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A30 world news
Diabierna 17 December 2021

‘I cannot escape’: New abuses alleged in Ethiopia’s Tigray

the prime minister, a Nobel resident told the AP. “There One detainee in Humera
Peace Prize winner and for- is no way of finding out who told the human rights groups
mer soldier, went to the bat- took them, or where they are he escaped last month while
tlefront himself. Witnesses being kept or whether they loading the bodies of fellow
told the AP that authorities are alive or not.” He asserted detainees onto a tractor, and
in western Tigray warned in that different detention cen- asserted that he knew of at
public meetings against sup- ters are run by Ethiopian, Er- least 30 people who died in
porting the Tigray fighters, itrean and Amhara forces. detention.
who themselves have been
accused of a growing number A spokesman for the Amhara “They couldn’t handle the
of abuses in the war. region, Gizachew Muluneh, torture, that’s why they were
in a statement rejected the al- dying,” he said. Witnesses
The new joint statement by legations as “totally ground- described beatings with rifle
Human Rights Watch and less and unjustifiable. First butts and electric wires along
Amnesty International says of all, there is no place called with the denial of food and
Amhara security forces are western Tigray in Amhara medicine.
(AP) — New witness ac- who are part Tigrayan like responsible for the latest wave region” — underlining the
counts allege that thou- him are targeted. Like oth- of expulsions, detentions and claim that Amhara authori- Witnesses told the AP, and
sands of ethnic Tigrayans ers, he spoke on condition of killings, and it warns that Ti- ties are simply retaking land the human rights groups, that
have been forcibly ex- anonymity for fear of retali- grayans in detention are “at they see as theirs. He also some people trying to flee the
pelled, detained or killed ation. grave risk.” It says security urged the international com- roundups in Adebay were at-
in one of the most inac- forces systematically round- munity to investigate alleged tacked and killed, with some
cessible areas of Ethiopia’s “I cannot escape anywhere,” ed up Tigrayans in the com- widespread abuses by Tigray Amhara fighters searching
yearlong war in the latest he said, noting the many munities of Humera, Adebay forces against civilians in the house-to-house with axes.
wave of abuses carried out checkpoints surrounding and Rawyan, separating fami- Amhara region. “The whole town smelled”
with machetes, guns and the western Tigray region. lies and expelling women and with dead bodies, one man
knives. “There is no way out of this children. The United Nations has es- said.
trap.” timated that 20,000 people
Following a report by The “They separated the old from were recently evicted from The human rights groups are
Associated Press early last Ethnic Tigrayans have been the young, took their mon- western Tigray, most of them calling on Ethiopian authori-
month citing people who targeted throughout the con- ey and other possessions. ... women, children and the ties to end the attacks on ci-
fled, Thursday’s joint state- flict as Ethiopian and allied Older people, parents were elderly. The U.N. has said vilians and immediately grant
ment by Human Rights forces battle the Tigray fight- loaded on big trucks (going) more than 1 million have access to western Tigray for
Watch and Amnesty Interna- ers who long dominated the east. They let them go with been displaced from there aid groups. They also call
tional is based on interviews national government before nothing, while the young re- since the war began in No- on the U.N. Human Rights
with more than 30 witnesses Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed mained behind,” one witness vember 2020. Council to establish an in-
and relatives. It comes ahead took office three years ago. in Rawyan told the human dependent mechanism to
of a U.N. Human Rights Some of the worst abuses rights groups. In Humera, But not all can leave. Wit- investigate the war’s abuses,
Council session Friday on have been reported in the witnesses described seeing nesses have alleged that hun- including by Tigray forces,
Ethiopia, whose government western Tigray region, which as many as 20 trucks carrying dreds, if not thousands, of and urge the U.N. Security
objects to what it considers has been occupied by author- people away. It’s not often Tigrayans are held in make- Council to put Ethiopia on
meddling by the West over ities and fighters from the clear where they are taken. shift, overcrowded detention its formal agenda.
the war that has killed tens of neighboring Amhara region centers in western Tigray,
thousands of people. and soldiers from neighbor- “They said they will send part of thousands being held “The global paralysis on
ing Eritrea. the pure Tigrayans first and elsewhere across Ethiopia Ethiopia’s armed conflict has
“They said they will not be then send those are half Ti- amid suspicions fueled by emboldened human rights
responsible for any beating The latest alleged abuses ap- grayans,” one western Tigray hate speech by some senior abusers to act with impunity
and killing that would hap- pear to be linked to the Tigray resident told the AP. government officials. The and left communities at risk
pen to us if we fail to go,” one forces’ recent momentum, government has said it is tar- of feeling abandoned,” Hu-
witness told the AP late last which Ethiopia’s government “Tigrayans disappear all the geting only the Tigray forces. man Rights Watch’s Laetitia
month, saying even people asserts has been blunted after time these days,” a Humera Bader said.

US Navy rescues drug smugglers from burning ship off Oman

(AP) — The U.S. Navy said Thursday it
rescued five Iranians suspected of smug- Sailors believe that represented only half of
gling drugs after they apparently set fire all the drugs on board the dhow, with the
to their stash on board a traditional sail- rest burning up or sinking with the vessel,
ing vessel off the coast of Oman. said Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesper-
son for the U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th
The Navy released aerial surveillance foot- Fleet.
age showing the traditional ship, known as
a dhow, as it sailed in the Gulf of Oman on The five Iranians rescued from the dhow
Wednesday. Those on board pour a liquid, received medical treatment and have been
likely an accelerant, over the cargo hold as handed over to authorities in Oman, the
the Navy approaches. Smoke then pours Navy said. One additional Iranian on board
from the vessel after those on board appar- the dhow remains missing.
ently set the fire, with an explosion rocking
the ship. Iran did not immediately acknowledge the
incident Thursday.
Sailors from the patrol craft USS Sirocco lat-
er arrived, rescuing the men. Sailors also re- The Navy and allied forces in the region
covered over 1,745 kilograms (3,850 pounds) conduct anti-narcotic patrols throughout
of hashish, 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of Mideast waterways. Smugglers often use
methamphetamine and 30 kilograms (66 dhows to transport heroin from Afghanistan
pounds) of heroin. The Navy valued the re- and other drugs quietly through the region.
covered drugs as worth $14.7 million.