US asks Eritrean, Amhara forces to 'immediately withdraw' from Tigray

US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Saturday called for immediate withdrawal’ of Eritrean and Amraha forces from Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region. At a state presser, Blinken said that US was ‘gravely concerned’ about reports of atrocities, human rights violations, and worsening crisis in rrn Tigray. Appealing to African Union and or international partners for intervention, Blinken deunced neighbouring Eritrea and Ethiopia, as he asserted that those responsible for violence “must be held accountable.”

“We strongly condemn killings, forced removals and displacements, sexual assaults, and or extremely serious human rights violations and abuses by several parties that multiple organizations have reported in Tigray," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. " immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces and Amhara regional forces from Tigray are essential first steps," he ded. Blinker’s remarks come just a day after Amnesty International released a report alleging that Eritrean troops ericated hundreds of unarmed civilians in mass killing in rrn city of Axum. ncy interviewed at least 41 survivors and witnesses to mass killings in vember. 

Troops carried out extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shelling, and widespre looting, report alleged. It ded, Eritrean troops fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray state systematically conducted house-to-house raids and carried out a massacre as evidence of new mass burials near two of city’s churches emerged on Satellite imry analysis by organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab. 

" immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces and Amhara regional forces from Tigray are essential first steps. y should be accompanied by unilateral declarations of cessation of hostilities by all parties to conflict and a commitment to permit unhindered delivery of assistance to those in Tigray.  United States is committed to working with international community to achieve se goals.  To that end, USAID will deploy a Disaster Assistance Response Team to Ethiopia to continue delivering life-saving assistance," a statement on situation in Tigray by US State Department re. 

[Eritrean forces target. Credit: Amnesty report]

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“This atrocity ranks among worst documented so far in this conflict. Besides soaring death toll, Axum’s residents were plunged into days of collective trauma amid violence, mourning, and mass burials,” Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East and Sourn Africa said in report. 

200,000 people displaced

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's federal army h launched a military offensive that ousted former local ruling party, Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), from regional capital Mekelle in vember, last year. n estimated 2.6 million people in Tigray and jacent regions of Amhara, Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz, and SNNPR were left ravd due to armed conflict and needed humanitarian assistance, Ethiopian Red Cross Society said in a press release.

In January 2021 alone, close to 200,000 people have been internally displaced in Ethiopia, and an estimated 60,000 fled into Sudan, Ethiopia Red Cross report revealed. Earlier, President of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Francesco Rocca, conducted a 5-day visit to former capital of Tigray Mekele which Ethiopia has seized and expressed shock. “I am very concerned about conditions that I saw during my visit,” he said in an official me following his visit. “People were internally displaced by fighting, especially children, ir mors, and elderly,” he said. 

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