United Nations human rights Chief Michelle Bachelet has agreed to an Ethiopian request for a joint investigation in the country’s northern Tigray region, where possible war crimes may have been committed.
Bachelet “responded positively” to a request from the state-run Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) for joint investigations in Tigray, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesman Jonathan Fowler said on Wednesday in a statement.
“The U.N. Human Rights Office and the EHRC are now developing an investigation plan, which includes resources needed and practical modalities, in order to launch the missions as soon as possible,” Fowler said.
Ethiopia’s Foreign ministry said on Saturday it was ready to work with international human rights experts to conduct investigations of allegations of abuses in the conflict-ridden region.
Amnesty International last month accused Eritrean forces of killing hundreds of civilians over 24 hours in Axum city last year.
Eritrea denied that, but the EHRC also described such killings in a rare acknowledgment from the Ethiopian side that Eritrean troops have participated in the conflict.
The United Nations and the United States have demanded that Eritrean troops leave Tigray.
MG/as/APA