World·Africa
Update: UN rights chief urges Ethiopia de-escalation after school airstrikes and forced-recruitment reports
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Friday urged Ethiopia’s government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and its allies to de-escalate immediately, warning of a mounting civilian toll as fighting intensifies, JURIST reported Saturday. The UN Human Rights Office said Ethiopian National Defence Force airstrikes, some reportedly by drone, struck five schools in Tigray on Sept. 22, and that a mortar strike in Kobo in the Amhara region on Sept. 23 also caused civilian deaths. Türk cited disruptions to internet and phone service in Mekelle and parts of Amhara, road blockages in Afar, and Ethiopian Airlines suspensions after the TPLF took over airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire on Sept. 23, and raised allegations of forced mass recruitment — including of children — by the TPLF and of arbitrary conscription by government forces.
- JURISTUN High Commissioner for Human Rights urges de-escalation as fighting intensifies in Ethiopia
- Al JazeeraIs Ethiopia on the verge of another civil war as fighting erupts in Tigray?