Ethiopia says ‘intensive lobbying to harass’ country continues

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopian government has said that efforts by lobbyists to harass the East African country have continued, pointing to the recent call for a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the situation in northern Ethiopia.

​This comes after some countries suggested the relocation of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) – which was to be hosted by the Government of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa from 6 to 15 June 2022 – to another country in the region.

In a statement, the ministry of foreign affairs of Ethiopia accused unnamed lobbyists for working hard for the relocation of the conference which it says is an attempt to frame Ethiopia, or Addis Ababa in particular, as a unsafe place for such international meetings.

“Intensive lobbying to harass Ethiopia continues. The recent calls to ‘Evacuate Soon’ failed. Now some corners are lobbying for relocating conferences destined to be held in Addis Ababa. In this regard, some forces are pushing ITU to relocate its conference in Addis Ababa that was scheduled to be held in June,” the foreign ministry statement reads in part.

“The same entities are trying to relocate the AU summit that will be held in Addis Ababa in 2022,” it added.

The government said calls for a special UN rights council meeting on Ethiopia ” is a politically motivated move that deliberately ignored the Ethiopian government’s commitment that welcomed the findings of the UN-EHRC joint investigation report, and established a High-Level Inter-Ministerial Taskforce to implement the recommendations therein.”

“Ethiopia believes that what should have been a priority for the Council was the urgent task of investigating the violations of human rights and atrocities committed by the TPLF terrorist group in the Afar and the Amhara Regional States,” the foreign ministry statement added.