{"id":9848,"date":"2022-09-20T12:45:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T12:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/tigrayan-rebels-always-ensured-ethiopian-government-has-committed-crimes-against-humanity"},"modified":"2022-09-20T13:00:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T13:00:26","slug":"tigrayan-rebels-always-ensured-ethiopian-government-has-committed-crimes-against-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/tigrayan-rebels-always-ensured-ethiopian-government-has-committed-crimes-against-humanity","title":{"rendered":"Tigrayan rebels “always ensured” Ethiopian government has committed crimes against humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. <\/strong><\/span>A rebel spokesman said on Monday that the Ethiopian government was responsible for crimes against humanity after UN experts accused Addis Ababa of war crimes.<\/b><\/p>\n

“We have always ensured this,” Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told AFP.<\/p>\n

According to a report to the UN Human Rights Council, war crimes and crimes against humanity are likely to have been committed in the conflict that has torn Ethiopia apart since late 2020.<\/p>\n

The three-member Commission of Experts that drafted the report “has reasonable grounds to believe that, in several cases, the violations amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity”.<\/p>\n

Referring to “deep ethnic polarisation and hatred in Ethiopia”, the experts believe that “this has created a worrying cycle of extreme violence to which retaliation responds, increasing the imminent risk of further and more serious atrocities”.<\/p>\n

The TPLF spokesperson agreed with “most” of the report’s findings, without elaborating.<\/p>\n

Commission Chairperson Kaari Betty Murungi described the humanitarian crisis in Tigray as “shocking in its dimensions and duration”.<\/p>\n

“The widespread denial and obstruction of access to basic services, food, health care and humanitarian assistance is having a devastating impact on the civilian population, and we have reasonable grounds to believe that this amounts to a crime against humanity,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We also have reasonable grounds to believe that the federal government is using starvation as a method of warfare,” she added, calling on the government to “immediately restore basic services and ensure unhindered humanitarian access.<\/p>\n

Murungi also called on the Tigrayan forces to “ensure that humanitarian agencies can operate without hindrance”.
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