Ethiopia: the number 2 of the UN denounces the “unimaginable”
The UN deputy secretary-general, on her return from Ethiopia where she visited the conflict regions of Tigray, Amhara, Afar and Somalia, denounced on Friday the “unimaginable” horrors imposed in particular on women .
Image d’illustration.
AFP
“Ethiopian women, broadly speaking, have been affected in ways unimaginable” and “in your worst nightmares, you cannot imagine what has happened to women in Ethiopia,” the UN number two said on Friday. Amina Mohammed at a press conference, also indicating that she had seen victims of “famine” during her stay.
For these horrors fueled by war, “everyone is to blame” and, in the 21st century, it “is unconscionable that one human being can inflict (such suffering) on another,” said Amina Mohammed, referring to in particular the fate of a young woman raped in front of her three or four year old son and now rejected by her husband, her family and society.
“Justice must be done and responsibilities established,” said the official, without further details on how the charges could be exercised, in Ethiopia or via an international mechanism.
“This must stop”
“When men go to war, they come back and they’re heroes no matter what wounds they have, right? But for women who are hurt, hurt in unimaginable ways, they don’t emerge as heroines. They are just excluded. This must stop,” asserted Amina Mohammed.
The conflict between Ethiopian government forces and Tigray rebels since November 2020 has left thousands dead, has been accompanied by abuses, and, according to the UN, has led hundreds of thousands of people to starvation.
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