(Addis Ababa) The UN said on Wednesday that Ethiopia was detaining 72 drivers from the World Food Program (WFP) in a town in the north of the country located on the only road allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid to Tigray, a region ravaged by war and famine.
“We confirm that 72 contract drivers hired by WFP are detained in Semera. We are in contact with the Ethiopian government to understand the reasons for their detention, ”said a UN spokesperson.
The day before, 22 Ethiopian UN employees had been arrested after a strike targeting Tigrayans in the capital Addis Ababa, in the midst of intensifying diplomatic efforts to end the conflict that has been opposing Tigray rebels and pro-government forces for a year.
Several of them were released, but at least nine remained in detention Wednesday evening, according to the spokesperson of the organization in New York, Stéphane Dujarric.
The arrests follow a state of emergency declared last week by Abiy Ahmed’s government, as rebel fighters threatened to march on the capital.
According to lawyers, thousands of Tigrayans have been arbitrarily detained since the announcement of the measures, which allow the authorities to detain without a warrant anyone suspected of supporting “terrorist groups”.
No information on the ethnicity of the drivers detained in Semera was available, but the UN has in the past hired Tigrayans to transport aid to the area, where several hundred thousand people are suffering from hunger.
Only 15% of the necessary aid was able to reach Tigray, via Semera, according to the UN.
” Seat ”
The war began on November 4, 2020 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the army to Tigray to remove regional authorities from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which he accused of attacking military bases. .
The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner was quick to declare victory, but TPLF fighters recaptured most of Tigray in June, then advanced into the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar, where Semera is located.
The TPLF, and its Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) allies, now claim to be about 300 kilometers north of Addis Ababa.
The war, which has claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than two million people, is punctuated by abuses perpetrated by both sides.
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report that the government’s “effective siege” on Tigray was preventing women victims of rape from accessing medical care.
Based on testimonies from victims aged between six and 80, HRW accuses the belligerents of widespread sexual violence and of deliberately targeting medical facilities.
“Despicable acts”
Amnesty International also released an investigation on Wednesday claiming that Tigrayan fighters raped, beaten and robbed women in August in the town of Nifas Mewcha, Amhara.
These “despicable acts […] constitute war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity, ”said Amnesty General Secretary Agnès Callamard.
The TPLF denounced “the radical conclusions” of this investigation, conducted in its eyes according to an “erroneous methodology” via remote video interviews. If these facts are proven, “the government of Tigray will bring the perpetrators to justice,” the organization added in a statement.
The Ethiopian government, for its part, considered that these acts should “be condemned by all”, citing “many other inhumane acts committed in the territories” controlled by the TPLF.
Diplomatic efforts, led in particular by the African Union (AU) with the support of the UN and the United States, have intensified in recent days to try to obtain a ceasefire.
On Monday, the AU’s special envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, spoke of a “window” to be exploited, the day after a visit to the Tigrayan capital.
Washington said on Wednesday it was “hopeful” that the AU’s efforts would succeed.
“There is an opportunity, I hope, for everyone to go back, sit down at the same table to stop what is happening on the ground and, in the end, achieve a ceasefire,” he said. declared the head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken, who spoke on the telephone with Mr. Obasanjo and brought his “support” to his mediation.
The Secretary of State also spoke with his Ethiopian counterpart Demeke Mekonnen to whom he stressed “the urgency of taking concrete measures for peace”.
TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda had previously said on Twitter that “most ‘peace initiatives'” were “primarily aimed at saving Abiy.”