WHO chief says his uncle was ‘murdered’ in Tigray

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that his uncle had been “killed” by Eritrean troops in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, where a peace agreement was signed to end a bloody war.

Dr. Tedros, from Tigray, revealed at the end of a press conference with the United Nations Correspondents Association that he was about to cancel the meeting “because it was a difficult time for me.”

“I found out that my uncle had been killed by the Eritrean army,” he told reporters. “I talked to my mom and she was really devastated because he was the youngest in her family and he was almost the same age as me,” she continued. “So she wasn’t in good shape.”

“I was not alone. In the town, when they killed him in his house, they killed more than fifty people from the same town. Arbitrarily, ”he denounced. “I hope that the peace agreement will be maintained and this madness will stop,” added the 57-year-old head of the World Health Organization (WHO).

A peace agreement signed in early November

The fighting began in November 2020, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army to arrest leaders in this northern region of the country who had challenged his authority for months and whom he accused of attacking federal military bases.

The Ethiopian government and the Tigray rebels signed an agreement on 2 November in Pretoria which provides in particular for the cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal and disarmament of the Tigray forces, the restoration of federal authority in Tigray and the reopening of the access to this region. to a catastrophic humanitarian situation. However, this agreement does not mention the presence in Tigray of the Eritrean army, which has provided decisive assistance to the Ethiopian troops, nor its possible withdrawal.

The results of this abuse-plagued conflict, which took place largely behind closed doors, are unknown. The think tank International Crisis Group and the NGO Amnesty International describe it as “one of the deadliest in the world.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who headed the Tigray Regional Health Office before becoming Ethiopia’s health minister from 2005 to 2012, has repeatedly called for peace and unimpeded humanitarian access to Tigray. At a press conference on December 2, he expressed concern about the areas still under the control of Eritrean troops.