UN concerned over mass arbitrary arrests in Ethiopia

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed concern Tuesday over arrests continuing in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and other areas as police invoke "excessively wide provisions" of the state of emergency declared on Nov. 2.

OHCHR spokeswoman Liz Throssell said at a press conference that the areas of concern also include Gondar and Bahir Dar and UN staff are also being held.

"Detention conditions are generally reported to be poor, with many detainees held in overcrowded police stations in violation of international human rights standards, including minimum standards related to the treatment of detainees," said Throssell.

"These developments are all the more disturbing given that most of those detained are reported to be people of Tigrayan origin, arrested often on suspicion of being affiliated to or supporting the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)."

The UN office cited reports that at least 1,000 people are believed to have been detained over the past week, with some reports putting the figure much higher.

Throssell said there were worrying reports that many of those detained have neither received reasons for their detention nor had they been brought before a court of law and had not been formally charged.

- Ill-treatment concerns

“We are also concerned at some reports of ill-treatment in detention,” she said.

Among those detained are 10 UN staff and some 34 drivers subcontracted by the United Nations.

"We call for all those still in detention to be immediately released. Or else a court or other independent and impartial tribunal should review the reasons for their detention, or they should be formally charged," said the rights office official.

The rights office said Ethiopia's state of emergency risks compounding the severe human rights and humanitarian situation.

"Its provisions are extremely broad, with vague prohibitions going as far as encompassing 'indirect moral' support for what the government has labeled a 'terrorist group.'"

Ethiopia is home to over 118 million people and has been dragged into a multifaceted internal conflict, particularly in its northern region.

The conflicts have reportedly left thousands dead, although official figures are yet to be revealed.

Last November, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a "law enforcement operation," declaring that the TPLF, a rebel group, attacked its northern base in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia.

The central government strictly said that this was an operation that would end in a matter of weeks. But a year on, the conflict has spilled over to other parts of the central Amhara region, with the TPLF claiming control of the strategic towns of Dessie and Kombolcha, approximately 400 kilometers (248.5 miles) away from Addis Ababa.