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MSF condemns 'deliberate' Tigray hospital attacks

March 15, 2021

The French-based NGO hit out at human rights abuses uncovered by its experts in the Tigray region. It says attacks on hospitals by the army have led to looting and a lack of medical supplies.

https://p.dw.com/p/3qfZD
A damaged tank stands abandoned on a road as a truck of the Amhara Special Forces passes by near Humera, Ethiopia, on November 22, 2020.
MSF reported that hospitals had been deliberately targeted during the offensiveImage: Eduardo Soteras/AFP/Getty Images

The medical charity MSF on Monday condemned a "deliberate and generalized" program of targeting clinics in the conflict-hit Tigray region of Ethiopia.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed attacked the region last year, blaming its ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), for strikes on army camps.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (2ndR), Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki (L) and Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (R)
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019Image: Eduardo Soteras/AFP/Getty Images

A statement by Doctors Without Borders, know by its French initials MSF, said "treatment structures in the Ethiopian region of Tigray were looted, vandalized and destroyed in a deliberate and generalized manner."

MSF experts visited 106 sites between mid-December and early March, the group said.

The statement said 70% had been looted and only 13% "functioned normally."

"One health establishment in five visited by MSF teams were occupied by soldiers. In certain cases, this occupation was temporary, while in others, it continued during the visit," MSF said.

It also alleged that "at the hospital in Adwa, in the heart of the region, medical equipment, in particular sonogram material and monitors, were deliberately broken."

Residents of the area were forced to rely on less well-equipped and staffed clinics for treatment, MSF said.

The group's director general, Oliver Behn, urged that the clinics be repaired, as well as medical staff be paid and allowed to work in a secure environment.

What has the US said about the conflict?

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Ethiopia of ethnic cleansingImage: Graeme Jennings/Getty Images

Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress that "acts of ethnic cleansing" had been committed in western Tigray.

Blinken also called for foreign troops to leave the area, but Ethiopia quickly rejected the charges as "unfounded and spurious".

MSF said a hospital in Abiy Addi, a town in central Tigray, was occupied in early March by Ethiopian forces to treat their wounded.

It also alleged that a Mugulat clinc to the east was allegedly used by Eritrean soldiers as a base.

Both governments have denied the presence of Eritrean soldiers in the region.

In late November, Abiy declared victory in Tigray after capturing the regional capital Mekele, but TPLF leaders fled and the fighting continues.

On March 4, the UN human rights chief Michele Bachelet alleged possible crimes against humanity had been committed there.

Tigrays rape survivors

Verifying reports of human rights abuses has been hampered by the Ethiopian government preventing journalists from accessing the areafor much of the conflict.

jf/msh (AFP, dpa)