In
Ethiopia's Tigray area, human rights organizations describe a surge of
violations against Tigrayans.
Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated on Thursday that armed troops
from Ethiopia's Amhara region had increased executions, mass detentions, and
expulsions of ethnic Tigrayans in neighboring western Tigray.
The
claims, according to Amhara regional spokesman Gizachew Muluneh, are
"baseless and unreasonable." Legesse Tulu, a spokesman for the
Ethiopian government, claimed Tigrayan forces were to responsible for any
crimes.
Western
Tigray has experienced some of the worst bloodshed in the year-long struggle
pitting the federal government and its Amhara regional allies against
Ethiopia's former ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
The
lush fields of western Tigray, which are presently controlled by Amhara troops
and the Ethiopian military, are claimed by both Amhara and Tigray. Since the
crisis began, 1.2 million people have been displaced from western Tigray,
according to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, including more
than 10,000 in the last week of November.
In
November and December, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch claimed
they spoke with 31 persons in western Tigray over the phone, who documented a
rise of violations by Amhara security personnel and militias.
"Civilians
fleeing the current round of unrest in Tigray have been assaulted and killed.
Torture, hunger, and denial of medical attention are among the life-threatening
circumstances that thousands of people in prison experience "In a joint
statement, the NGOs stated.
They
claimed that Tigrayans were being expelled from the towns of Adebai, Humera,
and Rawyan by Amhara regional police and volunteer civilian militia known as
Fano. According to six witnesses, Amhara soldiers opened fire on Tigrayans
escaping roundups in Adebai.
"When
the villagers tried to flee, (the Fano) attacked them with machetes and
axes," a 34-year-old farmer was cited as saying in the statement.
"We
were passing bodies and everyone was stunned... We saw that there were more
bodies when we had calmed down. There would be five or ten bodies everywhere
you turned."
The
charges were denied by Gizachew, an Amhara representative. He told Reuters that
regional security forces were defending Amhara citizens who had been victims of
TPLF-aligned troops' abuses in their own territory.
"It
is humiliating to criticize the security forces of the Amhara Regional
Government while our people are suffering from a terrible humanitarian calamity
as a result of the TPLF invasion," he added.
According
to human rights organizations, both parties in the war have committed
violations. Mass massacres were recorded in western Tigray days after the
conflict broke out in November 2020, including the Mai Kadra massacre, in which
Tigrayans massacred hundreds of Amhara civilians and subsequently Tigrayans
were slain in retribution.
HRW
reported last week that between Aug. 31 and Sept. 9, Tigrayan soldiers killed
scores of people in two towns they held in the Amhara area.
On
Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council will meet to discuss suspected
war crimes committed during the fighting.
By Reuters
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