- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- McLaren's Norris sets Singapore pace as struggling Verstappen 15th
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
- Paris Olympics sports equipment moves to new homes
- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- 8 dead in Israeli strike, source says Hezbollah commander killed
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
- Portugal brings deadly forest fires under control
- Postecoglou defends Solanke after slow start to Spurs career
- US nuclear plant Three Mile Island to reopen to power Microsoft
- Arteta urges Arsenal to take next step in Man City showdown
- Stock markets fall after Fed-fuelled rally
- Top Hezbollah commander 'killed' in Israel strike
- Poland charges Russian over attack on Navalny ally: prosecutors
- Man City have rest 'advantage' in Arsenal showdown: Guardiola
- Maresca has 'no doubt' in Jackson as Chelsea's number nine
- EU chief announces 35 bn euro loan plan for Ukraine before winter
- From TikTok to Hollywood, the irresistible rise of Italy's Khaby Lame
- Verstappen punished for swearing in Singapore press conference
- Sri Lanka lead by 202 in first New Zealand Test
- Brook 'not too fussed' by England's batting in heavy Australia loss
- India's Ashwin 'happy' to embrace pressure
- A modern 'Trojan Horse': two days of mayhem in Lebanon
- Third of Burundi mpox cases in children under five: UN
- Man Utd appoint Foster + Partners to develop Old Trafford 'masterplan'
- Israel-Hezbollah exchanges intensify on Lebanon border
- French mayor sorry for 'no one died' remark over mass rape trial
- Mohamed Al-Fayed, outsider shunned by British high society
- Lawyers say 'monster' late Harrods owner abused dozens of women
- India in box seat after Bumrah takes four against Bangladesh
- Taiwan retains death penalty but limits use to 'exceptional' cases
- Ferrari's Leclerc sets early pace in Singapore ahead of Norris
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.12% | 25.15 | $ | |
NGG | 1.02% | 69.54 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.14% | 6.96 | $ | |
BTI | -0.62% | 37.34 | $ | |
AZN | -0.7% | 78.355 | $ | |
SCS | -2.38% | 13 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.16% | 25.05 | $ | |
GSK | -1.76% | 40.9 | $ | |
RIO | -2.51% | 63.585 | $ | |
RELX | -0.32% | 47.975 | $ | |
BCC | -1.49% | 142.565 | $ | |
JRI | -0.68% | 13.31 | $ | |
BP | -0.29% | 32.665 | $ | |
BCE | -1.12% | 34.8 | $ | |
VOD | -0.45% | 10.015 | $ |
Clock ticking to avert 'genocide' in Tigray: WHO chief
The World Health Organization chief said Wednesday time was running out to avoid "genocide" in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray, as Human Rights Watch called for sanctions against Addis Ababa to avert civilian deaths.
"The world is not paying enough attention," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters from WHO headquarters in Geneva. "There is a very narrow window now to prevent genocide in Tigray."
With the conflict nearing its second anniversary, Addis Ababa on Tuesday said it had captured three towns in Tigray, including Shire, which had a pre-war population of 100,000.
The conflict began on November 4, 2020, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray after accusing the region's ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) of attacking federal army camps.
His campaign has received the support of Eritrea, with which Ethiopia was at odds until a rapprochement that earned Abiy the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
A truce between pro-government forces and rebels this year lasted five months before it collapsed in August.
International concern is now swelling for those caught in the crossfire. The UN this week warned the situation was spiralling out of control and inflicting an "utterly staggering" toll on civilians.
- Sanctions call -
Tedros, who himself is from the northern region and has repeatedly condemned the situation there, said he was "running out of diplomatic language for the deliberate targeting" of civilians in Tigray.
"The social fabric is being ripped apart and civilians are paying a horrific price," he said.
"Hostilities in Tigray must end now, including the immediate withdrawal and disengagement of Eritrean armed forces from Ethiopia."
"Indiscriminate attacks or attacks that deliberately target civilians or civilian objects amount to war crimes," he said.
Separately, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for the United States, European Union and UN to apply "targeted sanctions and an arms embargo" against Ethiopia to help protect civilian lives.
"The suffering of civilians in Ethiopia should no longer be tolerated in the name of political expediency," HRW's director for the Horn of Africa, Laetitia Bader, said.
"The attacks have resulted in untold civilian casualties, including aid workers delivering food, property destruction, and large-scale displacement," she said.
Over two years, many civilians have been killed, an estimated two million people driven from their homes while millions more are in need of aid, according to UN figures.
The advance of Ethiopian and Eritrean forces through Tigray in late 2020 and early 2021 was followed by mass murder, rape and other crimes documented by UN investigators and rights groups.
- 'Weapons of war' -
Tedros said the six million people of Tigray had been "kept under siege for almost two years".
"Banking, food, electricity and healthcare are being used as weapons of war," he said.
"Even people who have money are starving because they can't access their bank for two years," he said. "Children are dying every day from malnutrition."
Tedros acknowledged that he was personally affected by the situation in Tigray.
"Most of my relatives are in the most affected areas," he said, but insisted that "my job is to draw the world's attention to crises that threaten the health of people wherever they are."
O.Karlsson--AMWN