Eight survivors from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have taken a significant legal step by accusing 12 high-ranking officials from both the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This revelation came to light through the legal rights organization Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), which represents the survivors and disclosed the details of the complaint to AFP.
The Tigray region, which shares a border with Eritrea, experienced a brutal conflict from 2020 to 2022 that has led to staggering human casualties, with some estimates indicating that as many as 600,000 lives may have been lost. The violence primarily involved the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) waging war against Ethiopian federal forces, who were bolstered by local militias and support from Eritrean troops. During the conflict, both sides faced accusations of committing horrific atrocities. In a move that has been widely criticized, the Ethiopian government imposed a stringent blockade on Tigray for significant portions of the war, severely restricting access to humanitarian aid.
The complaint filed in Germany is viewed as groundbreaking as it invokes the principle of universal jurisdiction, allowing international law to be used to prosecute individuals for egregious crimes irrespective of where those crimes occurred. LAW, based in Switzerland, filed the complaint in 2024 but made the announcement public recently. The identities of the officials accused have not been revealed.
A spokesperson from LAW stated that they cannot confirm whether Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed or Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki were among those named in the complaint. The organization is aiming for German authorities to initiate a criminal investigation and issue arrest warrants for the accused individuals. Nick Leddy, who leads the strategic litigation department at LAW and previously worked as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, emphasized the need to maintain confidentiality regarding the suspects to preserve the possibility of their arrest.
Survivors have expressed the deep personal toll the conflict has taken on their lives. One individual shared their loss, stating, “I’ve lost two of the most important people in my life in this war: my younger brother and my mom.” The survivor underscored the ongoing suffering in the region, asserting the necessity for justice against those responsible for “orchestrating and engineering these unimaginable crimes.”
Despite the peace agreement reached in November 2022, the situation remains precarious, with approximately one million people from Tigray’s original population of six million still displaced. Recent developments within the TPLF have raised concerns about the potential for renewed conflict in the already fragile region.
