killings, sexual assaults and other atrocities credibly reported in Ethiopia’s Tigray region,” Mr Blinken said during the launch of the State Department’s annual human rights report.
Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Africa Centre, argued that Washington is following a gradual approach in ratcheting up the pressure on Ethiopia.
“We [the US] have already suspended our development assistance and our security assistance. Those moves seem to have very little impact in changing [Addis Ababa’s] approach to the conflict in Tigray. The next level of pressure is clearly going to be direct punitive measures,” Mr Hudson told The National.
The letter, addressed to Mr Blinken and copied to Ms Yellen, is an indication of potential sanctions by the departments of State and Treasury.
“This likely will translate into sanctions unless Washington starts to see greater movement on the key issues it is asking for changes on, namely the withdrawal of Eritrean and Amhara forces, the launch of the international human rights investigation, unhindered humanitarian access and some sort of domestic political dialogue,” Mr Hudson said.
On the role of Treasury specifically, Mr Hudson, saw the possibility of the US delaying or denying third party aid to Ethiopia.
“The Treasury does two big things that affect US policy on Ethiopia: It administers US sanctions and it controls the US vote at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) … The US has leverage in denying or delaying Ethiopia multilateral financing and assistance and not just bilateral assistance.”
In its report on Tuesday, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 2.2 million people are in need of aid and “approximately 1.3 million children need protective services and safe education in Tigray and neighbouring areas”.
The body expressed concern over reports of violations of human rights and rape in the Tigray region.
“There are more than 500 self-reported rape cases so far,” it said.
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