Bachelet: Ethiopia situation exceedingly worrying

Ethiopia's situation is “spiralling out of control with appalling impact on civilians” and urgently needs outside monitoring, the United Nations human rights chief warned on Wednesday. U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said the situation is “exceedingly worrying and volatile” with fighting reported to be continuing in areas surrounding the Tigray capital, Mekele, and the towns of Sheraro and Axum, “in spite of government claims to the contrary.”

“We have corroborated information of gross human rights violations and abuses including indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, looting, abductions and sexual violence against women and girls,” Bachelet told reporters.“There are reports of forced recruitment of Tigrayan youth to fight against their own communities.”

She added that "unfettered humanitarian access has not been possible".Ethiopia’s government is pushing back against what it calls outside “interference,” from efforts at dialogue to delivering aid, drawing on its history as the rare African country never colonized, a source of deep national pride.

The government wants to manage aid delivery, and on Tuesday it said its forces had shot at and detained U.N. staffers who allegedly broke through checkpoints while trying to reach areas where “they were not supposed to go.”The shooting incident “is really costly” because it further delays humanitarian operations for people in Tigray who have been waiting five weeks for aid, U.N. humanitarian spokesman Saviano Abreu told The Associated Press.

He said the six-member U.N. team, which was detained in Humera and released two days later, was the first sent into Tigray and was carrying out security assessments along roads that had been previously agreed upon with Ethiopia's government.Such assessments are crucial before aid can be moved in.

(Image Credit: AP)