US sanctions Eritrean general over rights abuses in Ethiopia

The US Department of the Treasury is blacklisting the Eritrean Defense Forces’ chief of staff for leading an entity it accuses of heinous abuses including massacres, rapes and executions.

The United States Department of the Treasury on Monday sanctioned an Eritrean official it accused of engaging in serious human rights abuses committed during the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is blacklisting General Filipos Woldeyohannes, the chief of staff of the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF), it said in a statement. The Treasury accuses EDF troops of massacres, looting, rape, torture, executions and purposely shooting civilians in the street.