Before I answer your question, I really want to respond to one thing. Is that okay?
I think there is some kind of blaming the victim going on in front of this committee. The people of Tigray are facing unprecedented atrocities. Who are the terrorists? Is it the government, which is really blocking basic services and putting its own regime under siege? To me, this is state terrorism. This is a government that invited a foreign force to attack its own people, and that is really serious for me. I see that the government or the prime minister is really.... I've never seen such a prime minister, who invites a foreign force to kill his own people and to starve his own people.
Also, I just want to mention that this entire military command is now stationed in Asmara, not in Addis Ababa. In that case, who is leading and who is ruling? It's President Isaias Afwerki.
Having said that, what I'm proposing for this committee is that we are appealing to you, to Canada, to use all the leverage at your disposal to pressure the Ethiopian government to accept a cessation of hostilities immediately.
The second thing is, we appeal to Canada to use its leverage to pressure the Eritrean government to withdraw its forces from Tigray immediately, without which peace is not possible.
Canada has moral and legal obligations to pressure the Eritrean government to allow unfettered humanitarian access to Tigray, because people are dying as we speak. People are dying of starvation. People are dying from drone strikes. People are being taken to concentration camps in unknown locations. That's what the reality is.
There was one other thing that I would like to respond to also, and it is that they were talking about recommending that Canada send a delegate to visit, but International Human Rights Commission experts are not allowed to enter Tigray, so the last recommendation I'm making is, please, Canada, along with the international community, sanction arms embargos to Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Thank you.