By Maggie Fick

NAIROBI, Reuters – Wednesday’s report will cover abuses in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray area. However, a Tigray spokesman said that investigators didn’t visit all the sites where violence took place.

A joint investigation was conducted by the United Nations Human Rights Office (UNHRO) and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (state-appointed), to investigate allegations of violations of refugee, human rights and humanitarian law by all sides to the Tigray conflict.

Many accusations have been levelled against Ethiopian soldiers and those from allied Eritrean countries of mass murders of civilians and gang-rapes. There has been widespread accusations that Tigrayan forces have gang-raped and killed Tigrayan refugees, especially those who are from Tigray.

While the government denied that aid had been blocked, it said that individual soldiers had been charged with abuses. It did not give details. Eritrea denies committing any abuses. Tigray People’s Liberation Front TPLF, which holds most of Tigray has stated that while some Tigrayan groups might have perpetrated abuses, its official forces are not to blame.

One year ago, Tigrayan soldiers from the Tigrayan national army and regional forces took control of Tigray’s military bases. They claimed the central government was moving against Tigray because the region had held its own elections in spite of a directive by the government delaying them.

Tigray’s conflict has led to the death of thousands and forced nearly 400,000 Tigrayan people into poverty.

Michelle Bachelet, U.N. Human Rights Chief, agreed to an Ethiopian request in March for a joint investigation into Tigray. Then, it was possible that war crimes might have been committed.

Last month, Ethiopia deported seven U.N. officials including an investigator from the U.N. Office of the Haut Commissioner for Human Rights.

Getachew Reda of the TPLF stated that the investigators hadn’t visited any Tigray areas where mass deaths were alleged, in particular the cities Mai Kadra (and Axum).

According to him, the report was faulty due to that as well as the fact that the investigators didn’t include all war parties.

He said, “They’ve kept us in darkness.”

The report’s findings could be used as a basis for legal action, but it was unclear at the time. Ethiopia is not an International Criminal Court member, and the court does not have any jurisdiction.