Up to 600,000 people may have been killed in two years of conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, an African Union official said on Sunday.
The conflict came to an end officially on November 2 with the signing of a peace agreement between the Ethiopian government and Tigray People's Liberation Front after two years of war.
“The number of people killed was about 600,000,” Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union's lead mediator in the peace talks and former president of Nigeria, told the Financial Times. Around 1,000 lives per day were being saved by the peace deal, he added.
Mr Obasanjo's figures align with those of a study conducted by Belgium's Ghent university, which concluded in March 2022 that up to 500,000 people may have died as a result of the conflict. Researchers said between 50,000 and 100,000 died in direct fighting, more than 100,000 from lack of access to medical care and between 150,000 to 200,000 from starvation.
The war created famine-like conditions for hundreds of thousands and displaced millions across northern Ethiopia and across the border into Sudan.
The death toll is disputed. Some Ethiopian officials say under 100,000 were killed.
“We will probably not be able to know the full number of casualties,” Daniel Bekele, Ethiopia's Human Rights Chief told the Financial Times.
“We need to be cautious about overly exaggerated death toll estimates by all sides.”
Under the peace deal, disarmament for the northern region should take place “concurrently” with the withdrawal of foreign forces that are not part of the Ethiopian national army.
The regional Amhara special forces began leaving the area last week, Ethiopia's army said. But a humanitarian worker in the city of Shire told Reuters that Amhara forces were still there in “significant numbers”. It was not immediately possible to verify the situation on the ground.
Flights between Addis Ababa and Tigray have already begun reuniting families torn apart by the war.
French and German foreign ministers cautioned Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last week that the ceasefire needed to be accompanied with a robust accountability for alleged atrocities on both sides.
“We, Germans and French, know from our own experience that reconciliation does not happen overnight. But without the prospect of justice for the victims of crimes, reconciliation and lasting peace are not possible,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
“The question of accountability is important for us with a view to Ethiopia's future and peace process, but also towards strengthening international law,” she said following talks with the Ethiopian leader.
The ministers did not visit Tigray itself.
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
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Rabdan Street
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
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Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
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Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
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Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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