Global human rights body, Amnesty International, has blamed the Ethiopian military and its allies as being responsible for widespread sexual violence against women in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region.
According to Amnesty International, the Ethiopian Army and its allies were using rape as a strategy of war.
It described the violations of women’s rights in Tigray as war crimes.
Amnesty International stated that a woman in Tigray reported being gang-raped in front of her children.
According to Amnesty International in its latest report, “overwhelming evidence” shows sexual violence has been rampant since the very first days of the conflict.
Amnesty International claimed it interviewed at least 63 women and children from Tigray.
The women and children reportedly indicated thar they had been raped by Ethiopian or Eritrean soldiers or pro-government fighters belonging to forces and militias from the neighbouring region of Amhara.
Speaking to BBC in an interview monitored by African Entertainment, the author of the Amnesty International report, Donatella Rovera, says “The level of sadistic and gratuitous brutality in addition to the rape was absolutely shocking.”
Among the many allegations of sexual violence, a
39-year-old woman was reportedly seized by Eritrean soldiers as she was travelling with her two children.
She reportedly told Amnesty International that “Five of them raped me in front of my children.”
“They used an iron rod, which is used to clean the gun, to burn me. They inserted pieces of metal in my womb; that was what hurt me. Then they left me on the street,” she added.
