MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd December, 2020) The UN human rights agency (OHCHR) is concerned over the continuing lack of humanitarian access to the northernmost Ethiopian region of Tigray, which has been ripped by hostilities over the past several weeks, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday.
Bachelet, however, confirmed that two UN inter-agency teams managed to enter Tigray to assess the needs of the people impacted by the conflict.
"We have received allegations concerning violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including artillery strikes on populated areas, the deliberate targeting of civilians, extrajudicial killings and widespread looting ... These reports point to failure by the parties to the conflict to protect civilians. This is all the more concerning given that fighting is said to be continuing, particularly in some areas of north, central and southern Tigray," Bachelet said, as quoted by OHCHR press service.
In November, the Federal government accused the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the ruling party of the province, of attacking a local military base and launched a security operation against it. Later in the month, the government claimed to have captured the region's capital, Mekele.
On November 29, the Ethiopian government and the United Nations struck a deal to open Tigray for relief supplies for refugees displaced by recent fighting.
The month-long fighting in Tigray has forced at least 1 million people to flee their homes, many to areas bordering the province and others into neighboring Sudan, according to media reports.
