Panafrican News Agency

Eritrean military chief lands on US blacklist over Tigray violence

Washington, US (PANA) - Eritrean military chief, Gen. Filipos Woldeyohannes, has been slammed with economic sanctions over the human rights violations committed by the Eritrean forces in Ethiopia's Tigray region, the US Treasury Department said on Monday.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it sanctioned Gen. Filipos, the Chief of Staff of the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF), for being a leader of an entity engaged in serious human rights abuse committed during the ongoing conflict in Tigray, northern Ethiopia.

“The Treasury Department will continue to take action against those involved in serious human rights abuse around the world, including in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, where such acts further exacerbate the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis,” said Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control Andrea Gacki.

“Today’s action demonstrates the United States’ commitment to impose  costs on those responsible for these despicable acts, which worsen a conflict that has led to tremendous suffering by Ethiopians. We urge Eritrea to immediately and permanently withdraw its forces from Ethiopia, and urge the parties to the conflict to begin ceasefire negotiations and end human rights abuses.”

The US government said the ongoing conflict in Tigray has worsened a humanitarian crisis that threatens hundreds of thousands of lives.

Despite the Ethiopian government’s June 28 unilateral ceasefire declaration, parties on all sides continue to escalate the conflict.

The EDF re-entered Tigray after an initial withdrawal following the 28 June ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has moved into neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, potentially further widening the conflict.

Despite an estimated 5 million people in need of humanitarian aid, and more than 400,000 people experiencing famine conditions, Ethiopian federal and Amhara regional forces continue to restrict humanitarian access, while the Ethiopian government has called for all capable Ethiopians to mobilize to support the campaign in Tigray.

These escalatory actions risk furthering a severe humanitarian crisis.

Gen. Filipos commands all of the EDF forces that have been operating in Ethiopia.

The Eritrean troops are responsible for massacres, looting, and sexual assaults, the US said in a statement announcing the sanctions.

Eritrean troops have raped, tortured, and executed civilians; they have also destroyed property and ransacked businesses.

The Eritrean troops have purposely shot civilians in the street and carried out systematic house-to-house searches, executing men and boys, and have forcibly evicted Tigrayan families from their residences and taken over their houses and property, the US stated.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Tigray have described a systematic effort by the EDF to inflict as much harm on the ethnic Tigrayan population as possible in the areas the EDF controls.

The Internally Displaced Population (IDPs) reported that in some cases, the EDF used knives or bayonets to slash open the torsos of pregnant women and then left them for dead.

"The EDF have forced survivors to leave the bodies of the dead where they lie or face execution themselves," the US alleged.

Countless IDPs recounted instances of witnessing the rape, murder, and torture of friends and family members by the EDF.

Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war and a means to terrorize and traumatize the entire population; the majority of rapes are committed by men in uniform, such as the EDF.

IDPs also spoke of a “scorched earth” policy intended to prevent IDPs from returning home.

The sanctions target all property and interests in property of the Eritrean General.

In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.

-0- PANA AO/VAO 23Aug2021