NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Dozens of women and girls have been raped and hundreds of civilians killed during fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, according to an official document seen by The Associated Press.
Roughly 40 girls and women between the ages of 13 and 80 were raped in the town of Sheraro in northwestern Tigray, according to the document prepared by Tigray’s regional Emergency Coordination Centre. The center includes regional government bureaus, U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations.
The document reports eight more rapes, “including gang rape,” in the district of Tselemti, also in northwestern Tigray.
Issued Oct. 14, the document did not state who was responsible for the sexual violence. Nor did it state the time frame in which it occurred.
According to diplomatic sources, Eritrean and Ethiopian forces took control of Sheraro last month. Eritrean troops have fought alongside Ethiopia’s federal military since hostilities resumed in Tigray on Aug. 24 after a lull in fighting.
Diplomats have expressed alarm over reports of civilian casualties in the region as Ethiopia’s federal military this week took control of the major town of Shire and the federal government expressed its aim to capture Tigray’s airports and federal institutions.
U.S. officials have called on Eritrean forces to withdraw from Tigray and urged the parties to agree to an immediate cease-fire. The administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Samantha Power, has described the human cost of the conflict as “staggering.”The internal document seen by the AP said 159 individuals have been “shot dead” in the Tahtay Adiyabo, Dedebit and Tselemti areas of northwestern Tigray, adding that others were maimed by gunshots and shelling.
A further 157 people were “taken by Eritrean forces” in Tselemti, Dedebit and Sheraro, according to the document, which said there is “no information (on their) whereabouts.”
The latest fighting has halted aid deliveries to Tigray, where around 5 million people need humanitarian help. A lack of fuel and a communications blackout are hindering the distribution of aid supplies that were already in the region.Ethiopia’s federal government said Thursday it would participate in African Union-led peace talks expected to begin in South Africa next week. Tigray’s fugitive authorities are yet to confirm their attendance but have previously committed to participating in talks mediated by the African Union.
Both the U.N. Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council were due to discuss the conflict on Friday.
A World Food Program spokesperson told the AP “an armed group” entered its warehouse in Shire on Oct. 18, a day after Ethiopia’s federal government announced the town’s capture.
“WFP is actively working to confirm if the armed individuals remain and if any humanitarian stocks or assets have been taken or damaged,” the spokesperson said.