Armed clashes have taken on a “national” scale in Ethiopia, where serious human rights violations continued to be committed after the peace agreement in the north of the country, a group of United Nations experts warned on Monday, September 18 (UN) in a report.
This commission of experts, whose report must be presented to the Human Rights Council, explains in a press release that “atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity continue to be committed in the country “. “While the signing of the agreement helped to silence the guns, it did not resolve the conflict in the north of the country, particularly in Tigray, and did not bring comprehensive peace,” says the president of the commission, Mohamed Chande Othman, in a press release.
According to the report, “hostilities in Ethiopia are now spreading nationwide, with significant violations increasing, notably in the Amhara region, but also in Oromia and elsewhere.”
The conflict in northern Ethiopia, which pitted the rebel authorities of Tigray against the Ethiopian federal government, supported by militias from the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar as well as the army of Eritrea, was marked by countless atrocities attributable to all belligerents.
Systematic sexual violence
On November 2, 2022, the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the party of authorities in the Tigray region who had entered into rebellion, signed a “cessation of hostilities agreement” ending two years of war .
But according to the UN commission, “Eritrean troops”, who had come to support the Ethiopian army, “and members of the Amhara militias continue to commit serious violations in Tigray”, including rape and systematic sexual violence against women and girls.
The commission also explains that government forces continue to carry out arrests, detentions and torture of civilians in the Oromia region and specifies that it has received numerous credible reports of violations committed against civilians in the Oromia region. Amhara since the federal government declared a state of emergency there in August.
The commission thus received reports of massive arbitrary detentions of civilians in this region and at least one drone attack carried out by the State. On Friday, September 15, the Ethiopian human rights organization accused federal security forces of carrying out extrajudicial executions in the troubled regional state of Amhara.
Failure of central government
“We are deeply alarmed by the deterioration of the security situation in Amhara (…). The evolving situation has enormous repercussions on the stability of Ethiopia and the entire region,” warns Mr. Othman. “The importance of ongoing and robust independent oversight and investigations cannot be overemphasized,” he continues.
The UN commission accuses the Ethiopian government of having “failed to prevent or effectively investigate violations” and of having “instead launched a consultation process on transitional justice marred by irregularities, during which victims have been forgotten.”
It also notes the high levels of impunity in the country and is concerned about the “increasing securitization of the state through the imposition of states of emergency and the establishment of militarized “command posts” without civilian control.” , structures that, according to the commission, “are often accompanied by serious violations.”
