On Tuesday 23 February, the day after the Foreign Affairs Council, at which he presented the conclusions of his mission to the Horn of Africa from 7 to 10 February, the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pekka Haavisto, briefed the press on the results of this mission to Ethiopia and Sudan and expressed his confidence that the European Union would soon deliver “a strong message”.
The EU can do more, increase its aid, but humanitarian access to Tigray must be guaranteed by the government, even if it means leaving access to difficult areas to be negotiated by international organisations with experience in conflict zones. And there must be an end to the serious rumours of human rights abuses, which requires allowing investigations to document these serious allegations of abuse. These are the messages he conveyed to the Ethiopian authorities.
The EU Council conclusions “will be prepared immediately, without waiting until March”, Haavisto said. The day before, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, had given a verbal outline (see EUROPE 12663/26).
Tragedy in Um Rabuka refugee camp. The visit to the Um Rabuka refugee camp in eastern Sudan, on the Ethiopian border, was for Mr Haavisto “a sad and shocking experience”, with testimonies from women and elderly people and children displaced by the conflict, suffering from malnutrition, “but also children who have lost their parents” - all of whom face obstacles in crossing the border into Sudan.
From his meetings with the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, Mr Haavisto was left with “the impression that there is not a unified story to describe what has happened on the humanitarian front. There is still public denial”.
The key element from the Ethiopian government is referring to a coup d'état in Tigray to which it had to respond with a “law-enforcement” operation.
Humanitarian access in all areas. “But more than three months have gone by and the situation is still not resolved”, Haavisto said, referring to four areas: government-controlled areas, areas controlled by militias, areas under the control of Eritrean troops and areas in the hands of the opposition.
Aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) must be allowed to increase.
However, according to the Finnish minister, when requesting full humanitarian access, the government stresses that there are no problems in government-controlled areas, but that there are security problems elsewhere. In areas in the hands of the opposition, the government speaks of resistance, even though there are civilians in these areas.
“In Addis Ababa, my argument was that the international community with experience of conflict zones can negotiate access - they have the tools to help civilians - but they are blocked because they don't have access. This is a recipe for disaster. I have made a firm demand for humanitarian organisations to be allowed to operate and for Eritrea to leave the country so that we can act fully in these areas”.
Eritrean troops. Asked about the Ethiopian government's denial of the presence of Eritrean troops, Haavisto replied that it was “very difficult to know”, but that according to the humanitarian community, there are areas where they meet Eritrean troops.
“ I stressed that it is the responsibility of the government to investigate this issue. Eritrea says that, when there are troops, it is at the request of Ethiopia”.
Authorise investigations. Regarding the reports of “serious allegations of human rights violations” (sexual abuse, massive impediments to humanitarian access, rumours of mass killings), “We recommend that they can be documented, including through access to the Ethiopian Human Rights Council and the UN Human Rights Council”, Haavisto said.
Asked about the desirability of an EU mission to stabilise the region, the Finnish minister said that the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki, and the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smaïl Chergui, whom he met in Addis Ababa, considered Ethiopia to be a large country with a security problem, but that “if they wanted to, its leaders have the capacity to investigate”.
EU/AU/US cooperation? Mr Haavisto also said that he had stressed the importance of EU/AU/US cooperation at the Foreign Affairs Council attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (see other news). And he added: “I wasn't the only one”.
In addition, according to the Finnish minister, “Many EU Member States are pushing for the issue to be put on the agenda of the UN Security Council. Pressure is mounting, not only from the EU, but also from the AU and the US”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)