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| - The UN Security Council on Friday scrapped plans to issue a statement calling for an end to violence in Ethiopia's Tigray region because of opposition from China and Russia, diplomats said. "There is no consensus," one diplomat said on condition of anonymity after the council negotiated a draft for two days. "No plan to go further." Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced military operations against the leadership of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, Tigray's then-ruling party, in November, saying they came in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps. Human rights groups say troops from neighboring Eritrea killed hundreds of children and other civilians in Tigray that same month. UN leaders on Thursday accused the Eritreans of possible crimes against humanity and urged them to pull out. Ethiopia and Eritrea deny that the latter is actively involved in Tigray. China objected to the wording of the draft UN statement, demanding the removal of the phrase "violence in Tigray," another diplomat said. This was opposed by Western countries on the council including Ireland, which sponsored the document, this diplomat said. Russia backed China on its objection. Since the start of the violence in Tigray, these two countries have said the issue is a domestic one for Ethiopia and not the UN's business. China and Russia wanted the draft to focus only on the dire humanitarian situation in the region, diplomats said. Earlier Friday Human Rights Watch said Eritrean forces shot and killed hundreds of children and civilians in a November massacre in Tigray. It was the second major report on Eritrean abuses in the town of Axum, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in the past week. An Amnesty International investigation into the same events detailed how Eritrean troops "went on a rampage and systematically killed hundreds of civilians in cold blood." prh/dw/acb
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