Armed forces from Ethiopia’s Amhara region have stepped up killings, mass detentions and expulsions of ethnic Tigrayans in neighbouring western Tigray, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.
Amhara regional spokesman Gizachew Muluneh did not respond to requests for comment.
Ethiopian government spokesman Legesse Tulu said Tigrayan forces were to blame for any atrocities, although there are no reports of Tigrayan forces in the area.
Western Tigray has seen some of the worst violence in the year-long conflict pitting the federal government and its allies from the Amhara region against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which used to rule Ethiopia.
Both Amhara and Tigray claim the fertile fields of western Tigray, which are now controlled by Amhara forces and the Ethiopian military.
