An international human rights group is accusing the Ethiopian government of engaging in ethnic cleansing, torture, arbitrary detention, and expulsion of people who were displaced by the in Western Tigray, despite the war having ended on November 2, 2022—six months ago.
A report released by Human Rights Watch on June 1, says that government forces are working together with militias from other regions such as Amhara to engage in arbitrary detention, torture, and forced deportations of Tigrayans.
The report says that since the outbreak of the armed conflict in northern Ethiopia in November 2020, a mix of Ethiopian security forces, in particular Amhara regional police, known as “Amhara Liyu,” militia groups known as “Fano,” and in some cases, Ethiopian and Eritrean federal forces, have systematically rounded up thousands of ethnic Tigrayans.
The security forces detained them for prolonged periods without charge in police stations, prisons, military camps, and other unofficial sites including warehouses and schools throughout the Western Tigray Zone.
“The November truce in northern Ethiopia has not brought about an end to the ethnic cleansing of Tigrayans in Western Tigray Zone. If the Ethiopian government is serious about ensuring justice for abuses, then it should stop opposing independent investigations into the atrocities in Western Tigray and hold abusive officials and commanders to account, “said Laetitia Bader, deputy African director at Human Rights Watch.
Another report prepared by aid agencies found that the Fano militia transported more than 2,800 men, women, and children from 5 detention sites in Western Tigray on November 10, 2022. A woman from Adebai who fled toward Sudan, said: “The militias came into my home and said I need to leave because it’s not our land. They would knock at midnight and say Tigrayans can’t come back.”
In April, three former residents of Humera said that interim authorities were bringing in and settling communities from the Amhara region in the town, making it harder for Tigrayans to return. The report is based on interviews that Human Rights Watch from September 2022 to April 2023,
Most of the interviewees are Tigrayan and had been arbitrarily detained in the town of Humera. Former victims said that local authorities and Amhara forces held over a thousand Tigrayans in detention in the Western Tigray towns of Humera, Rawyan, and Adebai on the basis of their identity before forcibly expelling Tigrayans in November 2022 and January 2023. Human Rights Watch say they forwarded a summary of its preliminary findings to the Ethiopian government in May but received no response.
The report says the Ethiopian government has demonstrated little interest in bringing those responsible for abuses in Western Tigray to justice. In September 2022, an Inter-Ministerial Task Force established by the Ministry of Justice reported that it would investigate violations in Western Tigray by December 2022. The government so far has not released details of these investigations nor held anyone responsible for serious violations.
Many displaced people told Human Rights Watch that they hoped to return home but did not feel safe while abusive officials and security forces remained. As of October 2022, the UN refugee agency had registered 47,000 Ethiopian refugees in eastern Sudan, with many reportedly displaced from Western Tigray
In September 2022, a report by the United Nations International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, warned of a possible Rwanda-like genocide, as the Ethiopia National Defence Forces (ENDF), the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF), and allied Amhara militias, as well as the Tigray Liberation Front (TLF), had separately committed atrocities against civilians.
The nature of these crimes was n violation of international human rights, international humanitarian, and criminal law, where the Tigrayans bore the brunt of the attacks. The commission also accused Ethiopia of using starvation as a weapon of war.
