Ethiopia's Leader Says Atrocities Committed in Tigray War
"Reports indicate that atrocities have been committed in Tigray region,"
"Reports indicate that atrocities have been committed in Tigray region," Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in an address before lawmakers in the capital, Addis Ababa.
KAMPALA, UGANDA - Ethiopia's leader on Tuesday said atrocities have been
committed in Tigray, his first public acknowledgment of possible war
crimes in the country's northern region where fighting persists as
government troops hunt down its fugitive leaders.
"Reports indicate that atrocities have been committed in Tigray region," Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in an address before lawmakers in the capital, Addis Ababa.
War is "a nasty thing," Abiy said, speaking the local Amharic language.
"We know the destruction this war has caused." He said soldiers who
raped women or committed other war crimes will be held responsible, even
though he cited "propaganda of exaggeration" by the Tigray People's
Liberation Front, the once-dominant party whose leaders challenged
Abiy's legitimacy after the postponement of elections last year.
Abiy spoke as concern continues to grow over the humanitarian situation
in the embattled region that is home to 6 million people.
The United States has characterized some abuses in the Tigray war as
"ethnic cleansing," charges dismissed by Ethiopian authorities as
unfounded. It also has urged Eritrean troops, who are fighting on the
side of Ethiopian government forces, to withdraw from Tigray.
The Ethiopian prime minister, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for
his efforts to make peace with Eritrea, faces pressure to end the
conflict in Tigray as well as to institute an international
investigation into alleged war crimes, ideally led by the United
Nations. The government's critics say an ongoing federal probe simply
isn't enough because the government can't effectively investigate
itself.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman in Geneva for U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, told The Associated Press last week that
Ethiopia's Human Rights Commission had asked to participate with her
office in "a joint investigation into allegations of serious human
rights violations by all sides" in Tigray.
Accounts of atrocities by Ethiopian and allied forces against residents
of Tigray have been detailed in reports by The Associated Press and by
Amnesty International.
But Abiy said in Tuesday's address, which included answering questions
from lawmakers, that fighters loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation
Front had committed a massacre in the town of Mai Kadra. "But it is not
getting enough attention," he said of that massacre, describing it as
"the worst" in the conflict.
The Tigray conflict began in November, when Abiy sent government troops
into the region after an attack there on federal military facilities.
The federal army is now hunting the fugitive regional leaders, who have
reportedly retreated into Tigray's remote mountainous areas.
Abiy accused Tigray's leaders of drumming up "a war narrative" while the
area faced challenges such as a destructive invasion of locusts and the
COVID-19 pandemic. "This was misplaced and untimely arrogance," he
said, according to a transcript of his comments posted on Twitter by the
prime minister's office.
President Joe Biden last week dispatched Sen. Chris Coons to Ethiopia to
express the administration's "grave concerns" about the growing
humanitarian crisis and human rights abuses in Tigray, and the risk of
broader instability in the Horn of Africa. Details of Coons' weekend
visit haven't been released.
Humanitarian officials have warned that a growing number of people might
be starving to death in Tigray. The fighting erupted on the brink of
harvest in the largely agricultural region and sent an untold number of
people fleeing their homes. Witnesses have described widespread looting
by Eritrean soldiers as well as the burning of crops.
VOA
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