War crimes and crimes against humanity have likely been committed during the conflict that has torn Ethiopia apart since late 2020, a group of experts said Monday in a report for the UN Human Rights Council. . “The Commission has reasonable grounds to believe that, in several cases, the violations (against fundamental rights, editor’s note) correspond to war crimes and crimes against humanity”, underline these experts.
Tigrayan rebels say they have ‘always ensured’ that the Ethiopian government has committed crimes against humanity
Tigray authorities “always maintained” that the Ethiopian government was responsible for crimes against humanity, a rebel spokesman said on Monday after UN experts accused Addis Ababa of war crimes.
“We have always ensured this,” Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told AFP. According to a report for the UN Human Rights Council, war crimes and crimes against humanity have probably been committed during the conflict that has torn Ethiopia apart since the end of 2020.
“The Commission is deeply troubled by what it has found because it reflects deep ethnic polarization and hatred in Ethiopia,” the report said. “This has created a worrying cycle of extreme violence met with retaliation, further increasing the imminent risk of new, even more serious atrocities,” experts say.
A resumption of fighting at the end of August
They urge international and regional bodies to “take measures that will restore peace, stability and security and avoid new violations” of human rights. They also call on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to constantly monitor the situation and to continue to call on the parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law, human rights and the rights of refugees.
The Commission – which also detailed the numerous obstacles that limited its on-site investigation – was established for one year by resolution S-33/1 on December 17, 2021, to carry out a thorough and independent investigation into the allegations of repeated violations. human rights.
The conflict erupted in early November 2020 when the federal government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched an offensive against the Tigrayan rebels of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) controlling this region of northern Ethiopia. The resumption of fighting in northern Ethiopia on August 24 shattered a five-month truce.
Source: Europe1
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