ZCZC
BFF-15
UN-DIPLOMACY-ETHIOPIA-TIGRAY-CONFLICT
UN rights chief agrees to joint Tigray probe
UNITED NATIONS, United States, March 18, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – United Nations
human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has agreed to Ethiopia’s request for a
joint investigation into the humanitarian consequences of the conflict in the
country’s northern Tigray region, a UN spokesman said Wednesday.
Tigray residents have told human rights groups and journalists of
massacres, widespread sexual violence and indiscriminate killings of
civilians by security forces in the region.
Aid workers, meanwhile, say Tigray’s health system has largely collapsed
and warn of possible large-scale starvation.
“The High Commissioner responded positively to the Ethiopian Human Rights
Commission’s (EHRC) request for joint investigations on Monday,” Jonathan
Fowler, spokesman for the Office of the UNHCRC told AFP.
The UN office is now preparing a plan in order to launch the mission as
soon as possible.
Fighting began in Tigray in November, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy
Ahmed sent troops to the region, blaming the area’s once-dominant ruling
party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), for attacks on army
camps.
Abiy declared victory in Tigray in late November after federal forces took
the regional capital of Mekele, though TPLF leaders remain on the run and
fighting has continued.
A communications blackout made it difficult to verify conditions on the
ground for weeks, though access has improved recently for humanitarian
organizations and the media.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week described the violence as
an “ethnic cleansing” and called for an investigation.
Ethiopia has rejected such a characterization as “unfounded and spurious.”
But UN officials fear for a humanitarian catastrophe and estimate that 4.5
million people need assistance.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1032 hrs