The US administration has determined that war crimes, including as rapes, civilian killings, forceful deportations, and ethnic cleansing, have been committed by all parties in the bloody struggle in the Tigray area of northern Ethiopia.
According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, several parties engaged in the two-year conflict’s war crimes with “planned and purposeful” effort.
According to Blinken, members of the Ethiopian national defense forces, Eritrean defense forces, Tigray People’s Liberation Front forces, and Amhara forces committed war crimes during the conflict in northern Ethiopia. This conclusion was reached after the [State] Department carefully examined the law and the facts.
He continued by saying that crimes against humanity had also been committed by Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Amhara forces. The violence has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, with some estimates reaching 600,000.
The US conclusion has little legal significance, but it might strengthen calls for accountability against organizations and persons suspected of violating human rights.
Blinken made the statement on Monday after last week’s trip to Ethiopia. When the battle came to an end on November 2 with a “permanent suspension of hostilities,” he said he was encouraged by the progress made there.
During his stay, Blinken had a meeting with the signatories of the peace pact. He also praised the enhancements made to the Tigray region, such as the expanded availability of humanitarian aid, the restoration of services, the demobilization of “Tigrayan heavy weapons,” and the “substantial retreat” of Eritrean soldiers.
Blinken did admit that there is still “more work to be done to completely implement” the ceasefire deal. He emphasized the importance of “justice and responsibility” in his address to a group of leaders from Ethiopia’s civil society.
When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed dispatched troops into Tigray in 2020 to stop an alleged attack on federal army facilities, the crisis in that country officially began.
The fighting immediately intensified. A once-dominant force in Ethiopian politics, the Tigray ethnic group became embroiled in conflicts with longtime foes among the Amhara people and the neighboring nation of Eritrea.
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The US declared in September 2021 that it was prepared to impose penalties on any party who prolonged the conflict or prevented access for humanitarian aid.
Eritrean military entered the fight on the side of the Ethiopian government and have been charged with some of the worst atrocities committed during the conflict. In November 2021, the US sanctioned them.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the Amhara, and the Ethiopian military are among the forces accused of abuses, although the US has been slow to impose similar sanctions against them. What, if any, actions the US will take to encourage accountability during the tense end to hostilities are still unknown.
The Tigray War’s effects were highlighted in a report published by the United Nations International Committee of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia in September of last year. The government locked off the area from banking, electricity, and internet services during the fighting and limited access to humanitarian aid.
At the time, the panel chairwoman, Kaari Betty Murungi, claimed there was cause to think that the Ethiopian government was using “starvation as a method of warfare”.
