The conflict that exploded in Ethiopia\u2019s Tigray region has killed thousands of people since the government of Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed allowed soldiers from neighboring Eritrea to invade Tigray and join Ethiopian forces in fighting the Tigray forces who long controlled the national government before Abiy took office. Ethnic Tigrayans across the country have since reported being targeted with arbitrary detentions, while civilians in Tigray have described gang rapes, famine, and mass expulsions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn western Tigray, it was apparent that the Tigrayans had left most of the areas, as it was difficult to find Tigrayans to interview,\u201d the new report says.<\/p>\n
The joint investigation covers events until late June when the Tigray forces regained much of their region, but it failed to visit some of the deadliest sites of the war, including the city of Axum, because of security and other obstacles. Notably, the report says, those obstacles included the Ethiopian government\u2019s failure to release satellite phones procured for the investigation.<\/p>\n
The Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF) announced they captured the towns of Dessie and Kombolcha in the Amhara region, Al Jazeera reports. The towns are some 400km (250 miles) from the capital, and TPLF forces have intimated they may push south towards Addis Ababa. The Government of Ethiopia and Tigray forces has been battling for a year now, and there is a communication blackout in most of northern Ethiopia. The US has halted Ethiopia\u2019s duty free-access, and the UN General-Secretary Ant\u00f3nio Guterres called for an immediate end of enmities.<\/p>\n
Due to the conflict, Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on Tuesday after the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF) said they captured the towns of Dessie and Kombolcha in the Amhara region.\u00a0 These towns are around 400 km (250 miles) from the capital, and TPLF forces have announced they may advance south towards Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n
There was an airstrike in Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia earlier on October 20th, and people are seen in front of clouds of black smoke from fires in the aftermath at the airstrike.<\/p>\n
The U.N. human rights chief said Wednesday that Ethiopia\u2019s yearlong war has been marked by \u201cextreme brutality\u201d and sexual violence as a joint investigation into alleged atrocities faulted all sides for committing abuses, but dodged answering who was the most to blame.<\/p>\n
The investigation was hindered by authorities\u2019 intimidation and restrictions and didn\u2019t visit some of the war\u2019s worst-affected locations.<\/p>\n
The report, a rare collaboration by the U.N. human rights office with the government-created Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, was released a day before the war\u2019s one-year mark and as Africa\u2019s second-most populous country enters a new state of emergency with rival Tigray forces threatening the capital.<\/p>\n
The U.N. told The Associated Press that the collaboration was necessary for its team to gain access to a troubled region that Ethiopian authorities have largely prevented journalists, rights groups, and other outside observers from entering.<\/p>\n
The investigation says all sides, including forces from the neighboring Amhara region that have declared western Tigray, have committed abuses, which may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, however, it downplays the actual numbers stating only that the more than 1,300 rapes were reported to authorities which are far fewer than the actual figures.<\/p>\n
Despite the report\u2019s shortcomings, the prime minister\u2019s office said in a statement that it \u201cclearly established the claim of genocide as false and utterly lacking of any factual basis.\u201d The statement noted \u201cserious reservations\u201d about the report but claimed it laid \u201csinister allegations to rest.\u201d And it acknowledged the need to \u201credouble our efforts\u201d to hold perpetrators accountable. A high-level task force will be formed, it said.<\/p>\n
Among the investigation\u2019s findings: Several Ethiopian military camps were used to torture captured Tigray forces or civilians suspected of supporting them. Others were detained in \u201csecret locations\u201d and military camps across the country, with arbitrary detentions in many cases. Tigray forces detained some ethnic Amhara civilians in western Tigray in the early days of the war on suspicion of supporting the military, and in some cases tortured them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tigray conflict has been marked by extreme brutality. The gravity and seriousness of the violations and abuses we have documented underscore the need to hold perpetrators accountable on all sides,\u201d said Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.<\/p>\n
And yet the report gives scarce evidence that Eritrean soldiers were responsible for many of the atrocities, as witnesses have alleged from the earliest days of the war. Until March, Ethiopia\u2019s prime minister denied they were even in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the absolutely worst violations were committed by the Eritrean defense forces,\u201d U.S. Horn of Africa Envoy Jeffrey Feltman said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Ethiopia\u2019s government imposed a blockade on Tigray since the Tigray forces regained control in June, cutting off almost all access for commercial goods and humanitarian aid. That followed large-scale looting and destruction of food and crops across the region that \u201chas had a severe socioeconomic impact on the civilian population,\u201d the report says. In addition, some camps for displaced people who fled the war didn\u2019t receive food rations for months.<\/p>\n
And yet the joint investigation \u201ccould not confirm deliberate or willful denial of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population in Tigray or the use of starvation as a weapon of war.\u201d It did call for further investigation.<\/p>\n
The new report, based on more than 260 interviews with victims and witnesses, said it had received no response from Eritrea\u2019s government or from Amhara regional officials, and the Tigray forces expressed its opposition to the involvement of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. The report acknowledged that the presence of EHRC staffers at times inhibited interviews.<\/p>\n
The investigation says the Ethiopian government should \u201cconsider\u201d setting up a court to ensure accountability and the international community should \u201csupport\u201d the government in restoring stability.<\/p>\n