Rape and sexual violence are being used to pursue political and military goals in Ethiopia’s crisis-hit Tigray region, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said Tuesday.
“That is also what we have seen in the last six months in northern Ethiopia. The rapes there have not stopped,”
ADDIS ABABA: Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war in Ethiopia’s Tigray, the UN aid chief told the Security Council prompting the US envoy to challenge the body’s silence, asking: “Do African lives not matter as much as those experiencing conflict in other countries?”
An attempt to get U.N. Security Council approval for a statement calling for an end to violence in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and to spotlight the millions in need of humanitarian assistance was dropped Friday night after objections from India, Russia and especially China, U.N. diplomats said.
Three council diplomats said Ireland, which drafted the statement, decided not to push for approval after objections from the three countries.
U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock warned Thursday that “a campaign of destruction” is taking place in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray province, saying at least 4.5 million people need assistance and demanding that forces from neighboring Eritrea accused of committing atrocities in Tigray leave Ethiopia.
