ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government on Wednesday called on the international community to "refrain from any unwelcome and unlawful acts of interference" in its internal affairs amid the ongoing clashes between the Ethiopian government and forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in northern Ethiopia.
The urgent call was made by the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, in a statement issued on Wednesday, as he emphasized the need to respect adherence to the principle of non-Intervention in internal affairs.
"Ethiopia is a country with a long and proud history of statehood. It is one of the early members of the League of Nations and a founding member of the United Nations. It is also one of the architects of the Organization of African Unity (predecessor or African Union)," Ahmed said.
According to Ahmed, Ethiopia's commitment to multilateral cooperation and a world order based on the principles and norms of international law is "firm, long-standing and unwavering."
"We respectfully urge the international community to refrain from any unwelcome and unlawful acts of interference and respect the fundamental principles of non-intervention under international law," the statement read.
The urgent call to the international community to respect non-interference in the East African country's internal affairs by the Ethiopian government came amid mounting pressure for dialogue among the Ethiopian government and TPLF.
Noting that Ethiopia has always been on the vanguard of a rules-based international system, Ahmed also underscored his country's position as "a major contributor of troops for various UN and AU peacekeeping missions in various parts of world."
"A fundamental element of the international legal order is the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states, which is enshrined in Article 2 (7) of the Charter of the United Nations," the statement read, adding that the International Court of Justice has also repeatedly affirmed this principle asserting that "the principle of non-intervention involves the right of every sovereign state to conduct its affairs without outside interference."
Ahmed also stressed that the principle of non-intervention is also embedded in the legal and normative order of the African Union (AU).
"While we appreciate and understand the interest of the international community to assist in the ongoing law enforcement operations, we would also like to underscore that this must be done in accordance with international law," Ahmed affirmed.
"This, first and foremost, means the international community should stand by until the government of Ethiopia submits its requests for assistance to the community of nations," the Ethiopian premier added.
The Ethiopian government has been blaming the TPLF, which was one of the four coalition fronts of Ethiopia's former ruling party the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), for masterminding various treasonous acts across different parts of the country with an overarching goal of destabilizing the country.
Since the early hours of Nov. 4, the Ethiopian government has been undertaking military operations against the TPLF, which rules over Ethiopia's northernmost Tigray regional state.
The federal government's operation followed the TPLF's attack on the Northern command base of the Ethiopian Defense Force, a division stationed in the region for over two decades and based in Mekelle city, capital of Tigray region.
The attack against the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Force is an "act of treason."
"Using traitors recruited from within the army, not only did the TPLF leadership cause the massacre of unarmed soldiers in the dead of night, they also attempted to take possession, illegally, of the entire military depot of the Northern Command in what they themselves admitted and called a "lightning preemptive attack" on the National Defense Force," Ahmed said on Wednesday.
According to Ahmed, such "manifestly treasonous acts perpetrated by a political party constitute a brazen attempt to take power by unconstitutional means. It is also a criminal offense per the laws of our land."
"Adding fuel to fire in TPLF's criminality, 600 innocent civilians were brutally massacred in the town of Mai-Kadra," he added.
Ahmed also emphasized that the rule of law operations carried out by the Ethiopian government "since the day our National Defense Force were attacked therefore constitute acts intended to defend and preserve the sovereignty and integrity of the state of Ethiopia, to restore law and order throughout its territory, and to bring the perpetrators of the criminal act to justice."
"Maintaining the integrity of our political and constitutional order compels us to take robust law enforcement measures against the clique of renegades within the TPLF," Ahmed said, adding as "a sovereign state, Ethiopia has every right to uphold and enforce its laws within its own territory." Enditem
