The African Union must convene an emergency session on the situation in northern Ethiopia as the latest armed conflict which broke out in the Tigray and parts of Afar and Amhara regions on 21 September
expands
, Amnesty International said today.
Since the outbreak of fresh fighting, the organization has continued to receive credible reports of destruction of civilian objects through shelling and air strikes, intensified forced conscription, and other acts that may constitute violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
“The African Union’s Peace and Security Council cannot wait for mass atrocities to unfold or for a surge in civilian casualties before placing Ethiopia, its host country, on the agenda. The AU, which was one of the guarantors of the ceasefire
agreement
that has now effectively collapsed, must learn from past mistakes and urgently activate its response mechanisms and mobilize its member states before it is too late,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.
“The starting point is for the Peace and Security Council to urgently convene an emergency session on the situation in Ethiopia. This is especially critical as fears of regionalisation of the conflict are on the
rise
”.
The African Union’s Peace and Security Council cannot wait for mass atrocities to unfold or for a surge in civilian casualties before placing Ethiopia, its host country, on the agenda. The AU, which was one of the guarantors of the ceasefire
agreement
that has now effectively collapsed, must learn from past mistakes and urgently activate its response mechanisms and mobilize its member states before it is too late.
Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
The fighting between Tigrayan forces and their allies on one side, including Amhara Fano forces, and the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) and its allies, on the other, has
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