The head of the UN’s public health body Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has accused Eritrean troops of killing his uncle in Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region.
Ghebreyesus, of the World Health Organisation, said he was told more than 50 other people were arbitrarily killed in the same Tigray village.
Ghebreyesus who looked visibly terrified at Wednesday’s briefing in the Swiss city of Geneva on the latest Covid-19 issues said “I was not in good shape,” he admitted. Eritrea has so far made no public comments on the accusation.
“On Saturday, I was informed that my uncle was murdered by the Eritrean army.
“I spoke to my mother, and she was really devastated because he was the youngest from their family. And he was almost the same age [as me],” said the 57-year-old WHO director general. He provided no details about the timing of the alleged attack or the location of the village.
Dr Tedros also expressed hopes that a ceasefire agreement signed in November between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) “will hold and this madness will stop”.
The conflict in Tigray erupted in late 2020 when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a military offensive against local forces in the country’s northern region.
The war wrecked the populous country in the Horn of Africa, leaving thousands of people dead with millions displaced and in famine conditions.