UN Calls On Eritrean Troops To Leave Ethiopia's Tigray

A senior UN official on Thursday called on Eritrea to pull troops from Ethiopia's Tigray region after reports of atrocities despite denials by both governments of their presence.

Addressing a Security Council session on Tigray, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Mark Lowcock, also called for assistance to be scaled up "dramatically" to the northern region amid fears of mass hunger.

"It is now abundantly clear to all, and openly acknowledged by officials of the government administration in Tigray, that Eritrean defense forces are operating throughout Tigray," Lowcock said, according to remarks seen by AFP.

"Countless well-corroborated reports suggest their culpability for atrocities," he said.

"Eritrean defense forces must leave Ethiopia, and they must not be enabled or permitted to continue their campaign of destruction before they do so."

Amnesty International last week said that Eritrean troops have massacred hundreds of people in a likely crime against humanity.

Eritrea denied the account and, like the Addis Ababa government, denies involvement.