While a peace deal was struck between Ethiopia's government and forces in the northern Tigray region last November, sexual assaults and violence towards women has not stopped. We share some of these women's stories.
Women and aid groups say sexual assaults are continuing even after a peace deal in Ethiopia's civil warEthiopia's government signed a peace deal with forces from the northern Tigray region last November, in a bid to end a brutal two-year civil war. But aid groups and locals have told the BBC that attacks on civilians - in particular, sexual assaults on women - have continued.
During the two-year conflict in northern Ethiopia the systematic rape of Tigrayan women by Ethiopian soldiers, as well as their allies from neighbouring Eritrea and militia groups, has been documented by the United Nations, human rights organisations and journalists. After the first time she was raped, Letay sought medical and psychological help, joining a women's support group for survivors. On the day of the peace deal Letay had rushed out to help a young girl who had also been raped before she was assaulted too.Victims are often scared to speak out while telecommunications had been cut off during the fighting.
"There were four of them but only one raped me. They even had plans to kill me but they left after I was raped." Eritrea shares a border with Tigray and has a long-standing rivalry with the region's ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front - one of the reasons why it joined the civil war backing the Ethiopian government.
We have sent the allegations in this report to the Ethiopian government's communications minister and the African Union, which brokered the peace deal, for comment, but neither have responded. The organisation continues to call for independent investigators and journalists to gain access to northern Ethiopia.
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