UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet says 304 deaths and 373 injuries have been recorded in air attacks “apparently carried out by the Ethiopian Air Force” in Tigray and Afar regions since November.

Mrs Bachelet told the Geneva-based Human Rights Council that the situation in northern Ethiopia has deteriorated, and her office has received reports of widespread violations, including rapes and lethal airstrikes.

The government has regularly denied targeting civilians in the 16-month-old war pitting Ethiopia’s federal forces against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Ethiopia’s envoy to the Human Rights Council, Mahlet Hailu Guadey, dismissed Mrs Bachelet’s statement on Monday, saying it was at variance with the facts on the ground.

“Ethiopia abides by its national and international human rights obligations,” she said.

Ethiopia’s military spokesman, Colonel Getnet Adane, and government spokesman Legesse Tulu did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In the same speech, Mrs Bachelet said her office had received reports of 306 rapes by Tigrayan forces in the Amhara region in November and December 2021.

Reuters has interviewed women in the Amhara region who have described gang-rapes by Tigrayan forces.

TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda said he could not comment on what he called blanket allegations.

Ethiopia’s government and military did not respond to requests for comment on those reports at the time. 

(Reuters/NAN)