WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd March, 2021) The United States has been in touch with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority and with other government entities about the recent detentions of media representatives in the country, US State Department spokesperson Ned price said in a press briefing.
"When it comes to the detention of the journalists that you mentioned, we are following those reports closely. We've been in touch with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority and other Ethiopian government officials to express our concern and to seek an explanation," Price said on Tuesday. "These actions appeared inconsistent with the Ethiopian government's commitment to permit international media access to Tigray."
Price also stressed that the United States is deeply concerned by reports of atrocities and the overall deteriorating situation in the Tigray region.
"We strongly condemn the killings, the forces removals and displacement, the sexual assaults and other human rights violations and abuses by several parties that multiple organizations now have reported in Tigray," he said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked over the telephone with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed earlier on Tuesday and urged the Ethiopian government to take specific steps to prevent further violence in the Tigray region. Blinken also called for the withdrawal of the Amhara regional security forces and Eritrean troops from the Tigray region. In addition, Blinken asked the Ethiopian government to work with the international community to facilitate independent investigations into alleged human rights abuses there.
Fighting in the province of Tigray broke out in November after the Ethiopian government accused the local ruling party - Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) - of attacking a regional military base to hijack weapons and arm the anti-government militia. Roughly 40,000 Ethiopian citizens have fled to Sudan following the beginning of the conflict.
Ethiopian Ambassador to South Africa Shiferaw Teklemariam Menbacho told Sputnik in early February that ensuring peace in Tigray is the responsibility of the Ethiopian government and its military operation in the region aims to restore law and order.
