African Union launches probe into alleged rights abuses in Tigray

Ethiopia calls inquiry ‘misguided’ as international scrutiny intensifies over months-long conflict in northern region.

The African Union (AU) has launched a commission of inquiry into alleged human rights violations in Ethiopia’s northernmost region of Tigray, where a bloody seven-month conflict has led to warnings of famine and allegations of ethnic cleansing. In a statement, the body said the commission, created under the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, will begin its work in the capital of Gambia, Banjul, and will conduct investigations on “the ground and in neighbouring countries when the conditions are met”. “The Commission of Inquiry has a mandate to, inter alia, investigate allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and to gather all relevant information so as to determine whether the allegations constitute serious and massive violations of human rights,” the statement added.