The UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has called for an inquiry into reports that scores and maybe hundreds of people had been stabbed and hacked to death in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray.

Michelle warned that reports of the mass killing of civilians in Tigray region would amount to war crimes if confirmed, with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accusing forces loyal to Tigray’s leaders of the massacre.

Tigray leader Debretsion Gebremichael has denied the accusations calling them baseless. If confirmed, this would be the first large-scale killing of civilians in the fighting between government forces and the TPLF which broke out on 4 November.

The conflict has forced thousands of civilians to cross the border into Sudan, which says it will shelter them in a refugee camp. 

Amnesty International said the killings happened on the night of 9 November, confirming that likely hundreds of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town. Amnesty said the victims appeared to be labourers not involved in the conflict. It is not clear where they came from.

Sarjo D Bojang

Source: BBC