Rights Group: Tigrayan Rebels Execute Civilians in Ethiopia’s Amhara Region
Report released by the rights group reveals that TPLF forces have killed civilians in Chenna and Kobo towns
ADDIS ABABA — In a report released Friday, Human Rights Watch said forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front killed more than 40 civilians in the towns of Chenna and Kobo in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara region earlier this year. The rights group says TPLF forces carried out the killings after clashing with locals. It said more than 25 civilians were killed in Chenna at the end of August and over 20 residents were killed in Kobo in early September. Human Rights Watch said it based its report on interviews with relatives of the victims and those displaced by clashes in the Amhara region. There was no immediate comment from the TPLF or the Ethiopian government. Tigrayan rebels, the Ethiopian army and pro-government forces have all been accused of killing civilians and committing widespread human rights violations, including rape, during the year-long Tigray conflict. Last November, Human Rights Watch and others documented massacres, widespread sexual violence, forced displacement, and attacks on civilian infrastructure by Ethiopian federal government forces and their allies. The United States later imposed financial and travel sanctions on those accused of orchestrating the violence. Human Rights Watch has called on warring parties to protect civilians, and suggested the United Nations hold a special session on Ethiopia to impose an arms embargo, as well as additional targeted sanctions.