Nairobi (AFP) Tedros — the highest-profile Tigrayan abroad — this week described conditions in the Ethiopian region as “hell” and said the government was preventing medicines and other life-saving aid from reaching locals.
Addis Ababa said his comments threatened the World Health Organization’s integrity, and called for Tedros to be investigated for “misconduct and violation of his professional and legal responsibility.”
“He has been interfering in the internal affairs of Ethiopia, including Ethiopia’s relations with the state of Eritrea,” the foreign ministry said late Thursday, quoting a letter it sent to WHO.
The government accused Tedros of supporting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), its adversary in the 14-month war in the country’s north, and a listed terror group in Ethiopia.
The fighting has killed thousands and pushed many more to the brink of famine.
Tedros had “spread harmful misinformation and compromised WHO’s reputation, independence and credibility which is evident from his social media postings that openly endorse the terror perpetrated by the TPLF against the Ethiopian people”, the foreign ministry said.
Ethiopia’s mission to the United Nations also protested against his remarks and called for Tedros to recuse himself “from all matters concerning Ethiopia.”
“Partisan, politically and personally motivated staff, blindsided from serving their global roles, curtail the most needed work of UN agencies,” it said on Twitter on Wednesday.
Tedros on Wednesday described restrictions on aid entering rebel-controlled Tigray — which the UN has described as a de facto blockade — as “an insult to our humanity”.
It is “so dreadful and unimaginable during this time, the 21st century, when a government is denying its own people for more than a year food and medicine and the rest to survive,” Tedros told reporters.
‘Side of peace’
Addis Ababa on Friday blamed the TPLF for the blockade, accusing the rebels of impeding critical humanitarian corridors into their stronghold of Tigray.
The international community should “hold the TPLF accountable for the crime of starving people in Tigray, under whose name it has been wreaking havoc,” the foreign ministry said.
Ethiopian forces and its allies have been fighting the TPLF since November 2020, when Prime Minister Abiy sent troops into Tigray after accusing the rebels of attacking army camps.
It is not the first time that Tedros, who in 2017 became the first African to head WHO, has attracted Ethiopia’s ire over his remarks on the war.
At the outset of fighting, Ethiopia’s army chief Berhanu Jula accused the 56-year-old of helping the TPLF acquire weapons.
The WHO boss rejected these allegations, insisting he was “on the side of peace”.
© 2022 AFP
Ethiopia should embark on a diplomatic campaign and bring the misconduct and abuse of Dr. Teodros Adhanom to the attention of other African countries. Because he has gotten the position as an African candidate with the support of African countries. Now he has reduced himself to being the prominent face and representative of his fascist organization the TPLF in which he is an executive member. Generally his misconduct and abuse of position in the WHO has damaged the reputation and integrity of this world organization. His background as the top ranking TPLF official in Ethiopia shows that he is among the most corrupt member and accountable to the crimes they committed in the country. Corruption and incompetence are the hall marks of the TPLF and this sickness may also infect the WHO.
Mr. Tedros is not health professional, in fact I question his educations. He does not act as one. He is a chief member of TPLF a terrorist organization international known criminal group. UN must investigate this man and he should be brought to court of justice. UN or international organizations become hideout for international criminals such as Tedros Adhanom
Looking at the long list of genocidal activities that Tedros Adhanom was involved in as a TPLF bigwig in Ethiopia makes one wonder for what current or prospective global crime he was hand-picked by the west. The fact that he was intentionally left unchallenged so he could ride a second term, sends a chill as one worries about a greater pandemic in the works – for Tedros to lord over.
Those who appeal Tedros’s election to the lofty office on the basis of his past and current detrimental involvement are wasting their time because it was with full knowledge and, maybe, even because of that knowledge that he has been placed in this position at this particular historical juncture.
Hey you the current administration over there! First keep yourself tidy by putting an end to the jailing of reporters and opposition party members. Clean up your act first and foremost and then you can do the moaning and crying. This man has loved ones like every one of us over there who are in the harm’s way every day. We are worried for them and he has the same right to lose sleep worrying about the safety and wellbeing of his kin and kit. The dog don’ hunt for you on this one!!!! Stop picking on others and shape up yourself instead. I echo what the EHRC has been telling and urging you to do. Stop herding critics you don’t like into filthy prison cells. Stop killing some of them when nobody is watching. Stop incarcerating journalists bypassing the law because they had said or written something you don’t like. You were heard accusing those before you of terrorizing citizens. Well, what do you think you yourself are doing now? I have said this many times in the months following the 2018 change of guards. I had said the sunny days and opportunities that came with the change can be the last pit stop that can lead to even better days or if not maintained to oblivion. Brazen violations of rights of the individual will only fasten the march into irreparable destruction. They had been tried before but the result was not peace and stability but led to self destruction. Release those who are in prison in sheer violation of their human/democratic rights. I am not the only one telling you this but EHRC is urging you to do so. And don’t even think about trying to be funny with the EHRC!!! Don’t even think about it.