经过几个月的持续战斗，报道暴行，阻碍人道主义援助，总统乔·拜登最终直接参与了2008年的危机埃塞俄比亚-周三晚些时候发出警告，警告“暴力升级”、“大规模侵犯人权”以及“大范围饥荒”的风险

这是美国对埃塞俄比亚政府压力的升级，埃塞俄比亚是一个重要的地区伙伴。但即使在美国周日宣布对埃塞俄比亚官员实施首次制裁后，该国最北部地区提格雷的局势也只是进一步恶化。

本周，几起新报道的暴行困扰着美国官员。根据一个援助组织的说法，一名在实地与美国合作的人道主义援助人员被士兵杀害，军队袭击了一个流离失所者营地，殴打并围捕了一些人，然后被公共汽车运走。

尽管拜登批评埃塞俄比亚政府，但他伸出了外交之手，称美国“致力于帮助埃塞俄比亚应对这些挑战”，并宣布他将于下周派遣特使返回该地区。

爱德华多·索特拉斯/法新社通过盖蒂图像

阿法尔特种部队的一名成员站在伦敦郊区一所房子的废墟前

埃塞俄比亚联邦政府是非洲第二人口大国，也是安全的关键，自去年秋天以来，一直与提格雷的地区执政党提格雷人民解放阵线(Tigray People Limited Front)作战。

在围绕地方选举的紧张局势中，总理阿比·艾哈迈德指责TPLF袭击政府基地——在长期酝酿的紧张局势达到沸点之际，于11月对TPLF发动了进攻。

厄立特里亚是埃塞俄比亚北部的一个小邻国，也长期与TPLF不和，后者曾统治整个埃塞俄比亚。战斗开始后不久，其强人总统伊萨亚斯·阿费沃基(Isaias Afwerki)派遣军队越过边境，这些人被指控犯有一些最严重的暴行。

联合国本周早些时候警告说，经过近七个月的战斗，这场冲突几十年来首次使埃塞俄比亚500多万人面临饥荒的风险。200多万人流离失所，数万人流离失所难民逃往邻国苏丹。目前还不清楚有多少人被杀，但估计有数千人死亡。

据援助组织称，虽然阿比政府表示，他们已经取得了对TPLF的胜利，战斗已经结束，但冲突仍在继续。对于阿比抗议TPLF应对任何持续的暴力负责，拜登似乎回击说，“政治创伤不能通过武力治愈。”

据美国官员和援助组织称，阿比政府也一再表示，它允许国际援助进入提格雷，但安全部队阻止人道主义工作者进入有需要的社区。

爱德华多·索特拉斯/法新社通过盖蒂图像

15岁的迪沙勒根·格布雷塞拉西躺在蒂格雷州首府梅克尔市艾德尔转诊医院的病床上

拜登在声明中说:“所有各方，特别是埃塞俄比亚和厄立特里亚部队，必须允许人道主义援助立即、不受阻碍地进入该地区，以防止大规模饥荒。”他呼吁厄立特里亚部队撤出该国，并呼吁该地区部队撤出邻近的阿姆哈拉省。

拜登补充说:“提格雷发生的大规模侵犯人权行为，包括广泛的性暴力，是不可接受的，必须结束。”他呼吁停火，“包容性对话”和问责制。

虽然他的国务卿安东尼·布林肯(Antony Blinken)表示，美国目睹了“种族清洗”事件，但拜登避免给暴行贴上任何标签。

但他的政府周日朝着问责迈出了第一步，布林肯宣布对埃塞俄比亚和厄立特里亚官员的签证限制，“对破坏提格雷危机的解决负有责任或与之串通一气”。该机构拒绝具体说明谁是目标，因为根据法律签证是保密的。

虽然这是美国的第一次制裁，但国务院此前宣布，由于提格雷危机，特朗普政府因与埃及有争议的大坝而扣留的美国对埃塞俄比亚的援助将继续扣留。

但在签证禁令宣布几小时后，提格雷又传来一则令人不安的报道，称周一晚间发生了一起针对平民的袭击。部队强行撤走了“几十人...根据无国界医生组织的说法，这些人来自境内流离失所者寻求避难的营地。救援组织周三表示，其他人逃离难民营“寻求安全”，但现在发现自己处于“越来越珍贵的境地”，无法“获得基本资源和医疗保健”。

千叶靖好/法新社通过盖蒂图像，文件

逃离埃塞俄比亚提格雷冲突的难民儿童排队等候M

目击者告诉CNN据该网络报道，埃塞俄比亚和厄立特里亚部队对袭击难民营、殴打和骚扰提格雷人以及强迫男子上公共汽车负有责任。

“我们现在就看美国会不会救你!”该网络称士兵大声呼喊，引用目击者的话。

拜登的美国国际开发署(USAID)署长萨曼莎·鲍尔(Samantha Power)称这份无国界医生组织的报告“令人深感不安”。

在拜登发表声明之前，她最近几天一直在对当前的危机发出警告，就像她所在机构的灾难应对负责人上个月告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)的那样，营养不良和援助受阻的程度正在惊人地上升。

“埃塞俄比亚饥荒的风险30多年来首次出现，”鲍尔在一份声明中说，并在周三晚些时候的推特上补充道，“我们有必要的援助来帮助提格雷人民战胜饥饿和疾病。但是埃塞俄比亚和厄立特里亚士兵必须放下武器，确保运送紧急援助。”

对援助的阻挠现在也变得越来越致命。鲍尔在声明中说，一名与美国国际开发署合作的援助人员最近被杀，这是自去年11月以来第七名被杀的人道主义者。

Shutterstock

美国国际开发署署长萨曼莎·鲍尔出现在参议院拨款委员会

“最近针对一名人道主义工作者的袭击显然是故意的，是针对援助人员的骚扰和暴力行为令人不安地增加的一部分。我们强烈谴责这种暴力行为，并继续呼吁提格雷冲突各方允许充分和不受阻碍的人道主义准入，并确保所有人道主义工作人员的安全，以便援助能够送达需要援助的人。

拜登周三表示，职业外交官杰弗里·费尔特曼(Jeffrey Feltman)将于下周返回该地区，“并随时向我通报他的进展情况”。但无论是他的第一次旅行，包括与阿比和伊萨亚斯的会晤，还是拜登对参议员克里斯·库恩斯·德尔的部署。三月，减缓了当地的冲突。

不过，大西洋理事会(Atlantic Council)高级研究员卡梅伦·哈德森(Cameron Hudson)表示，拜登现在的直接干预“明显加大了严肃性和压力，可能为进一步制裁奠定了基础”，也发出了“外交仍是一种选择”的信号。

问题仍然是阿比是否会做出回应，以及局势是否已经失控。

Biden addresses Ethiopia's Tigray crisis as famine looms, 'large-scale abuses' continue

After months of ongoing fighting, reported atrocities, and hindered humanitarian aid, PresidentJoe Bidenhas finally weighed in directly on the crisis inEthiopia-- issuing a warning late Wednesday about the "escalating violence," "large-scale human rights abuses," and the risk of "widespread famine."

It's an escalation of U.S. pressure on Ethiopia's government, a key regional partner. But even after the U.S. announced its first sanctions on Ethiopian officials Sunday, the situation has only further deteriorated in Tigray, the country's northernmost region.

Several new reported atrocities troubled U.S. officials this week. A humanitarian aid worker who partnered with the U.S. on the ground was killed by soldiers, and troops assaulted a camp for displaced people, beating and rounding up men that were then bussed away, according to an aid group.

Even as he criticized Ethiopia's government, Biden extended the hand of diplomacy, saying the U.S. is "committed to helping Ethiopia address these challenges" and announcing he would dispatch his special envoy back to the region next week.

The federal government of Ethiopia, Africa's second most-populous country and a linchpin of security, has been battling Tigray's regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front since last fall.

Amid tensions over local elections, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused the TPLF of attacking government bases -- launching an offensive against the TPLF in November as long-simmering tensions hit a boiling point.

Eritrea, a small neighboring country to the north, has also long been at odds with the TPLF, which used to rule all of Ethiopia. Shortly after fighting began, its strongman president Isaias Afwerki sent troops across the border, who have been accused of some of the worst atrocities.

After nearly seven months of fighting, the conflict has put more than five million people at risk of famine for the first time in Ethiopia in decades, the United Nations warned earlier this week. Over two million people have been displaced, with tens of thousands ofrefugeesfleeing into neighboring Sudan. It's unclear how many people have been killed, but it is estimated that thousands of people are dead.

While Abiy's government has said that it secured victory against the TPLF and fighting has ended, clashes continue, according to aid groups. To Abiy's protests that the TPLF are responsible for any continued violence, Biden seemed to fire back, "Political wounds cannot be healed through force of arms."

Abiy's government has also said repeatedly that it is allowing international aid into Tigray, but security forces are blocking humanitarian workers from reaching communities in need, according to U.S. officials and aid groups.

"All parties, in particular the Ethiopian and Eritrean forces, must allow immediate, unimpeded humanitarian access to the region in order to prevent widespread famine," Biden said in his statement, calling on Eritrean forces to withdraw from the country, as well as regional forces from Amhara, a neighboring province.

"The large-scale human rights abuses taking place in Tigray, including widespread sexual violence, are unacceptable and must end," Biden added, calling for a cease-fire, an "inclusive dialogue," and accountability.

While his Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the U.S. has seen incidents of "ethnic cleansing," Biden avoided any labels on the atrocities.

But his administration took its first step toward accountability on Sunday when Blinken announced visa restrictions on Ethiopian and Eritrean officials "responsible for, or complicit in, undermining resolution of the crisis in Tigray." The agency declined to specify who was targeted because visas are confidential by law.

While these are the first sanctions by the U.S., the State Department previously announced that U.S. aid to Ethiopia withheld by the Trump administration over a disputed dam with Egypt would continue to be withheld because of the Tigray crisis.

But hours after the visa bans were announced, there was another disturbing report from Tigray of an attack on civilians late Monday night. Troops forcibly removed "scores of people... from camps where internally displaced people are seeking refuge in Shire," a Tigrayan town, according to Doctors Without Borders. Others fled the camps "to seek safety," but now find themselves in an "increasingly precious situation" without "access to basic resources and medical care," the aid group said Wednesday.

Witnesses told CNNthat Ethiopian and Eritrean forces were responsible for the assault on the camps, beating and harassing Tigrayans and forcing men onto buses, the network reported.

"We'll see if America will save you now!" the network says soldiers shouted, citing witnesses.

Samantha Power, Biden's administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, called the Doctors Without Borders report "deeply disturbing."

Prior to Biden's statement, she had been raising red flags about the ongoing crisis in recent days, just as her agency's disaster response leader told ABC News last month that there was an alarming rise in malnutrition levels and obstruction of aid.

"The risk of famine in Ethiopia looms for the first time in over 30 years," Power said in a statement, adding in a tweet late Wednesday, "We have the aid necessary to help the people of Tigray fight hunger and disease. But Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers must put down their arms and ensure the delivery of urgent assistance."

That obstruction of aid has now turned increasingly deadly, too. Power said in her statement that an aid worker who worked with USAID was killed recently -- now the seventh humanitarian to be killed since November.

"This recent targeting of a humanitarian worker was clearly intentional and is part of a troubling rise in harassment and violence against aid workers. We strongly condemn this violence and continue to call on all parties to the conflict in Tigray to allow full and unhindered humanitarian access, and to ensure the safety of all humanitarian staff, so that assistance can reach those in need," she said.

Jeffrey Feltman, a career diplomat who now serves as U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, will return to the region next week "and keep me apprised of his progress," Biden said Wednesday. But neither his first trip, including meetings with Abiy and Isaias, nor Biden's deployment of Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., in March has slowed the conflict on the ground.

Still, Biden's direct intervention now "is a clear ratcheting up of seriousness and pressure, likely setting the stage for additional sanctions" and a signal "that diplomacy is still an option," according to Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

The questions remain whether Abiy will respond -- and whether the situation has spiraled out of his control now.