UNITED NATIONS (AP) – An attempt to gain UN Security Council approval for a statement calling for an end to violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia and for the millions in need of humanitarian aid , was dropped on Friday night after objections from India, Russia and especially China, UN diplomats said.
Three Council diplomats said Ireland, which drafted the declaration, had decided not to proceed with the approval of the three countries.
The press release would have been the first by the UN’s most powerful body on the Tigray crisis, which is entering its fourth month. Fierce fighting is expected between Ethiopian and allied forces and those supporting the now fleeing Tigray leaders, who once dominated the Ethiopian government, and the rise in alarm over the fate of Tigray’s 6 million people. No one knows how many thousands of civilians were killed.
Mark Lowcock, head of the UN’s humanitarian chief, warned on Tuesday that a ‘destruction campaign’ was taking place, saying at least 4.5 million people needed help and demanding that troops from neighboring Eritrea be accused of committing atrocities in Tigray. committed, left Ethiopia.
The proposed statement makes no mention of foreign powers or sanctions – two key issues – but an end to violence in Tigray. ‘
The draft statement also took note ‘with concern’ of the humanitarian situation in Tigray, ‘where millions of people still need humanitarian aid’ and the challenge of accessing aid workers. It called for ‘the full and early implementation’ of the Ethiopian Government’s declarations of 26 February and 3 March committing to ‘unrestricted access’.
Council diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because consultations were private, said China wanted the statement to focus only on the humanitarian situation, without reference to the violence in Tigray. India wanted only a slight change, and Russia apparently supported its ally China at the last minute, diplomats said.
The reports of a massacre of hundreds of people by Eritrean soldiers in the holy city of Axum in Tigray are set out in reports by The Associated Press and then by Amnesty International. Federal government and Tigray regional officials believe each other’s governments are illegal after elections disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Human Rights Watch confirmed the reports on Friday, saying the Eritrean army had killed a number of civilians, including 13-year-olds, “in the historic city of Axum in Tigray in November 2020. It called on the UN to urgently launch an independent investigation into war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in Tigray.