According to the United States, all sides involved in the brutal conflict in northern Ethiopia have committed war crimes. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who visited Ethiopia last week and met with government and Tigrayan officials, said in a statement on Monday that his department thoroughly examined the laws and the evidence to identify the crimes.
He charged war crimes were committed during the two-year violent conflict by members of the Amhara, Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), Eritrean Defense Forces, and Ethiopian National Defense Force.
Additionally, he accused the Amhara and Ethiopian Defense Forces of perpetrating crimes against humanity such as murder, rape, and other types of sexual violence and prosecution.
He implored the TPLF and the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea to hold those accountable who committed these atrocities.
The Ethiopian government and the TPLF signed a historic cessation of hostilities agreement in November 2022, putting an end to the war that is thought to have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
A report from the independent Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, which has been tasked with looking into the allegations of human rights violations, is anticipated to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.