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Crimes against humanity continue in Ethiopia despite truce, say UN experts
UN experts say Ethiopia and its allies, including Eritrea, are still violating human rights in the Tigray region.
War crimes and crimes against humanity are still being committed in Ethiopia nearly a year after government and regional forces from Tigray agreed to end fighting, United Nations experts have said in a report published on Monday.
Thousands died in the two-year conflict, which formally came to an end in November last year. Both sides accused each other of atrocities, including massacres, rape and arbitrary detentions, but each denied responsibility for systemic abuses.
“While the signing of the agreement may have mostly silenced the guns, it has not resolved the conflict in the north of the country, in particular in Tigray, nor has it brought about any comprehensive peace,” Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, said in a statement accompanying the report.
In its report, the commission said human rights violations in Tigray were “grave and ongoing”, and there had been attacks by the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) against civilians.
Eritrea, which sent in troops to fight alongside the Ethiopian government forces during the conflict, has rejected accusations from residents and rights groups that its soldiers committed abuses in Tigray.
Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel told Reuters news agency that the report’s finding was defamatory and said the country was preparing its formal response.
Ethiopia’s army and government spokespeople were yet to comment on the report.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, a member of the commission, described the sexual violence in the conflict as being “as bad as it gets”.
“I must admit the worst of this was that perpetrated by Eritrean forces in Tigray. Though, of course, Ethiopian forces were also responsible,” she said, adding that Tigrayan forces had also perpetrated sexual violence in Amhara.
The commission’s report said violations “have been abetted or tolerated by the federal government”, which it said failed in its duty to protect its population.
The report said the Ethiopian National Defense Force, Eritrean Defence Forces and allied regional special forces carried out a “widespread and systematic attack” against civilian populations in the form of murder, torture, rape and other violations.
The commission, whose requests to meet government officials went unanswered, said Ethiopia, which has tried in the past to have the UN-mandated inquiry stopped, “has sought to evade international scrutiny”.
Ethiopia’s government and its armed forces have repeatedly denied that their soldiers committed widespread crimes on their own, or with Eritrean forces, and have promised to investigate complaints of individual abuses.
Authorities from the Ethiopian region of Amhara have also denied that their forces committed atrocities in neighbouring Tigray.
World
Live Updates: ‘Technical Failure’ Caused Helicopter Crash That Killed Iran’s President, State News Agency Reports
The deaths of Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, and foreign minister left the country without two of its most influential figures at a moment of regional and domestic tumult. Funeral services will be held in three cities from Tuesday through Thursday, the state media said.
World
Denmark turns to Kosovo to alleviate its overcrowded prison system in $217 million deal
Kosovo’s Cabinet renewed efforts with a new draft law on renting a prison in the south of the country to Denmark to help it cope with its overpopulated prison system, an official said Monday.
The first draft of the law failed to pass at the parliament last week. But on Sunday, the Cabinet approved a draft law on 300 cells at the prison in Gjilan, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital Pristina, to be rented to Denmark, based on a a 10-year agreement that the two governments signed in April and May 2022, government spokesman Perparim Kryeziu said.
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“The Cabinet approved it (the draft law) again yesterday (Sunday) so that it passes on to the Assembly (the parliament) to be voted on again,” he said.
Last week, the draft law got 75 votes, not reaching at least 80, or two-thirds of the 120-seat parliament as required to pass.
Kosovo will be paid 200 million euros ($217 million) that will be spent on the country’s correctional institutions and renewable energy projects.
According to the plan, Denmark won’t be able to send inmates convicted of terrorism or war crimes, or mentally ill prisoners. A Danish warden will run the 300-cell facility, accompanied by an Albanian one and other local staff.
Kosovo’s prison system has a capacity of up to 2,800. It wasn’t immediately possible to find out the current number of vacancies.
Neighboring Albania has agreed to hold thousands of asylum-seekers for Italy.
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