United Nations seeks access to Tigray to probe for war crimes

In a statement on Thursday, United Nations human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet called on Ethiopia to grant UN monitors access to the Tigray region to investigate reports of killings and sexual violence that may amount to war crimes.

In her words, “Serious violations of international law, possibly amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, may have been committed by multiple actors in the conflict.” Multiple parties to the conflict had been identified as possible perpetrators, including the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the Eritrean armed forces, and Amhara regional forces and allied militia.

There is yet to be a response from either the Ethiopian government, the Tigray administration, the Eritrean government or the Amhara authorities.