Ethiopia PM must end Tigray conflict: Nobel committee

OSLO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize appealed on Thursday to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the award in 2019, to halt the conflict unfolding in the country’s northern region of Tigray.

In a rare critique of a former laureate, the Norwegian Nobel committee said Abiy bore special responsibility for bringing to an end the fighting that broke out in late 2020.

The committee generally refrains from commenting the actions of Nobel prize winners after they have won the award. An exception has been Abiy, with the committee having previously expressed its “deep concern” about the conflict.

Thousands of civilians have since been killed and millions displaced in Africa’s second most populous nation, with hundreds of thousands facing famine-like conditions. The U.N. has accused the government of operating a de facto blockade of humanitarian aid to the region - an accusation the government denies.