Ethiopia's rights body calls for peaceful resolution of conflict in northern region
Tuesday October 31 2023
Military vehicle damaged by rebels in Dessie town of Amhara city, Ethiopia on December 16, 2021. PHOTO | AFP
The state-backed Ethiopia Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on Monday called for a peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict in northern Ethiopia's Amhara region.
The EHRC said in a press statement that priority should be given to the sustainable resolution of the conflict in the Eastern African country's second most populous region.
In recent months, deadly clashes between federal government-aligned security forces and members of a local militia known as Fano have killed hundreds and displaced thousands more.
Read: Ethiopia faces new charge of atrocities in Amhara
The EHRC statement also called on warring parties to ensure the rights of detained individuals, as well as to ensure accountability for instances of rights abuses, including cases of rapes and extra-judicial killings.
The commission's statement disclosed civilians, suspected combatants as well as government officials have been victims of extra-judicial killings, rapes, enforced disappearances and indiscriminate attacks since the conflict in the Amhara region intensified last July.
In August, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) disclosed that conflict in the Amhara region has killed 183 people since July 2023.
Read: UN adviser warns of genocide risk in Ethiopia
The UN statement further said hundreds of people have been detained since the Ethiopian government imposed a state of emergency in the Amhara region in early August 2023.