Two rights groups on Wednesday accused Ethiopian security forces and their allies of waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Tigray, a long-contested part of northern Ethiopia.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tigrayan civilians had been targeted since the outbreak of Ethiopia's war in November 2020, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops in to topple rebels.
In a joint report, the rights groups said abuses by officials, special forces and militias in the neighbouring Amhara region amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ethiopia's military was also accused of complicity in atrocities that have killed thousands of civilians and displaced more than a million.
"Since November 2020, Amhara officials and security forces have engaged in a relentless campaign of ethnic cleansing to force Tigrayans in western Tigray from their homes," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
Federal authorities failed to investigate allegations of ethnic cleansing, while the national army committed "murder, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture against the Tigrayan population", the report said.
Claims to Tigrayan land
Two of Ethiopia's largest ethnic groups, Amharas and Tigrayans both lay claim to the fertile-rich expanse of western Tigray that stretches from the Tekeze River to Sudan.
For more than a year, Amnesty and HRW interviewed more than 400 people – including refugees who fled to Sudan, and witnesses to the violence still living inside western Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia.
They documented the sexual enslavement and gang rape of Tigrayan women, including a victim whose attackers said they were "purifying" her blood.
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They also gathered testimony about the death of Tigrayans in overcrowded prisons, and the summary execution of dozens of men by a river.
The report, called “We Will Erase You From This Land”, blamed the crimes on newly appointed civilian administrators in western Tigray, and regional forces and militias in Amhara.
It accused Eritrean troops of joined Amhara forces in looting crops and livestock and driving Tigrayans from their homes.
Thousands of people were rounded up and held in detention camps where “some died as a result of torture, denial of medical care, and lack of food and water; guards killed others”.
Government denials
Amhara government spokesman Gizachew Muluneh told Reuters the allegations of abuses and ethnic cleansing were "lies" and "fabricated" news.
Amnesty and HRW said rebels in the region – the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) – had also committed abuses, but that this was not the focus of the report.
Addis Ababa declared a "humanitarian truce" last month, while the TPLF agreed to a "cessation of hostilities" on the condition that aid reach Tigray.
In 2019, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to “achieve peace and international cooperation”, and in particular for his actions in resolving the border conflict with Eritrea.
(with wires)
