The UN on Wednesday was trying to get investigators into the war-torn Afar region of northern Ethiopia to gather evidence about the reported deaths of about 200 civilians sheltering at a makeshift refugee centre last week.
Joe English, a spokesman for the UN children's agency, told The National they had received credible information about an attack in the tiny hamlet of Galikoma Kebele last Thursday and were sending investigators to the scene as soon as it was safe.
Government-aligned troops and rebels from the nearby Tigray region clashed in the area in recent days. Each side has accused the other of committing atrocities, amid fears that Ethiopia is spiralling into an all-out civil war.
“Unicef received credible information from partners about attacks last Thursday at a camp for internally displaced people in Afar region that was sheltering people displaced from recent clashes,” Mr English said.
“An integrated mission, comprised of various UN agencies, intends to assess the site of the reported attack in Galikoma Kebele, in Gulina Woreda of Fenti Zone, as soon as security permits.”
According to reports, more than 100 children and a similar number of adults were killed in attacks on a school and a health clinic that were being used as shelters for those displaced in recent bouts of fighting. A stockpile of food was also reportedly destroyed.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the health clinic and school may have been shelled, but did not indicate if the artillery had been fired by Tigrayan rebels, government forces, local Afar militias or another armed group.
The Tigrayan rebel advance into Afar has forced about 76,000 people to flee their homes, he told reporters.
“We run out of words to describe the horror of what is being inflicted on civilians,” Mr Dujarric said on Wednesday.
Getachew Reda, a senior Tigray People's Liberation Front official, said on social media that Tigrayan forces would co-operate with Unicef on the investigation. He also accused Ethiopian government troops of burning down a warehouse.
Ethiopia is rapidly descending into civil war, with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed urging civilians to take up arms and Tigrayan rebels joining up with another Ethiopian dissident faction, the Oromo Liberation Army.
TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael on Wednesday told Reuters his group was in talks with the Oromo Liberation Army, heaping pressure on Mr Abiy’s government in Addis Ababa. It was the latest sign of escalation in the nine-month-old conflict.
Earlier, Mr Abiy urged civilians to "show their patriotism" by joining the army in its fight against the “terrorist TPLF”, while helping to root out the group’s “spies and agents” across the Horn of Africa nation of 112 million people.
Mr Abiy in November sent troops to topple the TPLF, which ruled Tigray at the time. It dominated national politics for about three decades until 2018. The prime minister also accused the group of attacking army camps.
The Nobel peace prize winner declared victory within weeks after government forces took the Tigrayan capital Mekele, but TPLF leaders remained on the run and fighting continued.
In a stunning reversal of the conflict in late June, pro-TPLF forces re-entered Mekele. Mr Abiy declared a unilateral ceasefire and the army mostly pulled out of the northern region.
The rebels then pushed on into the nearby Amhara and Afar regions. Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands depend on handouts, with famine-like conditions across parts of Tigray.
In a report on Wednesday, Amnesty International accused Ethiopian and Eritrean troops of raping hundreds of women and girls, subjecting some to sexual slavery and mutilation, during their offensive into Tigray.
Researchers compiled evidence from dozens of victims. Some said they had been gang-raped while being held captive for weeks. Others said they were sexually assaulted in front of family members.
“It’s clear that rape and sexual violence have been used as a weapon of war to inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on women and girls in Tigray,” the group's secretary general Agnes Callamard said, noting that the abuses may amount to war crimes.
Ethiopia's foreign ministry called the study “flawed” and “sensationalised”.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
What's in the deal?
Agreement aims to boost trade by £25.5bn a year in the long run, compared with a total of £42.6bn in 2024
India will slash levies on medical devices, machinery, cosmetics, soft drinks and lamb.
India will also cut automotive tariffs to 10% under a quota from over 100% currently.
Indian employees in the UK will receive three years exemption from social security payments
India expects 99% of exports to benefit from zero duty, raising opportunities for textiles, marine products, footwear and jewellery
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
Group A
Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA
Group B
Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti
Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
Racecard
6.35pm: The Madjani Stakes – Group 2 (PA) Dh97,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
7.10pm: Evidenza – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,200m
7.45pm: The Longines Conquest – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 2,000m
8.20: The Longines Elegant – Conditions (TB) Dh82,500 (D)
8.35pm: The Dubai Creek Mile – Listed (TB) Dh132,500 (D) 1,600m
9.30pm: Mirdif Stakes – Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,400m
10.05pm: The Longines Record – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,900m
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The five pillars of Islam
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 640hp
Torque: 760nm
On sale: 2026
Price: Not announced yet
The biog
Favourite film: Motorcycle Dairies, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Kagemusha
Favourite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Holiday destination: Sri Lanka
First car: VW Golf
Proudest achievement: Building Robotics Labs at Khalifa University and King’s College London, Daughters
Driverless cars or drones: Driverless Cars
Harry%20%26%20Meghan
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More on Quran memorisation:
Generational responses to the pandemic
Devesh Mamtani from Century Financial believes the cash-hoarding tendency of each generation is influenced by what stage of the employment cycle they are in. He offers the following insights:
Baby boomers (those born before 1964): Owing to market uncertainty and the need to survive amid competition, many in this generation are looking for options to hoard more cash and increase their overall savings/investments towards risk-free assets.
Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980): Gen X is currently in its prime working years. With their personal and family finances taking a hit, Generation X is looking at multiple options, including taking out short-term loan facilities with competitive interest rates instead of dipping into their savings account.
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): This market situation is giving them a valuable lesson about investing early. Many millennials who had previously not saved or invested are looking to start doing so now.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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