The UN and an Ethiopian rights agency said on Thursday that they had agreed to conduct a joint investigation into abuses in the fought Tigray region, where fighting continues as government troops chase the region’s fleeing leaders.
An investigation of all parties to the conflict is “part of the much-needed responsibility process” for the victims of the conflict, the government-established Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.
“With several actors involved in the conflict and the seriousness of the reported violations, an objective, independent investigation is required,” the statement said, adding that the deployment of investigators will begin as soon as possible during an initial period of three months.
The announcement comes a day after the humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières, known by its French acronym MSF, reported that its staff on Tuesday saw Ethiopian government forces kill at least four civilians in Tigray.
Three MSF employees claimed to have witnessed the extrajudicial killings as they traveled in front of two public minibuses stopped by soldiers on their way from Mekele, the regional capital, to the city of Adigrat.
“The soldiers then forced the passengers to leave the minibuses. The men were separated from the women, who were allowed to leave. Shortly afterwards, the men were shot,” according to Médecins Sans Frontières, who said in a statement late Wednesday that the “terrible incident further underscores the need for civilian protection. during this ongoing conflict. “
Ethiopian authorities have not responded to Médecins Sans Frontières’ allegations of killings following an apparent ambush by a military convoy of an armed group. MSF said Ethiopian military vehicles burned at the scene of the executions.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was in Eritrea on Thursday for talks with President Isaiah Afwerki, told lawmakers earlier this week that atrocities had been reported in Tigray, his first public admission of possible war crimes in the country’s northern region.
Abiy also admitted, after repeated denials from the authorities, that troops from the neighboring Eritrea have entered Tigray, where their presence has caused “damage” to the region’s inhabitants.
Eritrean soldiers killed more than 100 people, including pilgrims attending an annual religious event, on November 28 and the next day in the city of Axum, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said in a report released on Tuesday.
Yemane G. Meskel, Eritrea’s information minister, said in a Twitter post on Thursday that “defamation campaigns against Eritrea have increased” in recent days.
Concerns continue to grow over the humanitarian situation in Tigray, home to 6 million of Ethiopia’s more than 110 million people. Authorities have not quoted a death toll in the war, which began in November when Abiy sent government forces into the region following an attack there on federal military installations.
The United States has characterized certain abuses in Tigray as “ethnic cleansing”, allegations dismissed as unfounded by Ethiopian authorities. The United States has also called on Eritrean troops 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, has been under pressure to end the conflict in Tigray and to launch an international inquiry into alleged war crimes, ideally led by the UN
It is still unclear whether the joint inquiry announced on Thursday will satisfy the demands of opposition groups.
Humanitarian officials have warned that a growing number of people could starve to death in Tigray. The fighting broke out in the largely agricultural region and sent countless people fleeing their homes.
Witnesses have described extensive looting of Eritrean soldiers as well as the burning of crops.
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