- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
- De Bruyne out of Belgium Nations League squad
- Japanese trainer Yahagi hopes Shin Emperor achieves 50-year-old Arc dream
- UK's Starmer hails 'landmark' carbon capture funding
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Bosnia floods kill 14 people
- Tennis world number one Swiatek splits with coach Wiktorowski
Tigrayans subjected to 'war crimes' in Ethiopia: rights groups
Security forces and their allies in a disputed part of conflict-hit northern Ethiopia committed abuses against Tigrayans that amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, two rights groups said Wednesday.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tigrayan civilians had been targeted in "a relentless campaign of ethnic cleansing" in the long-contested western Tigray region since the outbreak of Ethiopia's war in November 2020.
Over the ensuing months, several hundred thousand Tigrayans were forcibly expelled from western Tigray in a "coordinated" manner by security forces and civilian authorities through ethnically-motivated rape, murder, starvation, and other serious violations.
"These widespread and systematic attacks against the Tigrayan civilian population amount to crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes," Amnesty and HRW said in a joint report titled "We Will Erase You From This Land".
Over 15 months, HRW and Amnesty interviewed more than 400 people including refugees who fled into 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.
They also gathered testimony about the death of Tigrayans in overcrowded prisons, and the summary execution of dozens of men by a river.
The atrocities were blamed on newly-appointed civilian administrators in western Tigray, and regional forces and irregular militias from the neighbouring Amhara region.
Amharas and Tigrayans are two of Ethiopia's largest ethnic groups, and both lay historic claim in full to the vast fertile expanse of western Tigray that stretches from the Tekeze River to Sudan.
The United States in March 2021 said "acts of ethnic cleansing" were taking place in western Tigray. Amhara authorities dismissed the accusations as "propaganda".
- 'Shocking' crimes -
But the rights watchdogs also pointed the finger at Addis Ababa, accusing the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of covering up abuses and severely restricting independent access to western Tigray.
The atrocities there unfolded "with the acquiescence and possible participation of Ethiopian federal forces", the report said.
"Ethiopian authorities have steadfastly denied the shocking breadth of the crimes that have unfolded and have egregiously failed to address them," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW.
Seventeen months ago Abiy sent troops into Tigray after accusing the region's former ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), of orchestrating attacks on federal army camps.
Western Tigray was swiftly captured by federal and Amhara forces, and a new administration appointed.
HRW and Amnesty said local officials banned the Tigrayan language from use, displayed signs around towns ordering Tigrayans to leave, and denied access to farmland and humanitarian aid.
Eritrean troops -- allied with Ethiopia in the fight against the TPLF -- joined Amhara forces in looting crops and livestock, and driving Tigrayans from their homes, the rights groups said.
Thousands were rounded up and held in grim detention camps where deaths occurred: "Some died as a result of torture, denial of medical care, and lack of food and water; guards killed others," the report said.
Abiy promised a swift end to the conflict but it dragged on, with the frontline shifting many times and conflict expanding beyond Tigray.
Untold numbers of civilians have died, and fighters on all sides have been accused of grave atrocities against civilians.
Addis Ababa declared a "humanitarian truce" last month, while the rebels agreed to a "cessation of hostilities" on the condition that aid reach Tigray.
Some supplies has since reached the stricken region but humanitarian groups say it is nowhere near enough given the hundreds of thousands facing starvation across Tigray.
V.Dantas--PC