Resolution on the situation in Ethiopia

The European Parliament adopted by 643 votes to 5, with 46 abstentions, a resolution on the situation in Ethiopia.

The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the EPP, S&D, Renew, Greens/EFA, ECR and GUE/NGL groups.

The EU’s development cooperation with Ethiopia is one of the largest in the world amounting to EUR 815 million for the 2014-2020 period. In 2020, the EU is providing EUR 44.29 million to humanitarian projects in Ethiopia by supporting the provision of live-saving assistance to internally displaced people uprooted by violence or natural hazards.

The current armed conflict between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the regional administration of Tigray, led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), has caused hundreds of civilian deaths and the mass displacement of people. Even before the fighting began there were 15.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia, 2 million of them in Tigray region.

On 4 November 2020, the Ethiopian Government declared a state of emergency and launched military operations in the northern Tigray region the day after a reported attack by the TPLF against the federal government military base in the Tigray region.

Parliament deplored the current armed conflict between the federal government of Ethiopia and the regional administration of Tigray led by the TPLF and expressed concern about the ongoing violence and allegations of serious breaches of fundamental human rights.

It called on both parties to commit to an immediate ceasefire and to solve political divergences by democratic means within the framework of the country’s constitution to find a lasting peaceful solution, establish a ceasefire monitoring mechanism, and work towards building national consensus through an inclusive dialogue.

Parliament called on Ethiopia’s government to:

• take immediate action to deescalate the ongoing conflict;
• give humanitarian organisations immediate and unrestricted access to the areas where there is conflict in order to ensure humanitarian aid;
• implement reforms that protect human rights and guarantee equal access to government services and resources for all ethnic groups;
• restore all forms of communication to Tigray as an act of accountability and transparency for its military operations in the region and to allow free communication among the people of Tigray;
• fully respect the freedoms of expression, association and of the press, as provided for in the Ethiopian Constitution, and to release unjustly detained journalists and bloggers;
• actively combat impunity.

Parliament also welcomed Ethiopian’s commitment to holding general elections in 2021 and called for the EU to continue to use all necessary diplomatic means to engage with the federal and regional authorities, as well as with regional partners and multilateral institutions, in order to resolve the conflict in a peaceful manner.