By Getahun Tsegaye
Addis Abeba — At today’s bi weekly press briefing, the Spokesperson of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Ambassador Dina Mufti denounced the report by the New York Times surrounding the killing of 3 Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff in the Tigray region. The Ambassador called the report ‘accusatory’ and went on to argue that the New York Times published the story without further investigation into the matter. He called the New York Times report ‘baseless’ and argued that the soldiers cited in the report were captives and that they could be coerced by the TPLF.
Ambassador Dina Recalled that the Ethiopian government expressed regret over the death of these MSF employees and suggested that the deceased should have asked for a military escort to avoid the killings.
The Ambassador also recalled the establishment of an investigative group comprising members from the ENDF, the Federal Police and the Ministry of Justice, to further investigate the case. “Further investigation was not possible since the area was under the control of the TPLF,” he said.
Furthermore, the spokesperson discussed the recent visit by U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa David Satterfield. Dina said that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen met the special envoy and expressed that the bills HR6600 and S. 3199 are bound to strain the longstanding and historical relations of the two countries. He further explained that Demeke Mekonnen held virtual talks with the Diaspora representatives to call upon the diaspora communities to denounce HR6600 and S.3199.The Ambassador also raised the border dispute between South Sudan and Ethiopia. He stated that Ethiopia’s Ambassador in South Sudan, held talks with South Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs where they discussed the need to hold a meeting of the Joint Boundaries Commission to put a stop to the repeated attacks by Murule militants on Ethiopian soil.
Addis Standard.
Somebody must know who killed those MSF staff. It was a heinous crime worthy of being tried at The Hague. Hey Abiy! Did you do it? Hey Debre! Did you do it? One of you did it and must cough up the truth and nothing but the truth. It is abhorrent in our own tradition to do harm to those who are involved in humanitarian work. Even after bloody wars those who wanted to gather their dead soldiers used to be allowed to do so until the dreaded Mengistu came on the scene. Somebody must come up with those who killed these good folks. Forget about NY Times or any other. Just forget about them stop being worked up with what they wrote. Debre and Abiy! Cough up the perpetrators of this horrible and utterly shameful crime. Let’s do the complaining and whining about article this and article that on the Western media. In this instance your job is to bring those killed these members of the MSF staff to court to face justice. This is not funny, okay?
As an Ethiopian, I am sad to hear people who go that far to provide humanitarian aid and lost their lives. These well-known TPLF and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed are terrorist groups; therefore, how they take the risk to go there without security. These two groups commit multiple crimes and numerous human rights abuses. It is a horrible condition; all over the country, crimes were common. There is no law-and-order operation comes this region unless these two groups remove the area. Many people believe peace will never come to that region if these groups are around. TPLF and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed groups are dangerous. People don’t want them; whatever it takes, will be remove eventually . People do any sacrifice to remove them. You know there is no law-and-order operation on both sides. How come taking risks sends innocent people without security. The HR 6600 bill has to pass in order to stop the crime other wise no solution.