Ethiopia orders emergency as Tigray forces threaten capital

Geneva: The UN human rights chief said Wednesday that Ethiopia's yearlong war has been marked by extreme brutality as a joint investigation into alleged atrocities faulted all sides for committing abuses, but avoided saying who was the most to blame.

The investigation was hampered by authorities' intimidation and restrictions and didn't visit some of the war's worst-affected locations.

The report, a rare collaboration by the U.N. human rights office with the government-created Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, was released a day before the war's one-year mark and as Africa's second most populous country enters a new state of emergency with rival Tigray forces threatening the capital.

The U.N. told The Associated Press that the collaboration was necessary for its team to gain access to a troubled region that Ethiopian authorities have largely prevented journalists, rights groups and other outside observers from entering.

The conflict that erupted in Ethiopia's Tigray region has killed thousands of people since the government of Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed allowed soldiers from neighboring Eritrea to invade Tigray and join Ethiopian forces in fighting the Tigray forces who long dominated the national government before Abiy took office. Ethnic Tigrayans across the country have since reported being targeted with arbitrary detentions, while civilians in Tigray have described gang rapes, famine and mass expulsions. In western Tigray, it was apparent that the Tigrayans had left most of the areas, as it was difficult to find Tigrayans to interview, the new report says.