[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 208 (Wednesday, December 9, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7330-S7331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

 SENATE RESOLUTION 798--CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA AND THE 
TIGRAY PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT TO CEASE ALL HOSTILITIES, PROTECT THE 
HUMAN RIGHTS OF ALL ETHIOPIANS, AND PURSUE A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF THE 
               CONFLICT IN THE TIGRAY REGION OF ETHIOPIA

  Mr. RISCH (for himself and Mr. Cardin) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 798

       Whereas the United States and the Federal Democratic 
     Republic of Ethiopia share a strong relationship built over a 
     century of diplomatic relations;
       Whereas Ethiopia is the second most populous country in 
     Africa and plays a key role in advancing security and 
     stability across sub-Saharan Africa, including as a top 
     contributor of uniformed personnel to United Nations 
     peacekeeping missions;

[[Page S7331]]

       Whereas Ethiopia has been beset in recent years by multiple 
     human rights and humanitarian challenges, including targeted 
     ethnic violence, natural disasters, and political unrest, 
     leading to the internal displacement of more than 1,800,000 
     Ethiopians in 2020 alone;
       Whereas tensions between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's 
     Prosperity Party and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, 
     which was part of the ruling coalition in Ethiopia until late 
     2019, escalated when the Tigray People's Liberation Front 
     held elections in the region of Tigray on September 9, 2020, 
     despite the decision by the Federal Government of Ethiopia to 
     postpone general elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic;
       Whereas the Tigray People's Liberation Front rejected the 
     postponement of elections and considered the extension of the 
     term of the Federal Government to be unconstitutional, and 
     the Federal Government subsequently deemed the Tigray 
     elections illegitimate;
       Whereas, in the early hours of November 4, 2020, the Tigray 
     People's Liberation Front carried out an attack on the 
     Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces;
       Whereas Prime Minister Abiy then ordered a military 
     offensive and 6-month state of emergency in the Tigray 
     region, which has evolved into an armed conflict in the 
     region and surrounding areas between the Ethiopian National 
     Defense Forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, with 
     reports of thousands of deaths;
       Whereas the Tigray People's Liberation Front claims it 
     acted in self-defense and has accused the Ethiopian National 
     Defense Forces of striking some civilian targets;
       Whereas the Tigray People's Liberation Front admits to 
     having fired missiles at 2 airports and having launched 
     rockets across the border into Eritrea in what they say was 
     retaliation for air strikes in the Tigray region;
       Whereas Amnesty International confirmed that, on November 
     9, 2020, ``likely hundreds'' of ethnic Amhara people were 
     stabbed or hacked to death in the town of Mai-Kadra in the 
     Tigray region, and some witnesses attributed the killings to 
     retreating Tigray People's Liberation Front forces;
       Whereas the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has expressed 
     concern over the arrests of journalists in connection to the 
     conflict in the Tigray region and called on the Government of 
     Ethiopia to respect due process rights;
       Whereas the closures of roads and airports servicing the 
     Tigray region have contributed to shortages of fuel and other 
     necessary goods and impeded the delivery of humanitarian 
     assistance to more than 2,000,000 people already in need of 
     aid, including approximately 100,000 Eritrean refugees and 
     hundreds of United States citizens living in the region;
       Whereas the Government of Ethiopia has shut down 
     electricity, banking, internet, and telephone services in the 
     Tigray region, creating additional challenges for the 
     delivery of humanitarian services and the protection of 
     civilians;
       Whereas the conflict has already forced approximately 
     50,000 Ethiopians to flee to Sudan, and aid agencies warn 
     that more than 200,000 refugees could enter Sudan, Djibouti, 
     and Eritrea in the next 6 months;
       Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
     Rights warned that ``there is a risk this situation will 
     spiral totally out of control, leading to heavy casualties 
     and destruction, as well as mass displacement within Ethiopia 
     itself and across borders'';
       Whereas, according to international human rights 
     organizations, Tigrayans have been suspended from their jobs 
     and prevented from leaving the country, and there are reports 
     of surveillance and mass arrests of citizens of Ethiopia 
     based on their ethnicity;
       Whereas the United Nations Special Adviser on the 
     Responsibility to Protect and the Acting Special Adviser on 
     the Prevention of Genocide have expressed deep concern over 
     ``reports of incidents of ethnically and religiously 
     motivated hate speech, incitement to violence and serious 
     human rights violations including arbitrary arrests, 
     killings, displacement of populations and destruction of 
     property in various parts of the country,'' stressing that 
     the ethnically motivated attacks and reported ethnic 
     profiling of citizens constitute ``a dangerous trajectory'' 
     that heightens the risk of atrocity crimes;
       Whereas the conflict in the Tigray region occurs within the 
     context of democratic transition in Ethiopia, an uptick in 
     targeted ethnic violence in Ethiopia, ongoing talks, mediated 
     by the African Union, between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan over 
     the filling and use of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, 
     Ethiopia's rapprochement with Eritrea, and the fragile 
     democratic transition and peace process in Sudan;
       Whereas the conflict in the Tigray region jeopardizes the 
     security and stability not only of Ethiopia, but of the 
     broader East Africa region, particularly as Ethiopia 
     withdraws its troops from Somalia to support domestic needs, 
     including the operation in the Tigray region;
       Whereas African Union Chairman Cyril Ramaphosa, President 
     of South Africa, has appointed Joaquim Chissano, former 
     President of Mozambique, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, former 
     President of Liberia, and Kgalema Motlanthe, former President 
     of South Africa, as envoys to mediate a resolution to the 
     conflict in the Tigray region, but the Government of Ethiopia 
     has dismissed calls for mediation as of December 2020;
       Whereas, on November 28, 2020, the Government of Ethiopia 
     claimed victory in the conflict after a series of artillery 
     strikes on Mekelle, the capital city of the Tigray region, 
     with Prime Minister Abiy announcing that his forces had 
     ``completed and ceased'' military operations and would shift 
     focus to rebuilding the region and providing humanitarian 
     assistance while Federal police attempt to apprehend leaders 
     of the Tigray People's Liberation Front;
       Whereas, although Prime Minister Abiy stated that no 
     civilians were harmed by the operation in Mekelle, the 
     communications blackout in the Tigray region impedes 
     verification of that claim and the International Committee of 
     the Red Cross reported on November 29, 2020, that 80 percent 
     of patients at Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle were 
     suffering trauma injuries;
       Whereas, on November 29, 2020, Debretsion Gebremichael, 
     leader of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, disputed 
     Prime Minister Abiy's claims of victory and told reporters 
     that Tigray People's Liberation Front forces were withdrawing 
     from Mekelle but would continue fighting the Federal 
     Government; and
       Whereas United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
     Filippo Grandi noted that although the Government of Ethiopia 
     announced the completion of military operations in the Tigray 
     region, it ``does not mean the conflict is finished'': Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) strongly disapproves of the escalation of political 
     tensions between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray 
     People's Liberation Front into armed conflict and condemns in 
     the strongest terms any and all violence against civilians, 
     such as the reported mass killings in Mai-Kadra, Ethiopia;
       (2) appreciates the readiness of Sudan and Djibouti to 
     welcome refugees fleeing the conflict in the Tigray region of 
     Ethiopia and supports the de-escalation efforts led by the 
     African Union;
       (3) calls on the Government of Ethiopia to immediately and 
     fully restore electricity, banking, telephone, and internet 
     service in the Tigray region;
       (4) urges all parties to the conflict to--
       (A) cease all violence and refrain from actions that could 
     spread or escalate the conflict, including attacks on 
     international or civilian targets;
       (B) engage in good faith in regional and international 
     mediation efforts to end the conflict and commit to a 
     credible, inclusive dialogue towards a sustainable resolution 
     of political grievances;
       (C) comply with international humanitarian law, guarantee 
     unfettered humanitarian access to areas affected by the 
     conflict, and take all possible steps to protect the safety 
     of civilians, including refugees, displaced persons, and 
     humanitarian aid workers;
       (D) respect and promote the rights of all people in 
     Ethiopia to free expression, political participation, and due 
     process without discrimination based on ethnicity or 
     religion; and
       (E) allow for, and cooperate with, independent and 
     transparent investigations of any alleged human rights abuses 
     committed in the course of the conflict and hold perpetrators 
     to account; and
       (5) urges the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the 
     Treasury, and the Administrator of the United States Agency 
     for International Development, in coordination with the heads 
     of other relevant Federal departments and agencies, to--
       (A) engage at the highest levels with leaders of the 
     Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation 
     Front to encourage dialogue to address the root causes of the 
     conflict, achieve sustainable peace, and mitigate the 
     humanitarian crisis;
       (B) end the pause of all non-life-sustaining assistance to 
     Ethiopia and support programming to meet immediate 
     humanitarian needs, including of refugees and internally 
     displaced persons, advance nonviolent conflict resolution and 
     reconciliation, and aid democratic transition in Ethiopia;
       (C) consider imposing targeted sanctions on any political 
     or military officials found responsible for violations of 
     human rights carried out in the course of the conflict;
       (D) take all possible diplomatic steps to prevent further 
     mass atrocities in Ethiopia; and
       (E) maintain close coordination with international allies 
     and multilateral organizations regarding efforts to address 
     the conflict in Ethiopia and bring attention to the conflict 
     in international fora, including the United Nations Security 
     Council.

                          ____________________