A new commission of inquiry into the Tigray region by an African Union organization must “cease immediately”, the Ethiopian government said. The Tigray region has been locked in a deadly conflict, which has led to warnings of famine and “ethnic cleansing”.
A statement from Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday criticized the independent inquiry as “misleading” and lacked a legal basis and instead proposed a common probe.
But members of the new commission, created under the African Commission on Human and Human Rights, said they had not received this statement from Ethiopia. The investigation into alleged human rights violations will continue, they said.
“What we have started cannot be stopped,” Commission Vice President Remy Ngoy Lumbu told reporters on Thursday. He added that Ethiopia had given the Commission permission to visit Tigray but no date had been set, with the security situation a factor. .
Any results “will definitely not be hidden in the box,” Lumbu said. It is not clear when the Commission’s report will be published.
Thousands of civilians have been killed in Tigray since the conflict began in November between Ethiopian forces, backed by neighbors from Eritrea, and fighters supporting the region’s now fleeing leaders. Witnesses have described to the Associated Press (AP) gang rapes, mass deportations and forced starvation, which has led the United States and others to warn of famine.
The United States has also reported alleged ethnic cleansing in parts of Tigray. The term refers to forcing a population from a region through deportations and other violence, often including murder and rape.
The Ethiopian government has denied the allegations, claiming it is helping Tigray rebuild.
The UN Human Rights Office is also investigating the Tigray conflict, but it is a joint inquiry with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, which has led to concerns about independence.
While Ethiopia is also seeking a joint inquiry with the AU commission of inquiry, Commissioner Maya Sahli-Fadel said a probe carried out with the government would “change and dilute the commission’s independence.” Although the commission cannot enter Tigray, she said, it can visit neighboring countries and talk to refugees among thousands of refugees.
The AU and UN investigations will complement each other, Lumbu said.
The Commission started work on Thursday and will sit for at least three months, and that period can be renewed.
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