Ethiopia appreciates India's stance on Tigray at UNSC

The Ethiopian Envoy to India Tizita Mulugeta has appreciated India's "principled" stance on the Tigray issue at the United Nations security council. During UNSC meet on the issue on 2nd July, India's envoy to UN TS Tirumurti had commended the Ethiopian government on its announcement of a humanitarian ceasefire in the Tigray region & granting "humanitarian access to a majority of areas under stress" while backing the country's territorial integrity.

Speaking to our diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal, envoy Tizita Mulugeta said, "India kept its principled position of non-interference in the sovereignty of a given country and also non-interference in affairs of a country"

The situation in Tigray has been making global headlines after clashes broke between the Ethiopian government forces and the local Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Tigray is a region in the northern part of Ethiopia and shares borders with Eritrea, Sudan. 

Earlier this year Ethiopia's Deputy Prime Minister and foreign minister Demeke Mekonnen Hassen visited India and held talks with his Indian counterpart EAM Jaishankar & briefed on the issue. The Ethiopian Envoy also spoke on ties between the 2 countries and how they are cooperating amid the covid crisis. India had sent vaccines to Ethiopia.

Question: How has been the engagement been between India and Ethiopia?

Tizita Mulugeta: The relationship between India and Ethiopia has been there for a long period of time. The diplomatic relationship has been more than seven decades old, and we had a cordial and very good relationship. Our bilateral relationship has been showing an increase from time to time. Business and investment have been increasing in the last 10-15  years. So generally, overall diplomatic relations, human and cultural relation has been increasing.

Question: Amid the COVID-19 crisis, how both countries have been engaging?

Tizita Mulugeta: It is very known that India is the global hub of pharmaceuticals and it has really done a lot in terms of vaccine diplomacy. Even before the COVID vaccine had arrived we have got a lot of support especially in terms of different kinds of medications for covid-19. After March, my country has received close to 2.2 million covid 19 vaccines and we are still expecting more from the Indian side which has been produced in the serum institute through the Covax facility. This really helped to curb the situation to some extent. It is one of the means to develop the existing relationship between Ethiopia and India.

Question: How has the situation been in Tigray? Have u briefed the Indian side?

Tizita Mulugeta: If you see the real side, the very essence of the issue started in November when our government started the law enforcement operation when Tigray People's Liberation Front or TPLF attacked the Ethiopian national defence force. Then within 3-4 weeks the operation was complete and then the govt focused on apprehending the very leader of the TPLF who instigated the problem. The govt already declare unilateral ceasefire taking the condition that simce june and july is the harvest season, giving time to farmers to harvest and facilitating the humanitarian assistance. But despite that TPLF keep on waging the attacks in neighbouring regions of the country and they have been attacking various refugee camps found in Tigray region and they are waving attack on Afar region especially the displaced people where majority are children. So even in this case, even if our govt has already declared unilateral humanitarian ceasefire which is a political decision, we didnt get international community recognising this thing and also condemning what TPLF is doing where they have been deploying lot of children.

Question: The issue came up at UNSC. How do you see India's stance?

Tizita Mulugeta: This issue has been there for some time at the United Nations security council and India is a non-permanent member of the UNSC. Throughout all this time we found India kept its principled position of non-interference in the sovereignty of a given country and also non-interference in affairs of a country. They consider the issue as something that can be solved by the government itself. Not only that when the issue was raised at the UNSC, but India has also shown its principled stance that this issue has to be dealt with by the 3 negotiating countries under the platform of African Union. It clearly shows India is really supporting the stand of Ethiopia which is principled based and based on the non-interference principle of India. We are always grateful for the support we are getting from the Indian govt.