Africa-Press – Ethiopia. The draft report by the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) is aimed at hiding widespread atrocities of the terrorist TPLF group, International Security Professor Ann Fitz-Gerald said.
The Ethiopian government has also categorically rejected the report of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia which it said “is politically motivated.”
In an exclusive interview with ENA, Ann Fitz-Gerald said the people in Afar and Amhara regions were deeply affected and the evidence was widespread all over the places.
She added that listening to how the fighting has impacted families — and it is very sad to not get into Tigray as well and speak to families in Amhara and Afar regions that have fled and come over the border.
“This emerged as a very obvious weakness of the report, especially there were numerous impartial studies that have been done on widespread TPLF large (scale) atrocities. The implementation of rule of law must be based on evidence and enabling space for other evidences to be collected, forensic to be undertaken, et cetera; and it has not just happened yet.”
Recall that the report did not even consider the work done by the joint investigation of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The JIT (Joint Investigation Report on Tigray Conflict) report had confirmed that the Tigray Special Forces and allied militia attacked the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Force and took control of the bases and weaponry on November 3, 2020, which, to the amazement of everyone following the events, the ICHREE never mentioned even to make a reference.
Professor Fitz-Gerald further stressed that the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) also needs to be comprehensive.
“ Comprehensive studies that look at the affected conflict space are necessary, and there has been an error I believe on the part of international civil society to refer to this conflict as the Tigray conflict when most of the fighting and most of the battle space has been located in Amhara and Afar.”
According to her, “fellow Tigrayans are deeply affected by this conflict; there is no doubt about that. But, the actual war fighting has been taking place in Amhara and Afar.”
She pointed out this human right commission did not have a large mandate and did not have a huge level of support that some similar studies like this have had in the past.
“It is very questionable, based on our evidence, why this conflict issue is to be referred to as Tigray conflict. I think it is a swell of TPLF propaganda and TPLF affiliates. They want to project that message, so that the attention will come to Tigray.”
The professor pointed out that this is a conflict in northern Ethiopia where some international policy leaders have changed the narrative to reflect that.
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