Crimes against humanity continue in Ethiopia's Tigray despite truce, say UN experts

 

Children at a camp for displaced people in Tigray. Food aid to the war-battered region was halted in March, after officials were found to be stealing grain. Photograph: Sopa/Getty

Nearly a year after the government and local forces from Tigray agreed to halt hostilities, United Nations experts claim that war crimes and crimes against humanity are still being committed in Ethiopia, according to a study released on Monday.

 

The two-year conflict, which officially ended in November of last year, claimed thousands of lives. Both sides accused one another of crimes against humanity, such as killings, rapes, and arbitrary detentions, but neither admitted to any systematic wrongdoing.

 

“While the signing of the agreement may have mostly silenced the guns, it has not resolved the conflict in the north of the country, in particular in Tigray, nor has it brought about any comprehensive peace,” Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, said in a statement accompanying the report.

 

In its report, the commission said human rights violations in Tigray were “grave and ongoing”, and there had been attacks by the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) against civilians.

 

Residents and rights organizations have alleged that Eritrea's soldiers committed crimes in Tigray, but Eritrea, which sent troops to fight with the Ethiopian government forces throughout the conflict, has denied these claims.

 

Yemane Ghebremeskel, the information minister for Eritrea, told Reuters that the report's conclusions were false and that his nation was putting together an official response.

 

The army and government spokespeople for Ethiopia have not yet responded to the report.

 

A commission member named Radhika Coomaraswamy called the sexual assault in the conflict "as bad as it gets."

 

"I must acknowledge that the worst of this was carried out in Tigray by Eritrean forces. Of course, Ethiopian forces were equally at fault, she said, noting that Tigrayan forces had also committed acts of sexual abuse against Amhara women.

 

The commission’s report said violations “have been abetted or tolerated by the federal government”, which it said failed in its duty to protect its population.

 

According to the study, a "widespread and systematic attack" against civilian populations by the Ethiopian National Defense Force, Eritrean Defense Forces, and allied regional special forces was committed through murder, torture, rape, and other abuses.

 

The panel claimed that Ethiopia, which has already attempted to derail the UN-mandated investigation, "has sought to evade international scrutiny" after demands to meet with government representatives remained unanswered.

 

In addition to pledging to look into reports of specific atrocities, Ethiopia's government and armed forces have consistently denied that their members engaged in widespread criminal activity either alone or in concert with Eritrean forces.

 

Authorities from the Amhara region of Ethiopia have likewise refuted claims that their troops massacred residents in neighboring Tigray.