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The G7 nations have said they are “deeply concerned” by recent reports of human rights abuses and violations of international law in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
After a brutal civil war, plagued by reports of massacres and armed sexual violence that some claim amount to genocide, the group of major economic powers reminded Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that he is obliged to hold those who are accountable. have committed human crimes. rights abuses.
The group’s foreign ministers said it was essential that a pending joint investigation into the war crimes by the United Nations and Ethiopia’s human rights commissioner was truly “independent, transparent and impartial.”
“We condemn the killing of civilians, sexual and gender-based violence, indiscriminate shelling and the forced displacement of Tigray residents and Eritrean refugees,” they said in a statement. “All parties must exercise the utmost restraint, ensure the protection of civilians and respect human rights and international law.”
The civil war between the central forces and the once powerful Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which ruled the nation for 30 years, erupted in November, after years of intensifying political tensions following the rise to power of Abiy in 2018 and its Peace Agreement with Eritrea, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, which isolated the TPLF.
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Abiy declared victory in late November, after his forces seized the regional capital, Mekelle, with little resistance. But four months later, the devastated region is still militarized and its residents continue to face further trauma, with a leaked US government report accusing national and Eritrean forces of “deliberately and efficiently making West Tigray ethnically. homogeneous through the organized use of force and intimidation. ” .
In February, the BBC reported that some 2 million people had been displaced in the war, which opposition parties estimated has so far killed 52,000 people, including women, children and religious leaders, although spotty communications have largely obscured part of the human cost of the conflict.
With food already in short supply in some parts before the fighting, warnings quickly emerged about the need for international aid to avoid a “humanitarian disaster”.
The G7 said on Friday it was “concerned about worsening food insecurity, with emergency conditions prevailing in vast areas of central and eastern Tigray”, urging all parties involved to “provide immediate and unhindered humanitarian access” .
As TPLF insurgents continue to fight central forces, Reuters reports that in recent weeks, tens of thousands of people have also been displaced as a result of rekindled land disputes with newly emboldened troops and militiamen from neighboring Amhara. who say the Tigrayans stole vast swaths of land. their land during the three decades in power of the TPLF.
It comes as a series of investigations this week have served to shed more light on the atrocities in Tigray, and international pressure already appears to be mounting on Abiy, who told his country’s parliament on November 30, after claiming victory , that “not a single civilian died.”
By compiling one of the most comprehensive records of mass killings of civilians in the region, a team from the University of Ghent identified 1,942 victims and more than 150 massacres (defined as incidents in which five or more unarmed civilians were killed), 20 of which I think happened in the last month.
By extracting information from a network of informants, witnesses and grieving family members, they discovered that only three percent of the civilian victims they identified, from infants to nonagenarians, had been killed by airstrikes or artillery, and most had been killed in executions. summary or summary executions. organized massacres, of which both sides have been accused.
Aside from the nearly 2,000 “fully documented civilian casualties,” his investigation of social media, local press and NGO reports accounted for more than 7,000 reported civilian deaths.
In cases where blame was blamed for the deaths of those they identified, Eritrean forces bore 43% of the blame and Ethiopian soldiers 18%, and an additional 18% mentioned that “either Ethiopian soldiers or Eritreans, jointly carried out the killings ”.
Having long denied the involvement of Eritrean troops, who are embroiled in American accusations of ethnic cleansing, Abiy recently announced his withdrawal from the region. In its statement on Friday, the G7 insisted that this must be “swift, unconditional and verifiable.”
Meanwhile, another joint investigation by the BBC, Bellingcat and Newsy put an alleged massacre in January near the town of Mahbere Dego in sharper focus, claiming to reveal the precise location of an atrocity in which at least 15 men were executed by people wearing Ethiopian clothing. military uniforms.
One resident said 73 men were abducted by soldiers and remained missing, including three of their relatives.
The BBC reported that a voice in a clip of the killings could be heard saying in Ethiopia’s primary language Amharic: “I wish we could pour gas on them and burn them,” to which another responds: “It would have been great if there was was gas to burn these people … Burn their bodies like the Indians do. “
Another clip reportedly appears to suggest that the perpetrators believe their victims belong to the TPLF, with a gunman using a slang term for the movement when he says: “This is the end of happy … We show no mercy. “
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Displaced people inside a building under construction on the Shire campus of Aksum University in Tigray Reuters / Baz Ratne
Despite the fact that the work of the Ghent team suggests that more than 90 percent of civilian deaths were men, reports of rapes that are systematically used as a tool of genocide and a weapon with which to oppress women led to the UN to call last week for an immediate end to “indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians, including rape and other horrific forms of sexual violence.”
In a report containing allegations of gang rape and murder at the hands of soldiers, The Telegraph She said hundreds of women were seeking emergency contraception and HIV prevention drugs after experiencing sexual violence in Tigray, where according to the UN only 13 percent of medical facilities remain operational. Thousands more are believed to be affected, but doctors are unaware of them.
A doctor from the Sudanese refugee town of Hamdayet told CNN: “Women who have been raped say that what they are told when they were raped is that they must change their identity, be it Amharise or at least leave their status from Tigrinya. .. and they have come there to clean them … to clean the bloodline. “
“Practically, this has been genocide,” added Dr. Tedros Tefera.
While Eritrea’s Information Minister flatly denied the involvement of its troops in abuses, the claims of which, it said, were “fabricated,” Abiy acknowledged the allegations earlier this week, saying: “Any member of the national defense who committed rape and plunder against our Tigrayan sisters will be responsible. “
In their statement, the G7 leaders reiterated their calls for an end to the violence “and the establishment of a clear inclusive political process that is acceptable to all Ethiopians, including those from Tigray and that leads to credible elections and a reconciliation process. broader national “.
