KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) – The Ethiopian leader said on Tuesday that atrocities were reported in Tigray, his first public recognition of possible war crimes in the northern region of the country, where fighting continues as government troops pursue their leaders fugitives.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed also admitted, after repeated denials by the authorities, that troops from neighboring Eritrea went to Tigray, where his presence caused “damage” to the region’s residents.
“Reports indicate that atrocities have been committed in the Tigray region,” Abiy said in a speech on Tuesday to lawmakers in the capital, Addis Ababa.
War is “an unpleasant thing,” he said, speaking the local Amharic language. “We know the destruction that this war has caused.” He said that soldiers who raped women or committed other crimes would be held responsible, although he cited “exaggeration propaganda” from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the once dominant party whose leaders challenged Abiy’s legitimacy after the postponement of elections last year. .
Commenting on the alleged presence of Eritrean troops in Ethiopia, Abiy said that they crossed the border and moved to Tigray, “causing damage to our people … We will not accept that”.
He suggested that the Eritrean soldiers are not there with his blessing. “The argument that the Eritrean government makes for this is that it is a matter of national security because Ethiopian troops are chasing forces (Tigrayan) elsewhere, so they want to continue to control border areas,” he said. “But they told us that they have no desire to stay as long as we control the trenches along the border.”
Abiy spoke as concerns continue to grow about the humanitarian situation in the conflict region that is home to 6 million of Ethiopia’s more than 110 million people. Authorities did not cite the death toll in the war, but a trio of opposition groups based in Tigray say more than 50,000 were killed.
The United States characterized some abuses in the Tigray war as “ethnic cleansing”, accusations rejected by the Ethiopian authorities as unfounded. He also urged Eritrean troops, who are fighting alongside 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 ideally led international investigation into alleged war crimes. by the United Nations. Government critics say that an ongoing federal investigation is simply not enough because the government cannot effectively investigate itself.
Rupert Colville, Geneva spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, told the Associated Press last week that the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission asked to participate with her office in “a joint investigation into allegations of serious human rights violations everywhere ”In Tigray.
Reports of atrocities by Ethiopian and allied forces against Tigray residents were detailed in reports from The Associated Press and Amnesty International.
But Abiy said in Tuesday’s speech, which included answers to questions from lawmakers, that loyal fighters to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front committed a massacre in the city of Mai Kadra. “But it is not getting enough attention,” he said of the massacre, describing it as “the worst” of the conflict.
The Tigray conflict started in November, when Abiy sent government troops to the region after an attack on federal military facilities. The federal army is now hunting down fugitive regional leaders, who are said to have retreated to the remote mountainous areas of Tigray.
Abiy accused Tigray leaders of creating “a war narrative” while the area faced challenges such as a destructive locust invasion and the COVID-19 pandemic. “That was an out of place and untimely arrogance,” he said, according to a transcript of your comments posted on Twitter by the prime minister’s office.
President Joe Biden dispatched Senator Chris Coons to Ethiopia last week to express the government’s “grave concerns” about the growing humanitarian crisis and human rights abuses in Tigray, and the risk of wider instability in the Horn of Africa. Details of Coons’ visit over the weekend were not released.
Humanitarian officials have warned that an increasing number of people may be starving to death in Tigray. The fighting began on the verge of harvest in the predominantly agricultural region and caused an incalculable number of people to flee their homes. Witnesses described widespread looting by Eritrean soldiers, as well as burning crops.