UN deputy chief shaken by stories of Tigray fighting
February 12, 2022
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has met with the Ethiopian women facing some of the most horrifying consequences of the Tigray conflict. Their accounts, she said, left her near tears.
Amina Mohammed of the UN described her visit to Ethiopia as 'incredibly emotional'Image: Solomon Muchie/DW
Mohammed became the highest-ranking UN official to visit Ethiopia since the government launched an offensive against the militants in the Tigray region in 2020.
The UN's no. 2 was speaking to reporters in New York a day after returning from the East African nation.
During her five-day trip, she visited the Tigray, Amhara, Afar and Somali regions in Ethiopia. She met with Tigray's leaders and Ethiopia's prime minister and president.
The former Nigerian minister also talked to local leaders, civil society members and many women.
"Ethiopian women, writ large, were affected in a way that is unimaginable," Mohammed said. "In your worst nightmares, you cannot imagine what has happened to the women in Ethiopia."
She spoke to women who recalled their trauma, including being raped in front of their children.
Mohammed met a woman in Tigray who had been gang-raped over and over again. That woman had given birth to a son and was cast away from her family and society.
Tigray: War at the expense of women
As the death toll rises and crimes abound, the civil war in Tigray is becoming ever more of a humanitarian disaster — particularly for women, who are being sexually assaulted en masse.
Image: Ben Curtis/AP/picture alliance
Hundreds of thousands on the run
The civil war between the Tigray regional government and the central government of Ethiopia under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed continues to escalate. Hundreds of thousands are now on the run, living in hunger and threatened by war crimes. After the self-proclaimed Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) recaptured Tigray's regional capital Mekele, many are fleeing from the contested areas to Mekele.
Image: YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP
Threat of famine
According to the United Nations, more than 400,000 people in the region are affected by famine, while another 1.8 million people are on the brink of famine. Abiy is denying this, and has blocked deliveries of aid. UNICEF commented in August 2021: "This malnutrition crisis is taking place amid systematic destruction of the food, health, nutrition, water and sanitation infrastructure."
Image: AP
Scorched earth
The Ethiopian army is fighting side by side with soldiers from Eritrea — targeting not only the separatist fighters, but also the civilian population of Tigray. For Prime Minister Abiy, this is a means to break resistance in the Tigray region. Reports of war crimes and massacres are piling up. Burned-out cars and destroyed houses are part of the daily picture.
Image: GIULIA PARAVICINI/REUTERS
Rape as a weapon
A new report by Amnesty International (AI) confirms that rape and sexual violence against women are apparently being used to deliberately destabilize the situation. According to AI, soldiers from Eritrea are also heavily involved in these acts. "They talked to each other. Some of them: 'We kill her.' Some of them: 'No, no. Rape is enough for her,'" recalled the woman pictured.
Image: Ben Curtis/AP/picture alliance
Massacres and makeshift graves
The bodies of fighters from both sides are everywhere. Sometimes they are buried at makeshift sites; sometimes they are dumped in rivers, or simply left on the spot. This picture shows the makeshift grave of an Ethiopian soldier.
Image: GIULIA PARAVICINI/REUTERS
Youth fighters
Ever more young people are signing up for the resistance to oppose the combined forces of the central government and Eritrea. Many of the new TDF fighters are just teenagers. They face an unsure and possibly bloody future.
Image: YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP
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"There is everyone to blame" for the atrocities, Mohammed said, adding that "it's unacceptable that one human being would do that to another."
"Without a shadow of a doubt, justice and accountability have to be had," she said.
She said the warring parties "cannot achieve any lasting peace without reconciling and being held to account for the atrocities across the country."
What's the present situation in Ethiopia?
Ethiopia erupted into war in November 2020 after months of political tension between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan fighters.
The conflict has claimed thousands of lives and pushed hundreds of thousands into famine.
Rights groups have accused fighters on all sides of widespread sexual violence.
