伦敦-美国就是现在限制那些被指控助长残酷的战争在埃塞俄比亚提格雷地区。
美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯周日在一份声明中说:“尽管进行了大量外交接触，提格雷冲突各方没有采取任何有意义的步骤来结束敌对行动或寻求和平解决政治危机。”。“现在是国际社会采取行动的时候了。”
自大约7个月前埃塞俄比亚最北部地区提格雷的联邦部队和反叛的地区部队之间爆发战斗以来，估计已有数千人死亡，另有100多万人流离失所。双方都被指控对平民犯下暴行，并有法外处决、强奸和强行驱逐的报道。
上周，美国参议院通过了一项决议，谴责提格雷的“所有针对平民的暴力”，并呼吁邻国厄立特里亚撤军，该国加入了支持埃塞俄比亚军队的战斗。今年3月，布林肯首次使用“种族清洗”一词来描述他所说的在西部提格雷地区发生的“非常可信的侵犯人权和暴行报告”。
布林肯在周日的声明中警告说，如果不“立即停止敌对行动并迅速扩大人道主义援助准入”，提格雷可能面临饥荒
他说:“提格雷人民继续遭受侵犯人权、虐待和暴行，埃塞俄比亚和厄立特里亚军队以及其他武装行动者阻止了迫切需要的人道主义救济。“我们同样对发生在提格雷的对包括水源、医院和医疗设施在内的平民财产的破坏感到震惊。我们呼吁埃塞俄比亚政府履行公开承诺，追究所有侵犯和践踏人权者的责任，保护平民，并确保人道主义援助畅通无阻。我们呼吁厄立特里亚政府履行其公开承诺，立即将其部队返回国际公认的厄立特里亚领土。”
布林肯说，新的签证限制政策适用于“任何现任或前任埃塞俄比亚或厄立特里亚政府官员、安全部队成员或其他个人——包括阿姆哈拉地区和非正规部队以及提格雷人民解放阵线(TPLF)成员——对破坏提格雷危机的解决负有责任或串通一气。”
他补充说:“这包括那些在埃塞俄比亚提格雷地区对人民实施非法暴力或其他虐待的人，以及那些阻碍人道主义援助进入该地区的人。“这些人的直系亲属也可能受到这些限制。如果那些对破坏解决提格雷危机负有责任的人未能改变方向，他们应该期待美国和国际社会采取进一步行动。我们呼吁其他政府和我们一起采取这些行动。”
布林肯还宣布“对埃塞俄比亚的经济和安全援助进行广泛限制”，并表示美国政府将使其国防贸易管制政策与限制措施保持一致。根据美国政府的数据，埃塞俄比亚是去年美国在非洲对外援助的最大受援国，获得了近10亿美元。
他指出:“我们将继续在卫生、粮食安全、基础教育、支持妇女和女童、人权和民主、善治以及缓解冲突等领域向埃塞俄比亚提供人道主义援助和某些其他重要援助，这与现有的权威是一致的。”。“美国将继续其现有的对厄立特里亚援助的广泛限制。”
这场致命的冲突始于11月初，当时埃塞俄比亚总理艾哈迈德对TPLF发起军事进攻，这是一个强大的、以种族为基础的政党，在1991年将埃塞俄比亚从苏联支持的被称为“德尔格”的军政府中解放出来的过程中发挥了关键作用，然后统治了该国的联邦政府近30年，直到阿比在2018年掌权。2019年获得诺贝尔和平奖的阿比声称，忠于TPLF的部队袭击了位于提格雷地区首府默克莱的埃塞俄比亚军方北方司令部总部。总理内阁宣布提格雷州进入为期六个月的紧急状态，并下令空袭淘汰该地区的电网以及电话和互联网服务持续了数周。
这场攻势是阿比和TPLF之间不断升级的紧张局势的顶点。2019年，埃塞俄比亚总理将埃塞俄比亚的执政联盟合并为一个政党，试图将该国的政治与民族联邦制拉开距离，从而失去了对中央权力的控制。TPLF是埃塞俄比亚90多个民族中的少数民族，虽然没有加入新政党，但仍控制着提格雷地区政府和安全部队。尽管联邦政府因冠状病毒大流行而推迟大选并延长任期，但去年9月提格雷举行议会选举时，紧张局势显然达到了顶点。阿比认为提格雷的投票是非法的，而TPLF则认为总理的领导是非法的。
埃塞俄比亚军队迅速被驱逐TPLF去年从提格雷的主要城镇撤离，但联合国表示，暴力和战斗有增无减，而大多数农村地区仍被切断通信和电力，影响了医疗服务、供水和重要援助的获得。
除了厄立特里亚军队，埃塞俄比亚邻近地区的民兵也加入了提格雷的战斗。联合国表示，战争罪行可能是由冲突各方实施的。
埃塞俄比亚联邦政府表示，将致力于调查提格雷州的侵犯人权事件，而厄立特里亚政府则承诺从该地区撤出其盟军。
US restricting visas, aid over conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region
LONDON -- The United Statesis nowrestricting visas for those accused of fueling thegrinding warinEthiopia's Tigray region.
"Despite significant diplomatic engagement, the parties to the conflict in Tigray have taken no meaningful steps to end hostilities or pursue a peaceful resolution of the political crisis," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Sunday. "The time for action from the international community is now."
Thousands of people are estimated to have died while more than 1 million others are displaced since fighting erupted almost seven months ago between federal troops and rebellious regional forces in Tigray, the northernmost region of Ethiopia. Both sides have been accused of committing atrocities against civilians, with reports of extrajudicial killings, rape and forced evictions.
Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution condemning "all violence against civilians" in Tigray and calling for the withdrawal of troops from neighboring Eritrea, which joined the fight in support of Ethiopian forces. In March, Blinken used the term "ethnic cleansing" for the first time to describe the "very credible reports of human rights abuses and atrocities" that he said have been carried out in the western Tigray area.
In his statement on Sunday, Blinken warned that Tigray could face famine if there is not "an immediate cessation of hostilities and a rapid expansion of humanitarian access."
"People in Tigray continue to suffer human rights violations, abuses, and atrocities, and urgently needed humanitarian relief is being blocked by the Ethiopian and Eritrean militaries as well as other armed actors," he said. "We are equally appalled by the destruction of civilian property including water sources, hospitals, and medical facilities, taking place in Tigray. We call on the Ethiopian government to meet public commitments to hold accountable all those responsible for human rights violations and abuses, to protect civilians, and to ensure unhindered humanitarian access. We call for the Eritrean government to live up to its public commitment and immediately return its troops to internationally recognized Eritrean territory."
Blinken said the new visa restriction policy applies to "any current or former Ethiopian or Eritrean government officials, members of the security forces, or other individuals -- to include Amhara regional and irregular forces and members of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) -- responsible for, or complicit in, undermining resolution of the crisis in Tigray."
"This includes those who have conducted wrongful violence or other abuses against people in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, as well as those who have hindered access of humanitarian assistance to those in the region," he added. "Immediate family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions. Should those responsible for undermining a resolution of the crisis in Tigray fail to reverse course, they should anticipate further actions from the United States and the international community. We call on other governments to join us in taking these actions."
Blinken also announced "wide-ranging restrictions on economic and security assistance to Ethiopia" and said the U.S. government would bring its defense trade control policy in line with the curbs. Ethiopia was the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid in Africa last year, receiving nearly $1 billion, according to U.S. government data.
"We will continue humanitarian assistance and certain other critical aid to Ethiopia in areas such as health, food security, basic education, support for women and girls, human rights and democracy, good governance, and conflict mitigation, consistent with available authorities," he noted. "The United States will continue its existing broad restrictions on assistance to Eritrea."
The deadly conflict began in early November when Ethiopian Prime MinisterAbiy Ahmedlaunched a military offensive against the TPLF, a powerful, ethnically based political party that played a key role in freeing Ethiopia from the Soviet-backed military junta known as the Derg in 1991 and then dominated the country's federal government for almost 30 years -- until Abiy came to power in 2018. Abiy, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, alleged that forces loyal to TPLF had attacked the headquarters of the Ethiopian military's Northern Command in Tigray's regional capital, Mekelle. The prime minister's cabinet declared a six-month state of emergency in Tigray and ordered airstrikes thatknocked outthe region's electricity grid for weeks, along with telephone and internet services.
The offensive was the culmination of escalating tensions between Abiy and the TPLF, which had lost its stranglehold on central power when the prime minister merged Ethiopia's governing coalition into a single party in 2019 in an effort to distance the country's politics from ethno-federalism. The TPLF, which represents a small minority in Ethiopia's more than 90 ethnic groups, did not join the new party but still controlled Tigray's regional government and security forces. Tensions apparently came to a head when Tigray held its parliamentary elections last September, despite the federal government postponing general elections and extending its mandate due to the coronavirus pandemic. Abiy deemed the polls in Tigray illegal, while the TPLF argued that the prime minister's leadership was illegitimate.
Ethiopian troopsswiftly oustedthe TPLF from major cities and towns in Tigray last year, but the United Nations said violence and fighting has continued unabated while most rural areas have remained cut off from communications and electricity, impacting access to health services, water supply and vital assistance.
In addition to Eritrean troops, militias from neighboring regions in Ethiopia have joined the fray in Tigray. The United Nations said war crimes may have been carried out by all parties involved in the conflict.
Ethiopia's federal government has said it is committed to investigating human rights violations in Tigray, while the Eritrean government has promised to withdraw its allied troops from the region.
