Somalia, Eritrea, accused of supplying troops to Ethiopia reject UN probe resolution
By T. Roble
GOOBJOOG NEWS|NEW YORK: Somalia and Eritrea, two of the protagonists marked by the UN for supplying troops to the ongoing civil war in Ethiopia voted against a resolution to investigate atrocities committed by both sides in the over a year old fighting.
Alongside China and Russia, the two Horn of African nations filed an opposition to the resolution which however received the backing of more than a third of the required number for a resolution to be adopted.
Out of the 47 members, 15 member states voted against the resolution while 21 endorsed it. A further 11 abstained. The resolution seeks to establish an international Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council.
The Commission will among other tasks conduct thorough investigations into allegations of violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law and international refugee law in Ethiopia, committed since 3 November 2020 by all parties to the conflict.
READ ALSO: Somalis training in Eritrea fought in Tigray conflict-UN report
A UN Special Rapporteur report on June this year found that Somalis who were undergoing military training in Eritrea were spotted in northern Ethiopia where the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has been fighting with the government forces.
“The Special Rapporteur also received information and reports that Somali soldiers were moved from military training camps in Eritrea to the front line in Tigray, where they accompanied Eritrean troops as they crossed the Ethiopian border,” the report read in part. The Somalin trainees were also present in the historic city of Aksum, the report noted.
The Somali troops were part of several young men who were clandestinely taken out of the country from 2018 by Villa Somalia. Parents were told that their children were being taken to Qatar to build the World Cup stadia but it later emerged they were in Eritrea. Outgoing President Mohamed Farmaajo has been accused of seeking to use the soldiers for his re-election bid.
Eritrea has also been variously accused of supplying troops in support of the Abiy Ahmed administration. The US and the EU said in August more Eritrean troops had crossed into Ethiopia even after Federal Government in Addis Ababa said they had left the country.