Rights groups charge ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Ethiopia’s Tigray

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA
Associated Press

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International charge in a new report that widespread abuses against civilians in the western part of Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The rights groups say in the report released Wednesday that the crimes were perpetrated by security officials and civilian authorities in the neighboring Amhara region, sometimes “with the acquiescence and possible participation of Ethiopian federal forces.” The report says that abuses are “part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Tigrayan civilian population that amount to crimes against humanity as well as war crimes.”