HRW dismisses Tedros Adhanom’s allegations

Felix Horne

ESAT News (October 26, 2016)

The Human Rights Watch on Wednesday responded to Ethiopian regime’s allegations that the group is encouraging violence in Ethiopia by spreading unfounded reports.

A recent article by Tedros Adhanom, Ethiopia’s foreign minister, accused a senior researcher with HRW, Felix Horne of exaggerating the number of people killed at the recent Ireecha  ceremony in Bishoftu and other protests in the country.

“What we have done is provide information based on hundreds of interviews, largely corroborated. If there are things we can’t corroborate, it is because of restriction to access, which underscores the need for an independent investigation,” Felix Horne told ESAT on the phone.

“The recent statement by Dr. Tedros is another attack on groups that provide independent information on issues of human rights violation in Ethiopia,” Horne said.

Horne said it was absurd that a government that is not willing to talk to human rights organizations accuse rights groups of publishing inaccurate reports.

Mr. Horne early this month gave testimony at the European Union Parliament demanding the European Union to use its leverage and push for investigations into the brutal crackdown in the Amhara and Oromo regions of the country where security forces killed hundreds of anti-government protesters.