Mekelle፡ 20 June 2024 (Tigray Herald)
By Yerga Yaecobe
Members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF), and the Amhara forces committed crimes against humanity, including murder, sexual violence, and persecution. This statement additionally noted that Amhara forces committed the Crime Against Humanity of forcible transfer and Ethnic Cleansing in #WesternTigray.
Since the outbreak of the genocidal war on #Tigray in November 2020, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people have been killed, tens of thousands more injured, and more than two million people displaced. While nearly two million people are Internationally Displaced Persons (IDPs), tens of thousands of Tigrayans were forced to flee to neighboring Sudan and are currently caught amid the devastating war in Sudan. The war on Tigray also entailed systematic and widespread Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV), which has affected at least tens of thousands of people, primarily women and girls, and continues in occupied territories today.
Survivors of CRSV remain cut off from lifesaving medical and psycho-social aid and are still grappling with a myriad of medical and social challenges. The two-year siege enacted by the Ethiopian government and the wholesale destruction of medical facilities, schools, and public infrastructure undertaken by the ENDF, EDF, and Amhara forces during their occupation of Tigray has severely degraded the living conditions of all Tigrayans, leaving many without the means to sustain their livelihoods.
The signing of a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) in November 2022 was supposed to alleviate the immense suffering and humanitarian catastrophe in Tigray. While the CoHA managed to halt much of the active fighting, it has failed to improve the conditions of life within Tigray, free Tigray of foreign forces, and stop the silent genocide. Two years of war and a government-imposed blockade, combined with drought, have once again brought about a famine that has already killed thousands of people. Numerous reports by news organizations, regional officials, and humanitarian agencies concur that thousands of people have already died due to starvation, and tens of thousands more are at serious risk of death.
