“The members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern about allegations of human rights violations and abuses, including reports of sexual violence against women and girls in the Tigray region, and called for investigations to find those responsible and bring them to justice,”
Eritrea told the Security Council on Friday that it has agreed to start withdrawing its troops from Tigray, acknowledging publicly for the first time its involvement in the conflict.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council expressed concern Thursday about humanitarian conditions and human rights in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, marking the council’s first collective comment on the conflict that has raged in the region for six months.
Lowcock, meanwhile, told the council last week that some 4.5 million of Tigray’s 6 million need humanitarian aid and that “there is no doubt that sexual violence is being used in this conflict as a weapon of war.” He cited alarmingly numerous reports of rape and other sexual attacks, mainly by men wearing the uniforms of various forces.
ADDIS ABABA: Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war in Ethiopia’s Tigray, the UN aid chief told the Security Council prompting the US envoy to challenge the body’s silence, asking: “Do African lives not matter as much as those experiencing conflict in other countries?”
“Neither the U.N. nor any of the humanitarian agencies we work with have seen proof of Eritrean withdrawal,” Lowcock told the Security Council on Thursday. “We have, however, heard some reports of Eritrean soldiers now wearing Ethiopian Defense Force uniforms.”
For months, both sides denied Eritreans were involved, contradicting testimony from residents, rights groups, aid workers, and diplomats.
The conflict arrived in the middle of the harvest in Tigray and for months humanitarian access was greatly restricted, prompting fears of widespread starvation.
Lowcock said he had received a report earlier on Thursday that 150 people had died from hunger in Tigray and warned that “starvation as a weapon of war is a violation.”
“There is no doubt that sexual violence is being used in this conflict as a weapon of war,” Lowcock said, adding the majority of rapes were committed by men in uniform, with accusations made against all the warring parties.
The top public health official for the interim administration in Tigray Dr. Fasika Amdeselassie told Reuters that 829 rape cases have been reported at five hospitals since the fighting began in November.https://5910ffc374826a4162020c05eb3cf756.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html#xpc=sf-gdn-exp-4&p=https%3A//thehill.com
“Nearly a quarter of reports received by one agency involve gang rape, with multiple men assaulting the victim; in some cases, women have been repeatedly raped over a period of days. Girls as young as eight are being targeted,” Lowcock said.
After the Ethiopian government announced the withdrawal of Eritrean troops from its borders, Eritrean forces opened fire on civilians in the border town of Adwa, reportedly leaving at least nine dead and dozens injured. In late March, Ethiopian forces executed four men in front of Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) staff. Health officials and the UN continue to report on horrific sexual violence by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces. Millions remain in need of food assistance.
The U.N. humanitarian chief is warning that the grave humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region is deteriorating, with no sign of Eritrean troops withdrawing and alarmingly widespread reports of systematic rape and other sexual violence mainly by men in uniform.
“Cases reported have involved Ethiopian National Defense Forces, Eritrean Defense Forces, Amhara Special Forces and other irregular armed groups or aligned militia,”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Eritrean soldiers remain in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and are killing civilians weeks after Ethiopia said the soldiers would leave, according to Amnesty International.
witnesses have told The Associated Press that the soldiers roamed freely in parts of Tigray, looting and killing, as they supported Ethiopian security forces and other allied fighters in pursuing the now-fugitive Tigray leaders. Eritrea’s government has long been an enemy of the Tigray leaders.
