The head of EU foreign policy Josep Borrell on Monday (July 12) urged member states to consider imposing sanctions on the crisis in Tigray, Ethiopia, because the EU wants to increase aid to the region.
“We should be prepared to use restrictive measures when we think it is reasonable,” Borrell said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Tigray is in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, as the brutal war between the government and the insurgents in the region has caused hundreds of thousands of people to face famine.
Borel stated that the European Union wanted to see the ceasefire announced by the government implemented locally, but warned that Tigray was instead “isolated from the rest of the world.”
“The situation in Tigray has never been so bad,” Borrell said.
“Although the Ethiopian government announced a ceasefire, what we saw in Tigray is that we are worried that Tigray will suffer a serious humanitarian crisis.”
Borel said that Brussels is now seeking to organize an “air bridge” to help provide assistance to the region, but he admitted that it will not benefit a large number of people in need.
Since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed sent troops in early November to overthrow dissident regional authorities, Tigray has been the scene of the fighting.
The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner accused them of planning attacks on Ethiopian military bases.
After achieving early success and prematurely declaring victory, the government forces were caught in a vicious battle with the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) for months. The Ethiopian army is supported by the army in the neighbouring Amhara region and the Eritrean army on the border with Tigray.
In late June, TDF recovered the capital Mekle, which had been occupied by Ethiopian troops since November 28.
