BY ZERAKIRAS WOLDEMARIAM
When the world is contending a historical level public health threat, COVID, Director General of the global agency in charge of the world’s health is busy maneuvering the anti-health and anti-peace activities of his political party, the terror labeled TPLF.
Yet in the face of all these botched crimes, the WHO DG, Dr Tedros Adhanom has continued crying foul to discredit the government of Ethiopia taking advantage of his global position. In his statements, Dr Tedros pretends as if he is worried about the humanitarian situation in his home region, Tigray.
But it would have been much easier for him to denounce what his own cruel terrorist thugs did against the health and social service facilities in Tigray as well as in Amhara and Afar States. It would have been very kind of him if he also tells TPLF to refrain from using the lives of Tigrayan people to fix the military and political loss the sustained so far.
Instead, Dr Tedros is found to be leading another war front for TPLF which is an embarrassment not only for him but also the esteemed global health agency, WHO.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued the following two important statements to remind WHO of the misconduct and power abuse of Dr Tedros and to expose the inhuman acts of his poltical party that is clearly against the aims of WHO.
Ethiopia files an objection to the misconduct of WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom
In a letter sent to the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia stated its objection against the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom’s moral, legal and professional standing that threatened WHO’s organizational integrity.
Although Ethiopia had nominated Dr. Tedros for the highest office in the global health body, he has not lived up to the integrity and professional expectations required from his office and position, the letter says.
He has been interfering in the internal affairs of Ethiopia, including Ethiopia’s relations with the State of Eritrea, the letter says, adding that he continues as an active member and supporter of TPLF that is proscribed as a terrorist group by the Ethiopian parliament.
According to the letter, Dr. Tedros uses his office to advance his political interest at the expense of the interest of Ethiopia, despite hopes that he would cease his misconduct eventually.
Dr. Tedors encourages the TPLF in his media engagements and celebrates what is presumed to be a military success of the group, besides engaging in a selective outrage where he discriminately addresses the humanitarian concerns in Ethiopia, the letter adds.
Through his acts, says the letter, he spread harmful misinformation and compromised WHO’s reputation, independence, and credibility which is evident from his social media postings that openly endorse the terror perpetrated by the TPLF against the Ethiopian people.
According to the letter, Dr. Tedros has abused his position by assigning staff in WHO’s country office in Ethiopia with a task of executing the plot to inflate the emergency level in Ethiopia, from 1.8 million people to 3.8 million, to warrant humanitarian intervention. “This misrepresentation of facts is used to misinform the UN Security Council.”
In a manner that denigrates the integrity of the UN system and the work of other offices, Dr. Tedros uses his platform to mobilize the UN community against Ethiopia besides providing technical and financial support to the activities of the TPLF, the letter adds.
The Government of Ethiopia finally urges the WHO Executive Board to commission an investigation on the Director-General to identify his misconduct and violation of his professional and legal responsibility as provided under the Standards of Conduct for the International Civil Service, staff rules and regulations of WHO, and Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct of WHO.
Press Statement: The TPLF should be rebuked for treating the people of Tigray as expendables
The TPLF has been accusing the government of Ethiopia of blocking aid to the Tigray region on accounts of lack of transport, fuel, and humanitarian corridors. The Government of Ethiopia, once again, calls the truth of the matter to the attention of the international community.
More than 1010 aid trucks that should have been on the road delivering much-needed humanitarian support are stranded in the Tigray region. The TPLF claimed that the trucks are still in Tigray because the drivers, many of whom are allegedly Tigrayans, refused to drive outside of Tigray due to security reasons. The federal government, notwithstanding its legitimate claims over the return of the trucks,
1. Announced its decision to give blanket amnesty to every truck driver,
2. Proposed the creation of a buffer area, which could be run by UN humanitarian agencies where swapping of drivers could be arranged and managed for those who wouldn’t wish to travel outside of Tigray,
3. Issued temporary UN plates for trucks that the WFP has acquired from Sudan,
4. Decided to facilitate additional flights to augment land transportation of food and medical aid.
Despite the lack of audience, the federal government issued several statements calling on the international community to condemn the TPLF for repurposing the trucks for war activities. The TPLF has also failed to take any accountability to the claims of fuel shortages that allegedly disrupted humanitarian supply in the region. The following are in public records,
1. The federal government left 14 million liters of fuel in Mekelle city alone when it evacuated its troops from Tigray in June 2021, declaring a Unilateral Humanitarian Ceasefire,
2. The TPLF looted millions of liters of fuel from a federal depot in Kombolcha when it expanded the conflict into the Amhara and Afar regional states,
3. The TPLF had been selling fuel in black markets in Tigray, profiteering out of the misery of the public,
4. The stranded trucks in the Tigray region were loaded with enough fuel to make a return trip.
No one tried to hold the TPLF accountable for misusing the fuel reserves. It is also regrettable to see that no one cared to question how the group was able to fuel its military vehicles and tanks during its invasion of adjacent regional states.
The reckless behavior of the TPLF also restricted options for having additional humanitarian corridors for supplying aid to the region. Setting aside all the destructions in Afar and Amhara, it is surprising to see the group launching fresh attacks on Abala – the only operating corridor supplying aids to Tigray.
The International community should wake up to the real reasons that have made the delivery of humanitarian assistance increasingly daunting. The Government of Ethiopia would like to bring the matter once again to the attention of the international community, to put the blame and pressure where it is due, and hold the TPLF accountable for the crime of starving the people in Tigray, under whose name it has been wreaking havoc
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The
The January 15/2022
