Media Monitoring: Dec 15th-19th
Conflict
The Nobel Peace Prize That Paved the Way for War
Declan Walsh, December 17th, 2021, International New York Times
NAIROBI, Kenya — Secret meetings with a dictator. Clandestine troop movements. Months of quiet preparation for a war that was supposed to be swift and bloodless.
Torture, detentions and killings rife in western Tigray, report claims
Emmanuel Akinwotu, December 16th, 2021, The Guardian
Government-aligned forces in western Tigray have systematically detained thousands of ethnic Tigrayan people, while torturing and killing many in a campaign of violence, according to a report by two major rights groups that further reveals the scale of abuses in war-hit Ethiopia.
City Captures
UPDATE 1-Ethiopian military again controls religious town of Lalibela - media
Reuters, December 19th, 2021
ADDIS ABABA, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The Ethiopian military is again in control of the town of Lalibela, famed for its rock churches, state media reported on Sunday, showing pictures of the deputy prime minister visiting the site.
Ethiopia forces claim recapturing of towns from Tigray rebels
Al Jazeera, December 18th, 2021
Gov’t says forces have retaken several towns from the TPLF including Kobo and Waldia in the north.
Human Rights Violations
UN rights council orders probe into abuses in Ethiopia’s conflict
Al Jazeera, December 17th, 2021
Ethiopian government says ‘extremely disappointed’, pledges not to cooperate in international investigation.
Ethiopia slams new probe proposal at UN rights body session
Al Jazeera, December 17th, 2021
Ambassador Zembe Kebede accuses the UN council of having been ‘hijacked’ and used as ‘instrument of political pressure’.
UPDATE 5-U.N. rights forum agrees to investigate abuses in Ethiopia
Stephanie Nebehay & Emma Farge, December 17th, 2021, Reuters
GENEVA, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The U.N. Human Rights Council voted on Friday to establish an independent investigation into abuses in the Ethiopian conflict, after a senior U.N. official said there had been violations on all sides and mass arrests under a government crackdown.
Rights groups report wave of abuses against Tigrayans in Ethiopia
Al Jazeera, December 16th, 2021
Amnesty and HRW report a surge in abuse by Amhara security forces and militias in western Tigray.
Over Ethiopia’s objections, UN rights body backs war monitor
Jamey Keaten, December 17th, 2021, Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — Over Ethiopia’s objections, the U.N.’s main human rights body voted Friday to create an international team of experts to boost scrutiny of rights abuses in the devastating yearlong war between Ethiopian government forces and fighters from the country’s Tigray region.
"Global paralysis" at U.N. over Ethiopia war allows atrocities to continue unabated
Pamela Falk, December 17th, 2021, CBS News
United Nations — Ninety percent of the population in northern Ethiopia's Tigray region — or 5.2 million people — need urgent aid, the U.N.'s Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif told a virtual session of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday.
Mass Arrests
Ethiopia arrests Associated Press freelance journalist
Al Jazeera, December 16th, 2021
News agency calls for release of Amir Aman Kiyaro, says he has done ‘important work on all sides’ of Ethiopia’s war.