UN warns of Ethiopian conflict spiralling into war crimes | World News - Hindustan Times
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UN warns of Ethiopian conflict spiralling into war crimes

Tigray | ByReuters | Posted by Ayshee Bhaduri
Nov 13, 2020 07:18 PM IST

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said there is a risk the violence in Ethiopia will spiral totally out of control;and If these killings of civilians is confirmed as having been deliberately carried out by a party to the current fighting it would amount to war crimes.

The United Nations(UN) human rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Friday expressed “increasing alarm” at violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and said an alleged massacre there might amount to war crimes.

Amnesty International said scores and possibly hundreds of civilians were stabbed and hacked to death in the region on November 9, citing witnesses(REUTERS)
Amnesty International said scores and possibly hundreds of civilians were stabbed and hacked to death in the region on November 9, citing witnesses(REUTERS)

“There is a risk this situation will spiral totally out of control, leading to heavy casualties and destruction, as well as mass displacement within Ethiopia itself and across borders,” she said in a statement delivered by a Geneva-based spokesman, Rupert Colville.

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Amnesty International said scores and possibly hundreds of civilians were stabbed and hacked to death in the region on November 9, citing witnesses.

“If confirmed as having been deliberately carried out by a party to the current fighting, these killings of civilians would amount to war crimes, and there must be an independent investigation and full accountability for what has happened,” she said.

Colville added that there were concerns that the killings which he described as “really, really horrific” were done along ethnic lines, although said it was too early to say this was the case.

A spokesman for the UN refugee agency Babar Baloch said that the number of refugees seeking safety in neighbouring Sudan are increasing rapidly, with over 4,000 crossing the border in one day.

There are also concerns that the violence will cause the mass displacement of thousands of Eritrean refugees in a camp in Ethiopia, he added, saying that aid agencies were overwhelmed.

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