Ethiopia rejects US allegations of ethnic cleansing in Tigray

ADDIS ABABA - The Ethiopian government on Saturday rejected US allegations of ethnic cleansing in the northern Tigray regional state as "completely unfounded."

"(The accusation) is a completely unfounded and spurious verdict against the Ethiopian government," the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, referring to allegations made by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier in the day in a congressional hearing.

"Overblowing things out of proportion while the Ethiopian government has made its position unequivocally clear on the need for thorough investigation in collaboration with regional and international partners does not serve the purpose of justice other than unnecessarily politicizing the issue," the statement said.

Months of fighting between the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which used to rule the Tigray regional state, and the Ethiopian National Defense Forces have reportedly left thousands of people dead, hundreds of thousands of others displaced, and millions in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

According to Ethiopian government figures, the conflict has displaced around 2.2 million people, while 4.5 million people are in need of emergency aid.

The Ethiopian government has recently allowed humanitarian access to Tigray, stressing that all entities operating in the state should abide by the laws of the land.