Ethiopian Authority confirms that a United Nations Humanitarian Mission was shot at and detained after attempting to access unauthorized areas by bypassing
borkena
December 9, 2020
Ethiopian Security forces reportedly fired at United Nations Humanitarian team as they were attempting to violate security arrangement.
The team bypassed two checkpoints before the Ethiopian Defense Force fired at their car as they were attempting to cross the third checkpoint. The incident happened on Sunday.
A report by Reuters on Tuesday claimed that “The UN security team was seeking access to the Shimelba camp for Eritrean refugees when they were fired on Sunday. ”
The Secretariat of Ethiopia State of Emergency Fact Check — Ambassador Redwan Hussien — confirmed to journalists on Tuesday that the UN humanitarian team was shot at and detained as they were driving with speed heading to areas they were not supposed to go.
“When the Ethiopian government says it is not safe to access, the United Nations and other entities have to comply with that. This country is not a ‘no man’s land’ and it has a government,” he told journalists in the capital Addis Ababa.
Rumors have been circulating among Ethiopians that the World Health Organization Director, Dr. Tewodros Adhanom who was himself a central committee and executive committee member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), has been making various attempts to rescue TPLF leaders whom the Ethiopian government is hunting in Tigray region.
A citizen report on social media yet to be confirmed by the Ethiopian government claims that most of the TPLF leaders have been either killed or captured with injury. Former Chief of intelligence, Getachew Assefa, is said to be still at large. Although there are expressed interest on the part of TPLF leadership to organize a guerrilla movement against the Ethiopian Army after losing battles after battles, Ethiopian authorities dismiss it as a move that will be unsuccessful.
The Ethiopian government announced about a week ago that it has entered the third phase of the military operation in the region whose goal is to hunt down TPLF leaders.
It is well over a month now since the Ethiopian government launched a military operation in the region with a mission to bring TPLF leaders to justice for launching an orchestrated attack against the Ethiopian Defense Force on November 4, 2020. In the two years after Abiy Ahmed took office as prime minister, TPLF was engaged in extensive militarism and raised a total of 250,000 special forces and militia. As it turns out, it was planning to take over government power. Thousands are believed to have been killed in the conflict.
According to UN estimates about one million people are displaced in the Tigray region of Ethiopia where there has been a military operation to capture Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF) leaders who ordered their forces to unleash “a preemptive attack” on the northern command of the Ethiopian Defense Forces.
The United Nations claims that nearly 1 million people are displaced due to the war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia of which about 50,000 are said to have crossed the border to Sudan seeking refugee status.
Ethiopian government claims that some of those who crossed the border to Sudan to seek refuge had been involved in the massacre of innocent civilians in Maikadra town. Over 1000 unarmed civilians were massacred by retreating TPLF forces and multiples of mass graves have been uncovered in the town.
Cover photo : screenshot from OPM video
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