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At least 1,000 Ethiopians arrested in emergency: UN Conflict News

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Most of the detainees are ethnic tigers and the head of the UN has warned that the arrests could increase “divisions and resentment”.

At least 1,000 people, most of them ethnic tigers, have been arrested in cities across Ethiopia since a state of emergency was imposed two weeks ago, the United Nations reported on Tuesday.

The state of emergency came into force on November 2, a year after forces aligned with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a political party that controls the northern Tigray region, erupted a year after the conflict erupted.

This statement, which is valid for six months, allows the suspect to be arrested without trial for the duration of the state of emergency and allows house-to-house searches without a warrant.

“It is estimated that about 1,000 people have been arrested in the last week or so, some reports have a much higher figure, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.

“These developments are even more worrying, as most of those arrested have been reported People of Tiger descent”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has “expressed his concern over reports of arbitrary arrests and detentions that serve to spread divisions and resentment among groups,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Ethiopian government spokesman Legesse Tulu did not respond to Reuters’ request for news agency comments. Police said earlier that the arrests were not ethnically justified, but were intended to arrest supporters of the TPLF.

Lawyers say thousands of tigers have been arbitrarily arrested since the emergency was announced, including several People working for the UN.

Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for the UN Office of Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva that 10 local UN staff, as well as 34 drivers subcontracted by the organization, are still attached.

“We demand the immediate release of all those detained,” he said, adding that if “this is not the case, a court or other independent and impartial tribunal should examine the reasons for the arrest, or formally prosecute it,” he said. .

Throssell acknowledged that it was a “challenge” for the rest of the staff of the UN rights agency to do their job, adding: “That’s why we have reports of at least 1,000 people arrested, but we’re not in a position to give a definitive number.”

He noted that the conditions of detention were generally “poor”, that many of the detainees were overwhelmed by police stations and did not know the reason for the arrest.

As a result of the conflict between the Ethiopian authorities and the TPLF, thousands of people have been killed and more than two million people have had to be evacuated from their homes in the last year. Hundreds of thousands now live there conditions similar to starvation.

The TPLF, which used to dominate Ethiopian politics, accuses the federal government of centralizing power. The government accuses the TPLF of trying to return to its former dominance. Both are accused by the UN of alleged violations of war crimes.



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