ETHIOPIAN Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed admitted today that atrocities have occurred in the country’s desolated northern Tigray region, where government and rebel forces have been fighting since November.

“Reports indicate that atrocities have been committed in Tigray region,” Mr Abiy told politicians in the capital, Addis Ababa, today.

This is the first time Mr Abiy has acknowledged that serious crimes have been perpetrated in Tigray, home to six million people.

He said soldiers who raped women or committed other war crimes will be held responsible, even though he cited “propaganda of exaggeration” by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the once-dominant party whose leaders challenged Mr Abiy’s legitimacy after the postponement of elections last year.

Mr Abiy’s admission comes after the heads of nine UN agencies demanded a halt to attacks against civilians, “including rape and other horrific forms of sexual violence,” in the region.

In a joint statement, the UN agencies, the UN special investigator on the human rights of internally displaced people and two umbrella organisations representing non-governmental groups doing humanitarian work also called on all parties in Tigray to explicitly condemn all sexual violence and ensure their forces “respect and protect civilian populations, particularly women and children, from all human rights abuses.”

No-one knows how many thousands of civilians or combatants have been killed in the conflict.

The region remains largely cut off from the world, with few journalists allowed in, and only now are steps being taken to allow the UN human rights office into Tigray to help investigate allegations of atrocities.

The dozen signatories, including UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet and UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, urged the warring parties to take action to bring perpetrators of abuses to justice.

They stressed that “humanitarian access is essential” and that aid workers need to reach all areas affected by conflict and violence.

On Monday UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq warned that tens of thousands of people have fled the fighting in western Tigray in the last few weeks.

“According to our humanitarian colleagues, people arriving in towns from the rural zones of Tigray are visibly malnourished and in desperate need of life-saving support after enduring four-and-a-half months of conflict with little access to vital supplies,” Mr Haq said.