EU's Borrell urges sanctions over Ethiopia crisis

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday urged member states to consider imposing sanctions over the crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray, as the bloc looks to increase aid deliveries to the region.

"We should be ready to use restrictive measures where we believe they are justified," Borrell said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

Tigray is plunging towards a cataclysmic humanitarian crisis as a brutal war between the government and rebels from the region has left hundreds of thousands of people facing famine.

Borrell said the EU wants to see a ceasefire declared by the government implemented on the ground, but warned that Tigray was instead being "cut off from the rest of the world."

"The situation in the Tigray region has never been as bad," Borrell said.

"In spite of the ceasefire announced by the government of Ethiopia, what we are seeing in Tigray, what we are afraid Tigray is going to suffer is a serious humanitarian crisis."

Borrell said that Brussels was now looking to organize an "air bridge" to help bring aid to the region, but conceded it would not reach the vast number of people in need.

Tigray has been the scene of fighting since Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the army in early November to topple dissident regional authorities.

The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner accused them of orchestrating attacks on Ethiopian military bases.

After early successes and a premature declaration of victory, government forces were bogged down in a vicious and months-long battle with the Tigray Defense Forces, or TDF. The Ethiopian army was backed by troops from the neighboring Amhara region and the army of Eritrea, which borders Tigray.

In late June, the TDF recaptured the capital Mekele, which had held by the Ethiopian army since November 28.

Read more: Ethiopia’s Tigray region demands troop withdrawals for ceasefire talks