Ethiopia convicts three troops of rape, charges 28 for killings

JOHANNESBURG (AP):

Ethiopia’s military prosecutors have convicted three soldiers of rape and pressed charges against 28 others suspected of killing civilians in the ongoing conflict in the northern Tigray region, the attorney general’s office announced Friday.

In addition, 25 other soldiers are charged with rape and other forms of sexual violence, the statement said.

The six-month-old Tigray conflict is blamed for the deaths of thousands of people and atrocities including rape, extrajudicial killings, and forced evictions, according to local authorities and aid groups.

The statement by the attorney general’s office also confirmed reports of two massacres in Tigray. It said that 229 civilians were killed in the town of Mai Kadra at the beginning of November. And it said that 110 civilians were killed in the city of Axum on November 27 and 28 “by Eritrean troops”.