Ethiopian Human Rights Commissioner Daniel Bekele said there is evidence indicating Eritrean troops have crossed into Ethiopia and participated in the conflict between the defunct Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopian Federal army.
“We have got evidence that Eritrean troops or soldiers who wore Eritrean military uniforms were seen in west Tigray. Residents at the border also claimed the presence of Eritrean troops in the region,” Daniel said in an interview with local media on Wednesday.
Daniel said the number of Eritrean troops who crossed into Ethiopia; their role in the conflict and alleged human right abuses in the region is being investigated by the commission.
The commissioner said the report by Amnesty International on human rights abuses in Tigray is not something that would be rejected as claimed by the Ethiopian authorities.
Two weeks ago, Amnesty International published a report detailing how Eritrean troops “systematically killed hundreds of unarmed civilians” in the Tigrayan city of Axum in November 2020.
Tigrayans in both places have said there was no mistaking the nationality of the perpetrators: In addition to their accents, they cited facial scars specific to Eritrea’s Ben Amir ethnic group.
Two decades ago, when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) dominated the central government, Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a brutal border war that killed tens of thousands.
MG/abj/APA