In a report for the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on Monday, September 19, a commission of three experts warns of the conflict that has been tearing Ethiopia apart since late 2020. The Commission “has every reason to believe that in several cases the violations” of fundamental rights “equate to war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
“The Commission is deeply disturbed by what it has found because it reflects deep polarization and hatred between ethnic groups in Ethiopia,” the text concludes. “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.
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The conflict erupted in early November 2020 when Abiy Ahmed’s federal government launched an offensive against the Tigrayan Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLT) rebels who control this region of northern Ethiopia. The Tigray authorities have “always made sure” that the federal government is responsible for crimes against humanity, a spokesman for the FPLT said in an interview with Agence France-Presse on Monday. The government did not respond to inquiries. The resumption of fighting in the north of the country on August 24 shattered a five-month truce.
Experts pointed to the dire situation in Tigray, where the federal government and its allies have denied some 6 million people access to basic services for more than a year and where severe restrictions on humanitarian access have left 90% of the population in dire need of assistance.
“Devastating Impact”
The report said there was “reasonable reason to believe that the federal and allied regional governments [principalement l’Erythrée] have committed and continue to commit ethnically motivated crimes against humanity and other inhumane acts”. They “deliberately cause great suffering” by restricting humanitarian aid, the report said. Commission Chair Kaari Betty Murungi described the humanitarian crisis in Tigray as “shocking, both in its scale and in its duration”.
“Widespread denial and obstruction of access to basic services, food, health care and humanitarian assistance is having a devastating impact on civilian populations, and we have reasonable grounds to believe that this amounts to a crime against humanity,” she said. “We also have reasonable grounds to believe that the federal government is using hunger as a weapon of war,” she added.
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The commission, which also highlighted the many obstacles that constrained its on-site investigation between a ban on leaving the capital Addis Ababa and a lack of funds, was set up for a year on December 17, 2021 to conduct a thorough investigation and independent investigation into allegations of repeated human rights violations.
In a whole series of recommendations, she calls on the federal government and the Eritrean and Tigrayan authorities to ensure that the perpetrators of the abuses are brought to justice. It urges international and regional bodies to “take action that will restore peace, stability and security and prevent new violations of human rights.” They also call on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to monitor the situation and continue to call on the parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law, human rights and the rights of refugees.