TPLF ‘trying to use’ hunger as ‘political tool’ – Ethiopian gov’t  

ADDIS ABABA – The government in Addis Ababa has accusing the rebellious Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) of trying to use hunger as a political tool after aid groups said around 40 percent of the Tigray population, including doctors, are begging for food.

This comes after the TPLF announced in a statement this week that they have decided to attack some areas in Afar region to thwart increasingly Eritrean presence in the area which it said threatened the security of the Tigray people as it accuse Eritrean forces of attacking its territories.

In a statement, the Ethiopian Government Communication Service (GCS) said the TPLF attack on Afar’s Aba’ala undermines humanitarian aid delivery to the Tigray region and then accused the TPLF of trying to use hunger as a political tool by inviting international outrage against Ethiopia.

“As a result of the TPLF renewed attacks on Aba’ala, the only humanitarian corridor in the Afar region, humanitarian convoys had to stop their travel to Tigray & return. This indicates that the terrorist group is still trying to use hunger as a political tool,” the GCS said in a statement yesterday.

Earlier this week, the Ethiopian ambassador to South Sudan Nebil Mehdi met South Sudan’s minister in the office of the president Barnaba Marial Benjamin and briefed the South Sudanese official about the current situation in Ethiopia including the government decision to avoid going to attack Tigray.

“Ethiopia’s ambassador in South Sudan, H.E. Ambassador Nebil Mahdi had held talks with South Sudan’s Minister of Presidential Affairs, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, on current situations in Ethiopia,” foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti said in a press briefing on January 27.

According to Amb. Mufti, Ambassador Nebil said “the decision of the Ethiopian government to withhold the advance of its troops to Tigray and the release of political figures from prison demonstrates commitments to make peace in Ethiopia.”