Over the past months, a trio of opposition parties in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region estimates that more than 50,000 civilians have been killed in the three-month conflict, and they urge the international community to intervene before a humanitarian disaster of biblical proportion will become a gruesome reality
No official death toll has emerged since the fighting began in early November 2020 between Ethiopian and allied forces and those of the Tigray region who dominated the government for almost three decades before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. Each side now views the other as illegitimate.
The European Parliament passed a resolution on October 7th calling for the immediate cessation of hostilities by all parties and calling for far-reaching sanctions, including arms embargoes, against all warring parties involved in the ongoing civil war in Ethiopia.The 27-point resolution was adopted with a total of 618 votes in favor, 58 abstentions and four against.
The first point of the resolution calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities by all parties, which is a necessary prerequisite for the urgently needed improvement of the humanitarian situation in Tigray and other regions, particularly Afar and Amhara calls for an immediate return to constitutional order and the establishment of a ceasefire monitoring mechanism.
The resolution also focuses on Calling for far-reaching sanctions. Parliament passed a call on member states to stop exports to Ethiopia of weapons and surveillance technology used to facilitate attacks on civilians and commit human rights abuses.
It also called on the Ethiopian government to sign and ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court calls on the warring parties to ensure full access to independent human rights monitors and investigators, including United Nations and African Union investigators.
The resolution stated that the 11 month long conflict has sparked a man-made crisis and this far-reaching human suffering is completely preventable. It also points out that children were recruited into the conflict by the warring factions, including the Tigrayan troops; and that the use of child soldiers is a war crime.
It also noted that the Ethiopian authorities arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared ethnic Tigrayans in the Ethiopian capital and committed other abuses against them, such as closing down Tigrayan-owned companies; whereas incitement to hatred and discrimination and increasing inflammatory anti-Tigray rhetoric are evident across Ethiopia, including from senior government officials.
The 27-point resolution calls on the UN Security Council to consider sending UN peacekeeping forces to the region. Parliament expressed its regret that the UN Security Council has not yet dealt with the situation in Tigray and called on the EU and its member states to urge the UN Security Council to hold regular public meetings on Tigray and decided Take steps to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access to ensure the protection of civilians, end serious violations of international law and ensure accountability for atrocities.
Parliament instructed the President to forward copies of the resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the European Foreign Office, the Federal Government and the Action Service House of the Federation of Ethiopia, the Tigrayan Authorities, the Government of the Republic of Sudan, the Government of the State of Eritrea, the Governments of the Intergovernmental Development Agency, the African Union and its Member States, the Pan-African Parliament and the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
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