By: Muluken Tekleyohanes| Ambassador Media | July 1, 2025
A damning new report by The Sentry, a leading investigative organization focused on dismantling war profiteering networks, has brought renewed scrutiny to the Ethiopian government and its military for their role in atrocities committed during the Tigray War. While the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) are heavily condemned for widespread and systematic abuses, the report also exposes the complicity and active participation of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) in the campaign of violence against civilians.
According to the report, Ethiopia’s federal leadership, under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, facilitated the entry of Eritrean troops into Tigray, initiating a joint military campaign marked by “collective punishment, massacres, and widespread sexual violence.” This collaboration, the report alleges, was part of a “premeditated and coordinated” effort to suppress the Tigrayan population through brutal means.
Notably, the report emphasizes that “war crimes were perpetrated by all parties to the conflict,” but draws sharp attention to the nature and scale of atrocities involving both EDF and ENDF forces. Among the most chilling revelations are accounts of ENDF soldiers participating in acts of rape, with Prime Minister Abiy himself acknowledging this in a parliamentary session. In a widely condemned remark, Abiy admitted: “Our soldiers raped, even using metal objects,” a statement that both confirms the crimes and highlights the grotesque nature of the abuse.
The EDF, meanwhile, is described as having committed atrocities “unmatched in scale and premeditation,” including the looting of medical facilities, the destruction of cultural sites, and the trafficking of Tigrayan civilians. Yet the Ethiopian government’s alliance with these forces—and its continued silence about the extent of its military’s involvement—draws it squarely into the circle of accountability.
The Sentry report further warns that despite the 2022 Pretoria Agreement, which officially ended the war, EDF forces continue to occupy Ethiopian territory and profit from a shadow war economy. Activities include illicit gold mining, human trafficking, and kidnapping—all with tacit approval or willful ignorance from elements within Ethiopia’s security establishment.
International policy recommendations outlined in the report include urgent calls for sanctions targeting specific EDF commanders, including Brig. Gen. Eyob Fessehaye, Brig. Gen. Simon Oqbu, and Maj. Gen. Romadan Osman Awliya. Crucially, the report also presses the UN Security Council to treat unresolved border and occupation issues as a threat to international peace, and to establish a Chapter VII-mandated panel of enquiry.
Furthermore, The Sentry warns that failure to address the crimes committed by Ethiopian forces risks emboldening both state and non-state actors across the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia’s fragile federal government, already buckling under internal dissent and regional instability, faces mounting pressure to confront its wartime legacy.
The report concludes that “the current ‘no war, no peace’ status quo disproportionately benefits Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki,” who continues to expand military capabilities with Russian support and little international resistance, while Ethiopia bears the brunt of a fractured post-war order.
With this report, The Sentry joins a growing chorus of international observers demanding full transparency, justice for victims, and an end to the impunity enjoyed by senior military and political figures in both Eritrea and Ethiopia.
As the region remains on edge, the burden of truth and justice lies not just with international actors but with Ethiopia’s own institutions, which must choose whether to remain complicit—or confront the atrocities carried out in its name.
Ambassador Media calls on the United Nations and key global powers to act decisively—not only against Eritrean aggression but also against the Ethiopian leadership’s willful participation in crimes against its own citizens. The victims of Tigray deserve more than silence. They deserve justice.
