Ethiopia on Saturday rejected US allegations there has been ethnic cleansing in Tigray, pushing back against the latest criticism of its military operation in its northern region by the new administration in Washington.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday he wanted to see Eritrean forces and those from the Amhara region replaced in Tigray by security forces that will respect human rights and not "commit acts of ethnic cleansing."
"(The accusation) is a completely unfounded and spurious verdict against the Ethiopian government," the ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement on Saturday.
"Nothing during or after the end of the main law enforcement operation in Tigray can be identified or defined by any standards as a targeted, intentional ethnic cleansing against anyone in the region."
However, it added that the Ethiopian government "attaches particular importance to its longstanding and strategic relations with the United States.
"It is committed to work closely with the current US administration in further strengthening and boosting this important bilateral relationship over the coming years."
