The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on Friday said at least 750 civilians were killed between July and December 2021 in northern Ethiopia’s Afar and Amhara regions, where war has been raging for the past 16 months, reported Africa News.
In a report, the EHRC said at least 403 civilians died and 309 were injured in air raids, drone attacks, and heavy artillery fire since Tigrayan rebels fighting government forces invaded the neighboring regions last year.
The state-affiliated independent body reported that at least 346 civilians also lost their lives in extrajudicial killings carried out by the warring parties, including Tigrayan fighters, government forces, and their allies.
In its report, the human rights body accused Tigrayan rebel forces of widespread abuses, such as torture, gang rape, looting, and destroying public facilities such as schools and hospitals in the Afar and Amhara regions bordering Tigray.
“Tigray Forces committed widespread, cruel, and systematic sexual and gender-based violence including gang-rape against women of different ages including girls and elderly women in parts of Afar and Amhara regions under their control,” the report read.
The EHRC also accused federal and local security forces in the two regions of widespread arbitrary detentions.
As per the report, over 2,400 health facilities including hospitals in Afar and Amhara regions had ceased operation as a result of the destruction, damage, and pillage, while more than 1,000 schools were destroyed and another 3,220 damaged.
The conflict in Ethiopia erupted in November 2020 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent military troops into Tigray to topple the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in response to the rebel group’s attacks on the army camps.
The TPLF, which initially lost control of a number of after losing control of Tigray’s cities and towns, regrouped and retook the region in June, then launched offensives into Afar and Amhara and captured the two regions.
In November last year, the Ethiopian government launched a counter-offensive, retaking lost territory in Amhara and Afar.
