Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of being behind UN crimes report

Eritrea accused Ethiopia on Tuesday of having orchestrated evidence in a landmark United Nations report last week that accused Eritrean leaders of committing crimes against humanity including torture, murder and enslavement.

Foreign Minister Osman Saleh told the U.N. Human Rights Council that information had been gathered from “witnesses organised by Ethiopia” and that an armed border attack on Sunday had been timed “for maximum impact on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Eritrea”. His government, he said, was focusing on human rights and freeing Djiboutian prisoners of war.

Ethiopian Ambassador Negash Kebret Botora took the floor at the Geneva forum to dismiss the statement as “baseless”, adding: “Internally the (Eritrean) regime continues to commit crimes against humanity as well as externally.”