In a recent report, Amnesty International accuses Ethiopia’s neighboring country, Eritrea, of committing atrocities in the troubled Tigray region, even after a ceasefire ten months ago.
There has been a ceasefire in the crisis region of Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, for around ten months. After two years of carnage, the Addis Ababa government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), mediated by the African Union (AU), agreed in November 2022 to cease arms. But according to a report by Amnesty International (AI), the alleged war crimes were committed later – by troops from neighboring Eritrea who supported Ethiopia’s army in the war.
“Despite the ceasefire agreement, the civilian population in Tigray continues to be subjected to atrocities,” the human rights organization said on Tuesday. “Even after the agreement was signed, Eritrean forces carried out extrajudicial executions of civilians and sexually enslaved women for months.” The atrocities – the AI explicitly mentions rape, sexual slavery, extrajudicial executions and looting – would amount to “war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity”.
Amnesty International says it has spoken to 11 women from the Kokob Tshibah district who were raped or sexually enslaved after the ceasefire came into effect. Another 40 women from a local NGO reported similar things. This was done to some women in a military camp run by the Eritrean armed forces and to others in their own homes. “In conjunction with additional research conducted by AI, the cases documented in Kokob Tsibah (…) can be seen as part of a comprehensive or systematic attack against the civilian population.”
Several hundred thousand dead
The organization claims to have also documented extrajudicial executions of at least 20 civilians in the Mariam Shewito district; It is based on descriptions from eyewitnesses and survivors. There are also credible reports of more than 100 additional victims. According to the UN, a total of several hundred thousand people have been killed during the conflict since November 2020. (raa)