Ethiopia: Amnesty International has accused Eritrean troops allied with Ethiopia’s government of having “committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity” in Tigray.
In a report released, the rights group noted how Eritrean soldiers extrajudicially executed civilians and sexually enslaved women for months after the signing of a peace agreement in 2022. The war, which broke out in November 2020, was between regional forces from Tigray and Ethiopia’s federal army, as well as its allies, which included forces from other regions and neighbouring Eritrea.
In 2021, Eritrea was sanctioned by the United States for sending troops into Tigray in support of Ethiopia’s federal forces. The conflict, which resulted in the killing of thousands, ended in November 2022 with the agreement of a ceasefire between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) under the mediation of the African Union. The deal demanded the withdrawal of foreign forces from the region. Eritrea was not involved in the agreement, and residents say its troops continue to be present in border areas.
Amnesty noted that it interviewed 49 people in May and June in the border districts of Mariam Shewito and Kokob Tsibah, corroborating their testimonies with satellite imagery as well as the accounts of social workers, medical experts, and government officials.
“Despite the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, atrocities against civilians in Tigray continued, with Eritrean soldiers subjecting women to horrific abuse, including rape, gang rape, and sexual enslavement, while civilian men were extrajudicially executed,” Mr. Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty’s East and Southern Africa Director, commented.
“The serious violations documented in this report amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. Some women were raped inside an Eritrean military camp while others were attacked and kept prisoner in their own homes,” the rights watchdog added.
The Eritrean and Ethiopian authorities have not responded to Amnesty’s preliminary findings. Earlier this year, officials from both countries rejected a determination by the US Department of State that their armies, along with all sides in the conflict, had committed war crimes. Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the US claims “inflammatory” and “untimely”, while the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they were “unsubstantiated and defamatory.”
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