The head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday (December 14) that Eritrean troops "murdered" his uncle in Ethiopia's Tigray region.


Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not respond to a request for comment on the allegations.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is a former Ethiopian minister from Tigray. Tedros has previously been an outspoken critic of Ethiopia's role in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

In the final minutes of a Geneva news conference focused on the COVID-19 outbreak, Tedros said he almost canceled the event because he was "not doing well" after hearing about his uncle's "murder" .


"I hope this peace deal will survive and this madness will stop, it's a very difficult moment for me," Tedros told reporters, adding that there were also other people involved in the same event. More than 50 people were killed. The Ethiopian government and Tigray regional forces agreed to a cessation of hostilities in November. This is a major breakthrough.


However, troops from Eritrea in the north and from neighboring Ethiopia's Amhara region to the south, fighting alongside Ethiopian troops in Tigray, are not part of the ceasefire.

Witnesses and aid workers in the north told Reuters that despite the current truce, Eritrean troops have been looting towns, arresting and killing civilians in those they still control.

Ethiopian government spokesman Legesse Tulu, military spokesman Colonel Getnet Adane and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's spokeswoman Bi Billene Seyoum did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tedros' comments.

Asked for details of the incident during a news conference, Tedros said his young uncle, who he grew up with, was killed by Eritrean soldiers in a village in Tigray. He declined to reveal the exact location because he said he feared the village would face reprisals.

He said his cousin was killed in Tigray last year when a church was bombed but gave no further details.


Ethiopia's government has opposed Tedros' second term as head of the global health agency, accusing him of trying to secure arms and diplomatic support for rebel forces. Tedros has denied the allegations against him.