Ethiopia should “impartially” investigate and hold those responsible for the massacre in the Benishangul-Gumuz region to justice, the EU External Action Service (EEAS) said, expressing concerns about what it sees as “ethnically targeted violence”.
Information from the Ethiopian State Commission on Human Rights showed that more than 100 people were killed in the attack by armed men in the multi-ethnic Benishangul-Gumuz region last week.
“Ongoing reports of non-Ethiopian involvement raise additional concerns,” the EEAS said in a December 25 statement, commending Sudan for providing protection to the Ethiopians fleeing the conflict.
According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), more than 40,000 Ethiopian refugees have fled to neighboring Sudan since the beginning of the conflict in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia. In its statement, the bloc’s foreign service stressed that all refugees and displaced persons inside and outside Tigray should be protected from any forced and premature resettlement or return and that all parties to the conflict should uphold international humanitarian law, especially by ensuring the safety of aid workers.
WFP is on hand to provide food and logistics support in emergencies as the country has already grappled with a humanitarian crisis caused by conflict, acts of terrorism, a deepening economic crisis, unprecedented floods, a locust outbreak and the coronavirus pandemic .
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