Schools in Ethiopia’s Tigray region pillaged, occupied: HRW

Rights group says all warring sides implicated in attacking, looting and occupying of schools since conflict started.

A quarter of all schools in Ethiopia’s Tigray region have been damaged during a months-long conflict, according to a prominent human rights group, which accused all fighting sides of looting and occupying educational facilities. Thousands of people, if not more, are estimated to have been killed and almost two million displaced in the northern region after fighting broke out in November 2020 between its then-ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and the Ethiopian military. Forces from neighbouring Eritrea and the adjacent Ethiopian region of Amhara entered the conflict in support of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal government. In a report released on Friday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented attacks on schools after conducting more than a dozen interviews with residents, teachers, parents and former students.