Rights violations against civilians in conflict zones in Ethiopia have become more widespread, the national rights watchdog said in a report on Friday, denouncing extrajudicial killings and kidnappings.
Despite the end of the brutal two-year war in the northern region of Tigray in November 2022, there are still a myriad of conflicts in the country, including in the Amhara and Oromia regions.
"Human rights violations against civilians in the context of armed conflict are still concerning and in effect have become more widespread," the Ethiopia Human Rights Commission (ECHR) said in its annual report.
The state-affiliated but independent body said displaced people, particularly women, children, the elderly and those with disabilities were particularly vulnerable.
"Extrajudicial killings of civilians continue to be a concern in areas affected by ongoing or past armed conflicts and, in some cases, outside a context of conflict," it said.
It also highlighted a "growing problem of kidnapping of civilians, including for ransom, as a grave concern in both Amhara and Oromia regions".
Self-defence militias in Amhara known as Fano, which had fought alongside federal troops in the war against Tigrayan rebels, turned against them last year after the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced it was dissolving regional forces.
However, the EHRC hailed the federal government's adoption in April of a "transitional justice policy" intended to resolve past grievances, violence and abuses in a bid to reconcile a deeply divided Ethiopia.
This process, it said, "should be victim-centred, credible and transparent, and meet international standards and human rights principles".
The EHRC's outgoing chief Daniel Bekele -- who is leaving after a five-year term -- said that the country remains "in the middle of a human rights crisis" because of the ongoing conflicts.
"Unfortunately, the last few years has been a time of serious human rights crisis in Ethiopia, some of which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity," he told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of the launch of the report.
But Bekele said he was proud of the fact that "we have successfully built a genuinely independent, credible, both locally and internationally accepted national human rights institution".