At least 183 people have been killed in clashes in Ethiopia’s Amhara region since July as Amhara fighters resist efforts by the federal government to disband them, the United Nations human rights office has said.
The UN office also said on Tuesday that the human rights situation in Ethiopia is deteriorating, with more than 1,000 people reportedly arrested under a state of emergency declared early this month over the unrest.
“Many of those detained were reported to be young people of Amhara ethnic origin suspected of being Fano supporters,” the UN office said, referring to the name of the Amhara militia.
“Since early August, mass house-to-house searches have reportedly been taking place, and at least three Ethiopian journalists covering the situation in the Amhara region have been detained.”
The UN statement said detainees have reportedly been held in improvised detention centres without basic amenities.
It called for those arbitrarily detained to be released and for authorities to stop “mass arrests”.
#Ethiopia: We’re very concerned by the deteriorating #humanrights situation in several regions of the country. We call on authorities to stop mass arrests, ensure that any deprivation of liberty is judicially reviewed, & release those arbitrarily detainedhttps://t.co/LI5LS6xR4U pic.twitter.com/Vy4BnyaVhc
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) August 29, 2023
The human rights office called for an end to the fighting as the military retakes towns that had been seized by the Amhara fighters and militia members flee into rural areas.
In one of the deadliest incidents, a health official earlier this month told the Associated Press that an air strike on a crowded town square in the Finote Selam community killed at least 26 people. The federal government did not comment.
Amhara fighters had fought alongside the military in the two-year conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region which ended in November with a peace agreement.
The conflict spilled into the Amhara region when Tigray forces at one point tried to approach the capital, Addis Ababa.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has struggled for years to contain various conflicts often along ethnic lines.
The country, Africa’s second most populous, has long been seen as an important security partner in the Horn of Africa, but the government has criticised or limited outside efforts – including by UN investigators – to understand the toll of abuses in the conflicts.
