Ethiopian authorities have detained several senior officials from Tigray, including members of the government’s last administration in the conflict-ravaged region, according to the head of the state-appointed human rights commission said on Friday.
Daniel Bekele, Chief Commissioner of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, did not name the officials and declined to comment on the reasons for the arrests.
Speaking to Newsmen he said they know of at least eight arrests, adding that some of the prisoners had been sent to Tigray’s neighbouring region of Afar.
The spokesman for Ethiopian Justice Minister Gedion Timothewos, federal police spokesman Jeylan Abdi and Afar regional spokesman Ahmed Koloyta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The government has previously sought to arrest leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the group that is fighting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.
But many of those arrested were working on behalf of the government, and they included one member of the ruling party, said a lawyer working with the detainees and a source close to the detainees, both asking not to be named for fear of reprisal.
War erupted between the TPLF and the central government in Nov. 2020. The military took control of most of Tigray within three weeks and the government appointed an interim administration, which many of the arrested officials served in.
But Tigrayan forces forced the military to pull out of Tigray at the end of June 2021 – leaving its capital in the hands of the TPLF. The fighting has now mostly ground to a stalemate.
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