Ethiopia is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis due to the civil war, as rebels threaten to reach the capital, warns Amnesty International.
Amnesty International (AI) warned today that Ethiopia is on the brink of a humanitarian and human rights crisis with civil war at a critical time in the face of the threat of rebels reaching the capital and the imposition of a state of emergency throughout the national territory.
“The terrible human rights and humanitarian crisis that began a year ago in Tigray has spilled over into other parts of the country,” Deprose Muchena, AI’s regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said in a statement.
According to AI, the state of emergency declared by the Ethiopian federal Parliament on November 4 (one year after the start of the conflict), “is excessively general, since it extends to the entire country and restricts human rights whose enjoyment, according to international law, it cannot be limited or suspended under any circumstances ”.
“It is a plan for the escalation of human rights violations such as arbitrary detention, especially of human rights defenders, journalists, minorities and those who criticize the government, and puts detained people at a greater risk of suffering torture. and other mistreatment, ”Muchena added.
Recent events of the civil war in Tigray
AI noted its concern that the Ethiopian authorities recently begged the civilian population to take up arms to stop the rebels of the Popular Front for Liberation Tigray (FPLT) after the militiamen announced their intention to march on the Ethiopian capital, after It is seized in recent days from several cities less than 400 kilometers from Addis Ababa.
Likewise, the human rights organization said they had observed a significant increase in social media posts inciting violence and using offensive ethnic comments against people of Tigrian origin.
In this regard, on November 3, Facebook deleted a post by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (in which he asked Ethiopians to “prevent, reverse and bury the terrorist FPLT”), considering that it violated their policies against incitement and support for violence.
The war between the Tigray rebels and the central executive broke out on November 4, 2020, when Abiy ordered an offensive against the FLTP, the party that ruled the region at the time, in retaliation for an attack on a federal military base.
Until now, two million people have been internally displaced in Tigray and at least 75,000 Ethiopians have fled to neighboring Sudan, according to official data.
In addition, almost seven million people face a “hunger crisis” due to war, the UN World Food Program (WFP) warned in September. (I)
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