On Friday, Amnesty International stressed the urgent necessity for African and global human rights bodies to probe into the alleged war crimes perpetrated by the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) in Merawi, a town in the Amhara region on January 29, 2024. This instance, reportedly featuring civilian killings through murder and extrajudicial executions, is one of the most fatal for non-combatants amid the quarrel between the ENDF and Fano militia which started in Amhara in August 2023. Amnesty International reported these findings according to interviews they conducted with local inhabitants shortly after the event.
After a conflict flared up between Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and Fano militias in the Amhara region in August 2023, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah, remarked, “Mass killings are becoming shockingly common in Ethiopia”. He added that the Ethiopian government’s failure to ensure justice for the victims’ families and prevent such abuses “adds insult to injury”.
Due to the lack of credible national accountability efforts in Ethiopia, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) established the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) in December 2021. Although ICHREE played a crucial part in international observation, early warning, and prevention, the HRC’s review of Ethiopia concluded in October 2023 with no member state stepping forward to extend ICHREE’s mandate.
Amnesty International has now called on the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ Working Group on Death Penalty, Extra-Judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Killings to urgently investigate the alleged crimes committed in Merawi. The organization has also proactively recommended that the Ethiopian government facilitates these authorities’ country visits and called on the Human Rights Council to recommence its critique of Ethiopia and propel effective justice and accountability.
The recent assertion by the Ethiopian government in February 2024, claiming that accountability for offenses committed during the conflict in northern Ethiopia has already been accomplished, points to the government’s increasing audacity due to the lack of international supervision, as per Amnesty International.
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