ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s Amhara region has denied that its forces were engaged in “ethnic cleansing” in conflict-hit Tigray, one day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the phrase in public testimony.
Earlier this week, Tigrayan officials accused Amhara forces of kicking thousands of people off land in western Tigray — a part of the region that ethnic Amharas claim rightfully belongs to them.
Appearing before Congress on Wednesday, Blinken said “acts of ethnic cleansing” had been committed in western Tigray, calling for them to “stop” and for “full accountability.”
In an interview, Amhara spokesman Gizachew Muluneh dismissed reports of ethnic cleansing and large-scale displacement as “propaganda.”
“A few Tigrayans may be displaced, a few in number,” he said.
Gizachew also said Blinken’s call for Amhara forces to leave Tigray was misguided, claiming the territory where these forces were present would actually be considered part of Amhara from now on.
“There are not any Amhara forces in Tigray region. These areas are not Tigrayan areas, in history,” Gizachew said.
“If the Secretary (Blinken) is talking about these areas, these areas are not Tigrayan. Our forces are not in the Tigrayan areas, rather our forces are in Amhara region. That is our response.”
Ethiopia is made up of 10 semi-autonomous federal states organized along ethnic lines, and ethnic violence has soared in recent years.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military campaign in Tigray in November after blaming the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), for attacks on army camps.
Abiy, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, leaned on forces from Amhara to secure western and southern Tigray once the TPLF retreated from those areas, and Amhara officials set up transitional administrations in multiple cities and towns.
It was a sensitive move, given that many ethnic Amharas believe the once-dominant TPLF illegally incorporated the fertile territories after it came to power in the early 1990s — and that they should fall under Amhara administration.
Blinken’s remarks on Wednesday confirmed the substance of a New York Times report last month that said that an internal US government report determined there was “ethnic cleansing” in western Tigray.
The report, according to the newspaper, said entire villages had disappeared in an effort to make western Tigray “ethnically homogeneous through the organized use of force and intimidation.”
Abiy’s government has not announced any formal decision on whether western and southern Tigray would be annexed by Amhara.
His office on Thursday referred questions to the foreign ministry, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ethiopia’s Amhara region rejects charge of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Tigray
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Ethiopia’s Amhara region rejects charge of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Tigray
Cuba says a 5th person died after people on a Florida-flagged speedboat opened fire on soldiers
- Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops
- The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities
HAVANA: Cuba said a fifth person has died as a consequence of a fatal shootout last month involving a Florida-flagged speedboat that allegedly opened fire on soldiers in waters off the island nation’s north coast.
The island’s interior ministry said late Thursday in a statement that Roberto Álvarez Ávila died on March 4 as a result of his injuries. It added that the remaining injured detainees “continue to receive specialized medical care according to their health status.”
Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops. They said the passengers were armed Cubans living in the US who were trying to infiltrate the island and “unleash terrorism”. Cuba said its soldiers killed four people and wounded six others.
“The statements made by the detainees themselves, together with a series of investigative procedures, reinforce the evidence against them,” the Cuban interior ministry said in its statement, adding that “new elements are being obtained that establish the involvement of other individuals based in the US”
Earlier this week, Cuba said it had filed terrorism charges against six suspects that were on the speedboat. The government unveiled items said to have been found on the boat, including a dozen high-powered weapons, more than 12,800 pieces of ammunition and 11 pistols.
Cuban authorities have provided few details about the shooting, but said the boat was roughly 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) northeast of Cayo Falcones, off the country’s north coast. They also provided the boat’s registration number, but The Associated Press was unable to readily verify the details because boat registrations are not public in the state of Florida.
The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities. The island’s economy was until recently largely kept economically afloat by Venezuela’s oil, which is now in doubt after a US military operation deposed then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
