Nobel peace prize nominee lodges complaint with International Criminal Court
By Rachael Bunyan For Mailonline daily mail.co.uk
- American economist David Steinman accused WHO chief of being one of three officials who directed Ethopiaโs security forces from 2013 to 2015
- Tedros, who denies the allegations, was Ethiopiaโs foreign minister until 2016
- The complaint was lodged at the International Criminal Court in the Hague
A Nobel peace prize nominee has accused the director-general of theย World Health Organisationof allegedly aiding genocide in Ethiopia.ย
American economist David Steinman accused WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, 55, of being a โcrucial decision makerโ who directed Ethiopiaโs security forces actions from 2013 to 2015.
He accused Tedros of being one of three officials who were in charge of the security services over that period, during which the โkillingโ and โtorturingโ of Ethiopians took place.ย
Tedros was the countryโs foreign minister until 2016 when his Tigray Peopleโs Liberation Front party was in power.ย
Raised in Tigray, he also served as Ethiopiaโs health minister from 2005 to 2012 before being elected WHO director-general in 2017, the first African to take the role.ย ย ย
Mr Steinman, who was nominated for the 2019 Nobel peace prize, lodged the complaint calling for Tedros to be prosecuted for genocide at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
He claimed that Tedros โwas a crucial decision maker in relation to security service actions that included killing, arbitrarily detaining and torturing Ethopians,โ according to The Times
Mr Steinman also alleged that the WHO chief oversaw the โkilling, and causing serious bodily and mental harm to, members of the Amhara, Konso, Oromo and Somali tribes with intent to destroy those tribes in whole or in partโ.
He claimed that while Tedros โco-ledโ Ethiopiaโs government for four years, the regime โwas marked by widespread or systematic crimes against humanity by subordinatesโ.ย
Mr Steinman was a foreign adviser to Ethiopiaโs democracy movement for 27 years until its 2018 victory.ย
Large-scale and unprecedented protests swept through Ethiopiaโs largest region of Oromia beginning in November 2015, and in the Amhara region from July 2016.
Ethiopiaโs security forces cracked-down on these largely peaceful demonstrations, killing more than 500 people, according toย Human Rights Watch.ย
The complaint comes after Ethiopiaโs army chief Berhanu Jula claimed that Tedros was backing dissident forces in his war-torn home region of Tigray.
He accused Tedros of securing political and militaryย support for the Tigray Peopleโs Liberation Front (TPLF) as it fights an armed offensive by Ethiopiaโs government.
โHe has worked in neighbouring countries to condemn the war. He has worked for them to get weapons,โ Berhanu told a press conference, claiming that Tedros had โleft no stone unturnedโ to help the TPLF.
In the filed complaint, Mr Steinman referenced a 2016 US government report on human rights in Ethiopia that found the โcivilian authorities at times did not maintain control over the security forces, and local police in rural areas and local militias sometimes acted independentlyโ.ย
Mr Steinman, a former consulting expert to the US National Security Council, accused Tedros of being involved in the โintimidation of opposition candidates and supportersโ which included โarbitrary arrestโฆ and lengthy pre-trial detentionโ.ย ย
The complaint can only proceed to The Hague court if it is adopted by prosecutors. It would be the first prosecution of a senior UN figure if it does proceed.ย ย ย
Tedros has denied the allegations and any wrongdoing. โThere have been reports suggesting I am taking sides in this situation,โ he said in a statement last month about the current situation in Tigray. โThis is not true and I want to say that I am on only one side and that is the side of peace.
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