Eritrean soldiers have continued to rape and execute civilians in Tigray despite the signing of an agreement that ended the conflict in this region of northern Ethiopia, Amnesty International said in a report published on Tuesday 4 September.
The conflict in northern Ethiopia, which pitted the rebel authorities of Tigray against the Ethiopian federal government, backed by militias from the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar as well as the army of Eritrea, has been marked by countless atrocities attributable to all the belligerents.
“The Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity” in Tigray “just before and just after the signing” on November 2, 2022 of the two-year ending agreement of conflict, explains the NGO, based on 49 interviews carried out by telephone with survivors, relatives of victims or witnesses.
Around the town of Kokob Tsibah, about 20 km from the border with Eritrea, Eritrean soldiers “held captive at least fifteen women for almost three months in their camp”, between November 1, 2022 and January 19 2023, when Eritrean forces left the area, according to the NGO.
Rapes and summary executions
“During their captivity, these women were repeatedly raped by members of the EDF, in conditions amounting to sexual slavery. They also suffered physical and psychological violence and were deprived of food, water and medical care,” Amnesty International said.
The Eritrean military in Kokob Tsibah “also engaged in gang rapes and rapes of women held captive in their own homes”. Amnesty also claims that Eritrean forces summarily executed more than 40 civilians in total in and around the localities of Kokob Tsibah and Mariam Shewito, about 100 kilometers further west and about 60 kilometers from the Eritrean border.
Witnesses, survivors and relatives of victims claimed that Eritrean forces executed at least 20 civilians, mostly men, in Mariam Shewito between October 25 and November 1, 2022, and 24 civilians in Kokob Tsibah between November 2022 and January 2023 .
Amnesty International denounces the Ethiopian government’s “stubborn resistance to” regional and international investigations, which “obstructs justice for crimes and human rights violations committed by Eritrean forces”.
The Ethiopian federal authorities claim to be working on a “transitional justice” mechanism provided for in the peace agreement, intended to identify and try those responsible for the multiple atrocities recorded in Tigray, but also in Amhara and Afar.
Led with an iron fist by Issaias Afeworki since its de facto independence from Ethiopia in 1991, Eritrea, an internationally recognized state two years later, is one of the most closed and repressive countries in the world.
