GENEVA, 29 December 2020, (TON): World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in his personal comments, has spoken of his “personal pain” about the “worsening” conflict raging in his home country of Ethiopia.

“In addition to COVID, 2020 has been very difficult for me because my country is in trouble,” Tedros told reporters in the United Nations health agency’s last news conference of the year on the pandemic on Monday.

Tedros, the world’s highest-profile Tigrayan, told Monday’s news conference that he had many relatives in the troubled region, “including my younger brother, and I don’t know where they are.” “I have not communicated with them because communication is not there,” he said.

“As if COVID is not enough, I have that personal pain also,” he said. “I worry about the whole country. “I cannot worry about my younger brother or my relatives alone because the situation is worsening.”

Tedros denied the accusations of taking sides in a tweet, saying he had seen the destructive nature of war as a child, and had “used that first-hand experience to always work for peace”.

“There have been reports suggesting I am taking sides in this situation. This is not true,” he wrote. “I want to say that I am on only one side, and that is the side of peace.”

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Nobel Peace Prize winner, ordered troops into the northern region of Tigray on November 4, saying the operation was in response to alleged attacks on federal army camps by the regional governing party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). So far, the fighting in Tigray has left thousands dead, according to the International Crisis Group think-tank, and sent tens of thousands of refugees streaming across the border into Sudan.