ADDIS ABABA, 12 (DPA/EP)
During her official visit to Ethiopia this Thursday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, together with her French counterpart Catherine Colonna, condemned the use of rape as another weapon in conflicts and wars.
In a joint press conference with Colonna, Baerbock assured that “the protection of civilians in armed conflicts has the highest priority”. “Rape is a war crime,” he said in the presence of Ethiopian Foreign and Justice Ministers Demeke Mekonnen and Gedion Timotheos.
“As in any conflict, the most terrible price has been paid by the most vulnerable: innocent people, many children, and humanitarian workers who have become targets when trying to care for women, children and the sick,” he added.
In this sense, he explained that the women and girls who are victims of “systematic sexual violence” suffer the most. “It’s not normal for rapes to be part of wars,” he says, outraged.
On the other hand, Baerbock, who has traveled to Ethiopia to show his support for the agreement signed last year to end the country’s civil war, urges the Ethiopian government to “continue on the path of peace”.
BAERBOCK INSUITS PUTIN
The German Foreign Minister also used her trip to sue Russian President Vladimir Putin during a subsequent visit to the largest World Food Program (WFP) camp in Ethiopia.
“The Russian president is using food as a weapon,” he said in the Ethiopian city of Adama on Thursday, adding that this “exacerbates the dramatic situation” of humanitarian aid and food supplies worldwide.
Baerbock, who met later in the day with Ethiopian President Sahlework Zewde, as well as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed – and the aforementioned Timotheos and Mekonnen – has an appointment scheduled for Friday with the President of the African Union Commission (AU), Musa Faki Mahamat.