The UN condemns the atrocities of the conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia

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(CNN) - The

United Nations has condemned atrocities uncovered in a joint investigation into the conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region on Wednesday, a day after the country's government announced a nationwide state of emergency and called the citizens to take up arms against the advance of the Tigray forces towards the capital.

The investigation, which is the only human rights inquiry that has been allowed in the blockaded region of Tigray since fighting broke out between the former local ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian government on last year - do not blame hostilities and human rights violations on a single group.

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Instead, he said that all parties to the conflict, including forces from Eritrea and Ethiopia's Amhara region allied with the government, had "committed violations of international human rights, humanitarian and refugee laws, some of which they may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity ", to varying degrees.

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Among the violations that may constitute war crimes, the report details extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, violations against refugees, and forced displacement of civilians.

The joint investigation by the UN Human Rights Office and the state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, or EHRC, is a rare partnership that has drawn attention among the people of Tigray, human rights groups and other observers, who have raised concerns about their independence from government influence.

But the UN has reaffirmed its impartiality.

"We were not pressured by the government," UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said Wednesday during a press conference on the report in Geneva, adding that restricted access to some areas of Tigray made it difficult for the team to quantify. the abuses.

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In response to the findings, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the report "clearly established that the allegation of genocides was false and completely lacked a factual basis."

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The report covers the number of civilian casualties from early November 2020, when the armed conflict began, to June 2021, when the Ethiopian government declared a unilateral ceasefire, a ceasefire that has not been maintained.

It is based on 269 confidential interviews with victims and witnesses of alleged rapes and abuses.

Bachelet called the report "devastating."

"The Tigray conflict has been marked by extreme brutality. The gravity and seriousness of the violations and abuses that we have documented underscore the need to hold perpetrators on all sides accountable," he added.

CNN's Stephanie Halasz and Schams Elwazer contributed to this report.

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