Ethiopia Warns the UNHRC Could Undermine Peace Process in Tigray

According to various estimations, the Tigray conflict resulted in around 80,000 to 600,000 deaths. The crisis started in November 2020 after attacks on Ethiopian military bases carried out by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in what the latter deemed a preemptive strike.

The UN International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) – which had made allegations of human rights abuses during the Tigray conflict in Northern Ethiopia – could disrupt the peace process, the country's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen warned, as cited by the Foreign Ministry's official social media account.

The UN commission "could undermine the AU-led peace process & the implementation of the Pretoria Peace Agreement with inflammatory rhetoric," he said, adding that "it could also undermine the efforts of national institutions."

The ICHREE, established by the UN Human Rights Council in December 2021, published its first report in September 2022, claiming that it had evidence of human rights violations committed by all sides of the conflict that could amount to "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity." The commission has called on the parties to conduct investigations and bring everyone responsible for the abuses to justice.

The armed conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) ended in November 2022 after a peace treaty was signed by the two belligerents in Pretoria, South Africa, as a result of a peace process led by the African Union (AU).

Since then, the separation of armed forces in four specific areas in Tigray and the handover of heavy weapons has started, as stipulated by the agreement. Basic services such as banking and air traffic have also resumed in the region.

The TPLF was the governing party of Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018, when it lost its position to the current government, which rebuilt the country's relations with Eritrea. The latter fought with the TPLF-led Ethiopia over a territorial dispute from 1998 to 2000.