Is there ‘ethnic cleansing’ in conflict-hit Tigray in Ethiopia?

Ethiopia’s Amhara region denied that its forces were engaged in “ethnic cleansing” in conflict-hit Tigray, one day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the phrase in public testimony, AFP reported.

Earlier this week, Tigrayan officials accused forces from neighboring Amhara of kicking thousands of people off land in western Tigray — a part of the region that ethnic Amharas claim rightfully belongs to them.

Appearing before Congress, Blinken said “acts of ethnic cleansing” had been committed in western Tigray, calling for them to “stop” and for “full accountability.”

In an interview with AFP, Amhara spokesman Gizachew Muluneh dismissed reports of ethnic cleansing and large-scale displacement as “propaganda.”

“A few Tigrayans may be displaced, a few in number,” he said.

Gizachew also said Blinken’s call for Amhara forces to leave Tigray was misguided, claiming the territory where these forces were present would actually be considered part of Amhara from now on.

“There are not any Amhara forces in Tigray region. These areas are not Tigrayan areas, in history,” Gizachew said.

“If the Secretary [Blinken] is talking about these areas, these areas are not Tigrayan. Our forces are not in the Tigrayan areas, rather our forces are in Amhara region. That is our response.”

Ethiopia is made up of 10 semi-autonomous federal states organized along ethnic lines, and ethnic violence has soared in recent years.