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Soldiers and police in the city of Mekelle, in northern Ethiopia, have expressed concern about insecurity, with one of them saying the women were raped this week after the city fell to federal forces during a war late last year.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government declared victory in its conflict with the former ruling party of the Tigray region after seizing Mekelle, the local capital and home to half a million people, on November 28.
Although the government says it is restoring law and order, aid agencies, residents and the United Nations are concerned about ongoing instability and shortages.
At Friday’s meeting in Mekelle broadcast by ETV, a state television channel, an unidentified man in an Ethiopian military uniform spoke of repeated abuses against women.
“I was angry yesterday. Why is a woman being raped in Mekelle city? It would not be surprising if it happened during the war because it is not manageable and something like that can be expected to happen,” he said.
“But women were raped yesterday and today when the local police and the federal police are present. We need to communicate with each other and act together and strengthen our chain of command.”
No further details were released and Reuters was unable to verify his account. Communications and access to Tigray remain difficult.
The mayor of Mekelle did not respond to phone calls seeking comment, while spokespersons for the national army and police, the Abiy spokeswoman and the spokesperson for a government task force in Tigray did not immediately respond to questions.
At the meeting on state television, the new government-appointed mayor of Mekelle, Ataklti Haileselassie, said the security forces would work more closely to ensure peace and security.
Another soldier complained that when the criminals were arrested, there was no one to hand them over to. “The basic institutional structure has been destroyed,” he said.
A police officer said that neither he nor his colleagues had been paid.
Airstrikes and battles since early November in Tigray are believed to have killed thousands of people. Fighting continues in parts and more than 2 million people need help, the UN said this week.
Fugitive leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) had vowed to continue fighting from the mountains, but Reuters has been unable to contact them for weeks.
