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The head of the UN human rights affairs stated that the long-awaited joint investigation into the abuses in the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia failed to deploy to one of the deadliest attack sites, and hundreds of people were reportedly massacred in the holy city of Aksum.
Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council on Monday that the deployment in eastern and central Tigray was “unable to proceed.” Witnesses accused Ethiopia of neighboring Eritrea and allied forces in the 10-month Some of the worst abuses were suffered in the war.
She cited “sudden changes in the security situation and conflict dynamics.” She did not provide details.
In late June, the Tigray army regained most of the Tigray area in northern Ethiopia. Ethiopia and allied forces retreated, and the war took a dramatic turn.
The transformation of the war occurred in the middle of a joint investigation conducted by the United Nations Human Rights Office and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission established by the government from May 16 to August 20.
The joint report will be released on November 1, which is delayed from the original scheduled release this month.
Bachelet said: “It is clear that the recorded cases include multiple allegations of human rights violations, including serious violations such as attacks on civilians, extrajudicial executions, torture and enforced disappearances.”
“Sexual violence and gender-based violence are characterized by extreme brutal patterns, including gang rape, sexual abuse, and racial sexual violence.”
Bachelet added that during the review period, Tigray’s forces were allegedly responsible for attacks on civilians, including indiscriminate killings, which resulted in the displacement of nearly 76,500 people in the Afar area, and an estimated 200,000 people in Amhara.
She said that the recent conflicts in these areas have reportedly killed more than 200 people and injured 88 people, including children.
Bachelet said: “We have also received serious reports about the recruitment of children by the Tigray army to participate in the conflict, which is prohibited by international law.”
A joint statement last week stated that the team has been working in Meckle, the capital of the Tigray region, and Ukro, Samre, Alamata, Bora, Maiqiu, Danzas, and McCard in the south and west of the region. La and Humela communities conducted an investigation.
The team also conducted investigations in Gondar and Bashirdar in the neighbouring Amhara region and Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Conflict “may engulf the Horn of Africa”
Since the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray in November 2020 to replace the regional ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), northern Ethiopia has been in conflict. He said the move was in response TPLF’s attack on the barracks. TPLF stated that the Federal Army and its allies launched a “coordinated attack.”
The fighting has continued, with numerous reports of mass killings and other suspected war crimes, and hundreds of thousands of people suffering from famine.
In June, the Tigray army regained the capital of Tigray, Mekle, and the federal army basically retreated. Since then, Tigray’s army has launched an offensive into the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions, causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and triggering allegations of summary executions and indiscriminate injuries.
The Tigray forces denied these allegations, saying they were trying to break what they described as the humanitarian blockade of Tigray and prevent the regroup of pro-government forces.
Noting the spread of fighting in Ethiopia, Bachelet said the conflict may spread to “the entire Horn of Africa.”
“If the situation does not improve, Ethiopia will become a human tragedy of unprecedented scale in this century,” British ambassador Rita French told the Human Rights Council, adding that the Ethiopian government “is imposing a de facto blockade on Tigray.” There are 400,000 people facing famine.
Ethiopian Attorney General Gedion Timothewos Hessebon told the committee that due to the deadline for the joint investigation, the team did not investigate the recent reported killings in the Amhara community of Chenna Teklehaymanot and other places.
The Minister of Justice also criticized the African Union institution’s separate investigation by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights as unilateral and “therefore not recognized by the Ethiopian government”.
Remy Ngoy Lumbu, vice chairman of the investigation committee, told the council that the agency’s report will be available before the end of the year.
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