majority in the 1st round in iran has to take place 5 years ago, president edgar lingle narrowly defeated his rival. lemme resolve the opposition was rig, but they failed to overturn it in court. there has been some incidents of violence by governing party and opposition support of the cross the country in the run up to the vote. that's why president lucas said he deployed the military to maintain peace, but minis, ambiance, fear they could be more political violence if election results are disputed. how to tulsa algebra, the 2nd. ah, you want you to there with me? it's a whole rom, the reminder of all top stories african present. a chef connie has visited the government's last stronghold in the north, and a bit to rally troops against an escalating battle with the taliban. if the city of missouri, shirley falls, the government would lose control of the countries north of songs. interior

minister has told out there the government falls as a pushing to secure main highways. large cities and border crossings. local groups are being given arms in the bid to fight back the taliban offensive them them to do i know last what i'm asking the taliban to stop their brutality. leave killing. sit down with love and we should find solutions. i'm asking them not to destroy buildings or are cheap minutes. let's come and sit together and make a coalition government one that would be acceptable to all side. the sooner we do this, the better get out with them while fires and jerry have ripped across. it's mountainous regions killing at least 65 people. bel, jerry and red crescent says more than 1000 people are being injured under the 600 families have been left homeless. the president clad a 3 day period of morning parents government has pushed through immediate ownership bill that many se threatens press freedom, fixed a little lead to the closure over us and broadcast a critical of the government. and the therapy and group says that it's struck

alliance. 50 dry forces to overthrow the government and the sub over both groups, the moral abrasions, meander to live people's liberation front were added to the government terrorists this year. mexico reported close to 23000 new chrome virus cases. on wednesday, it's pushed the total number of cases past 3000000. since the pandemic began, the more contagious delta barrier is thought to be behind the increasing number of people going to hospital. and for the 1st time this year, all brazilian states using less than 80 percent of their intensive care beds, as the country fights, the 3rd wave of infections. scientists say vaccines are reducing the number of serious cases, infections and death saw in the final low daily numbers remain high. of course you have all of those stories on our website at our desert dots coming back with more news and half now. next, it's inside story to stay with us. news

news. a few calls on it citizen to join the fight against rebels in the region. all sides are being accused of war crimes, and the conflicts have figured a refugee crisis. so how far will the prime minister go to win the battle? this is inside who's hello. welcome to the program. i'm hasn't see if the o p as nobel peace prize winning prime minister is raising this face in the battle

for t grey. i'll be med is urging in his words or capable ethiopians to join the army and stop the regions rebels once and for all. i'll be launched and offensive last year against the t dry people's liberation front or t p left. but the government troops have struggled to hold back the rebels despite help from neighboring eritrea. thousands of government supporters rallied earlier this week to denounce the t p left and reject foreign criticism of the conflict. look me up. hundreds of millions of people have a right to be heard. you cannot install a puppet government on as the leader is the leader chosen by a few pins and not a government that's forced on. on our soil, no public governments will be established. if you have chosen a leader who prioritizes what it means to be e c o, here, and ensures ethiopia development, a governments that will elevate africa and make

e c o p. a model will be formed in early september of a t p, a left dominated national ethiopian politics for 30 years until the aftermath became prime minister in 2018. the violence is partly a result of a power struggle. at the end of november, the government announced its forces had taken control of t guys regional capital mckelly. but the conflict took a stunning turn in june. when to grind forces took back, mckelly and government soldiers withdrew. since then, the rebels have pressed into the regions of a far in the east and i'm hotter in the south. 2000000 people have been forced from their homes with more than 50000 escaping to neighboring sudan. amnesty international says war crimes and crimes against humanity may have been committed. it's accused ethiopian and eric train soldiers of raping hundreds of women and

girls. the. well, let's bring in our guest now to talk more about this from london. we have done a tele rivera, senior crisis adviser in the crisis response program at amnesty international in ad is out of samuel get to choose independent journalist and also from london. martin cloud senior research fellow at the institute of commonwealth studies at the university of london. thank you all for joining us. just to let you know the, the, the open government and the t great people's front didn't respond to our requests to join the panel. but let me start with you, donna. tell rivera we mentioned there that the humanitarian crisis. and this report from your organization about the possible crimes that taking place. they just talked to us a little bit more about that in the the extent of it. yes,

this report presents the point of going to the investigation that we carried out over several months without being able to visit t grade because the government not until now allowed international or any other international human rights organization to go to t gray. so we traveled to east down to refugee camps and interviewed women and girls, had been victims of sexual violence in te grey as well as a humanitarian personnel, medical personnel who assisted these women. and we spoke to dozens of other women and girls in t gray by phone really only during the window of opportunity when it was possible to connect to people in t gray by the phone. because since the beginning of the conflict last november, there has been on and off for long periods of blackout when,

when it's been impossible to, to reach any wanting to grade by phone or by internet that remains the case. now, be level of factual violence that has been inflicted on to grey and women and girls is shocking it. many of the survivors told us that they had been gone great by multiple perpetrators at times while being held for days and weeks in, in conditions of sexual slavery. several were raised in front of their children. busy or their family members, and very often the rates where accompanied by other forms of torture and ethnic slurs, death, threat, beatings, mutilations, soto attacks assault that seem to be really aimed adding fleeting, maximum physical and cycle g called damage on the survivors. and because

of the nature of the, of the grid to, to some sadistic physical power, t and, and the threats and the grading and humiliating treatment that we're going with with does with, does atrocities this came of the, of the violation is it's very significant. such conduct by all forces d o p, an armed forces, i'm higher of special police forces and the higher off bond no malicious, as well as the retrained soldiers. busy who being operating alongside at the opium government for safe, they have all been committing such atrocities. so it's not a quest you and all the few isolated cases and those atrocities have been committed

all over t gray and right from the beginning from day one. when those forces entered the different parts of the gravy indicating dot the perpetrators. a clearly did not worry about accountability and knew that they were acting with, with impunity. are you mentioned there that the lack of accountability, so what are you calling on now from the international community to address this? well obviously the 1st, the draft is the appropriate government piece, the responsibility of the european government to ensure that these allegations are independently and partially investigated and promptly because we are 9 months into the conflict. and that does responsible are brought to justice and that the survivors are able to receive medical care and psycho social support

that they need after di or deals that their lead group. we're also calling on the african union as a very important regional player to use. it's good offices with the, at the opium government to ensure it does the right things, including allowing the commission of inquiry that has been set up by the african commission and rejected by the by the european governments to carry out its investigation in t gray. and last but not least, we are calling on the un secretary general to dispatch and the specific mechanism that he, as i did disposal a team of experts and the special representative on sexual violence in conflict to

dispatch those mechanisms to t gray. and. and similarly, the un human rights council to dispatch the special report on violence against women. because so far the international community at different level as issued statements of concern and condemnation, about factual by them into t. great conflict, but really 9 months on the time for statement is in a way long older. and the time for action is, is, you know, this, this is time to, to actually take concrete action to, to, to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice, which is an important deterrent because the conflict is showing no signs of, of ending. if anything, the development of the last couple of days and you know,

indicate that the conflict is escalating and expanding to either 2 other areas and, and for a reason it is very important that all those who are involved in the conflict both on the o p, and government side and on the left side, they should know that impunity is if it's not an option that they you know that if they commit war crimes and crimes against humanity and human rights violation that they will be held accountable. regrettably, the lack of action until now for 9 months ease giving combat a different message because nobody has been held accountable so far. and that is, that is a very dangerous state of affairs. that certainly is want to talk more about that in a moment, but 1st i want to turn to samuel gets it you and come back to the,

the prime minister's declaration the day before in which he called on all the c o pins or cape parents to to join in the fight against and fighting against the t p l. s. what was behind that? do you think has this, has this taken matters to another level when he, when he said this, well, there has been all kinds of pressure coming to the prime minister to act. this conflict begun to november should have ended within a few weeks long. now it's, we're approaching that. busy first year in november, so there was so much pressure for him to ox. you have to know i a call, what's being said. by the previous guess, there are many, many victims, all kinds of accusations. she talked about the window of opportunity i was able to target, that's a great region. there are lots of pickups, accusations, and they job and government has said they endorsed the idea of the un investigating

this. and this accusations of the help of the people bent human rights and i think that's the best approach. but i also wonder ethiopia or the world will commit enough resources to investigate this outstanding complaints that's been coming since day 16, wireless killing, looting and all kinds of stuff. by all sites. i hope there will be an investigation done for the sake of the victims, but i also wonder if you'll be out of the world will commit enough resources to do a proper investigation. and that's the unfortunate part of this conflict, or any conflict in the world. market plan was this call by the prime minister. an active desperation is, is that he sees the conflict coming out of t gray as, as an existential threat to if the o p as a whole well, i think it is because,

you know, he had, let's be honest about this. this is not justin. ethiopian conflict when the war began, the era trans invaded from the nor together with them were some, 3 to 5000 somali troops who being brought in for precisely that they was gonna attack from the east and from the south by the european army. and by am har, malicious lives a massive attack on the to grant. they held up, they went into the hill and then they fought back and took back mechanic. but i think that there is one thing that is missing in what we've said so far. that the, the, the appalling suffering that has been outlined by thee, by amnesty report today, is not just the act of individual commanders or road unit. and let me just re 2 sentences from that report. it says the packing of sexual violence,

emerging from survivors account indicate the violations, have been part of a strategy to terrorize the grades and humiliate, but the victims and their new group, the ethnic group in the to grant the fact that such practices have been widespread and continuous indicates that this strategy has been tolerated at the highest level of government in both ethiopia and eritrea. so what we have in effect is a strategy of sexual violence perpetrated on the 2 grand people by prime minister abbey and president he saw this didn't just happen. it's not just something that is done by bad troops or bad commanders. this is a strategy, that is why it is so dangerous. samuel get to choose. what does, what does the government actually want? here and what, what do the rebels want? and is there any, any overlap there any where, where that,

where the 2 sides can find common ground. there was hope that there will be some kind of compromise the job in us, you know, the job and government has declared the t p. s. harris group. earlier this year the t p is. busy assisting or presenting all kinds of conditions, including the recognition of their government and mac ali, the transfer of funds and the release of all the political prisoners. but, you know, with this kind of. busy requests from both sides, i don't think there will be an end in sight and, but the victims, you know, unlike your guess i was. busy able to travel to the great region, i was able to interview some of the victims in person. and this just means that this conflict will go on and it will produce war victims, more sexual violence. go on. you know this,

i've read the reports from amnesty international came out last night a to us. and it's, it's a shock, but it's something that needs to be investigated because this kind of investigation is going, it's a coin between both sites. and i hope, you know, organizations like the united nations, i wonder if they have enough resources or commitment from the nation to investigate what's being said by old. busy site while the international full, texas on the e t o been in there a chan side. there are also accusations from all sides, and i hope there will be a fair and just study or investigation to be done. because again, the victims are overwhelming and it's even more overwhelming when you speak to them, i have and person let's, let's just come back to just come back to, don't tell her there on that. it comes down to this whole idea of commitment that

has to be real commitment from all sides to tackle this. doesn't it not, not, not just, not just within ethiopia. well, i mean, yes. first of all, let said the record straight and with the greatest respect for the time, you know, some of what samuel said is, is not accurate on the international have been looking at human rights violation, including war crimes by old site. indeed, the very 1st press release that i missed international, if huge on the gray and conflict was about the massacre of civilians in my car draw where to big tims where overwhelmingly higher on. and so it's just not right to insinuate that on the international only look. so one side or the out there we don't and,

and our track record is extremely well through been. b all over the world. secondly, i've also spoken to, to big timber personally and those who are in the camps in sudan, and i also, and my colleagues would have liked to have gone to t grey. samuel did. the problem is not one of resources. the reason why there haven't been more on the ground investigations or any on the ground investigation. the t grey is simply because the, the opium government has not allowed human rights in the organization such as an international and those to go to t great journalist. i've had a very hard time and documented. a the difficulties them hard operating and te grey and bab only had access to parts of t great humanitarian agencies, un and n g o z our complaining day and day out about their operation being restricted,

human italian workers have been killed after some very responsible statements by governmental authorities and human nor gunning nations as operation. i've also been suspended, so give me an absolute need to investigate obligations about war crimes and human rights violations by all sides. the greatest impediment doing dot are the restrictions to access that are imposed by the european government as well as the communication blackout that are already posed. and that is that is supremely. a a important because, you know, access east is absolutely key to, to being able to, to investigate martin plot. if i could just take a little step back

a little bit and talk about the, the regional implications of all this. and what it means for to see the stabilized ethiopia in this region, the longer this conflict goes on. well, it is extremely wiring. i mean, one of the most important statement came up with the us institute of peace. i think it was the day after the conflict began in november last year, where they said that it threatened the collapse of the ethiopian states. so that was a statement made 9 months ago, and i'm afraid it is now looking as if that is indeed a possibility. it's not certain, i mean nobody can be sure what's going to happen. but i mean, something is really important is happened today, which is that the aroma liberation army, which is the aroma being the largest ethnic group in ethiopia, had declared that they have now struck. and aligned with the 2 grants. so this

trump forms the situation because you now don't just have an immobilization by the central government who are trying to mobilize the militia against the 2 grand. you not have some of the ethnic groups themselves beginning to form an alternative, alon against the government in addis ababa. so you have a fragmentation, and they are again, a unification on different lines, which is happening right now. and they said right at the beginning, this is already a regional conflict because the error trend troops are directly in bowl. there also have been sudanese forces who have been brought in because they've been crashes along the border and almost anything is possible. i think that it is really terribly serious situation. ready where the collapse of ethiopia is a possibility. i mean, it's the last thing anybody wants because it was unleashed forces that would be sustainable in the region. and, but it is a possibility. and one that we have to face, given the tensions,

and the ethnic rivalries and risks that are rippling across and making the whole situation much more dangerous. sam, you'll get to choose, should the government be focus more on dealing with the countries route problems? you know, in order to, to, to, to tackle this rather than this call to arms from the prime minister. let me just go back in the address your guess, comments about to my criticism. i don't know how she saw it when it comes to a port. so if i'm this international, i grew up, i mining the work up, i'm this international. i know the work from this international. i wasn't trying to create site, i'm that, you know, i was focused on this report. i wasn't referring to report that came back in november, december and but going back to your question, i think the root cause has to be study ethiopia as an important country. i don't think it will become like because i don't think you feel that will break up. it has

a strong foundation. my father's generation grew up in europe where they said where everybody was saying that will break up because of endless conflicts that was going on. the common and all kinds of stuff, but if you'll survive in the field, i hope will survive. but there has to begin to have a conversation and needed conversations between different actors. there are so many differences. yeah. there are many organizations that are taking arms to address what they received to be in just this is done to them or to their people. but i hope maybe perhaps that might be my background. that i believe that conversation is more important than arms. but i think it's your best should begin to look at those options because we eat your best in a country. that is perhaps the most one of the most stable nations and in the,

within the east africa. but it doesn't have the resources to keep on fighting and spending and miss spending money. while the majority of the people are still living under the poverty line. the focus should be on perhaps on helping address the issue over at the country. but i think conversation is really important. some of the nissan countries we look up to, you know, they sold their issues through conversations, and i don't think it's your best. it's a feel that's best interest to keep on fighting and addressing all kinds of issues . you know, via arms. all right, we're going to leave it there. thank you. to all 3 of you don't. a tele rivera, samuel get to choose. and martin cloud, thanks very much for being on inside story and thank you to for watching. remember, you can see this and all of our previous programs again, anytime by visiting our website 0 dot com. and for further discussion, go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash

a j inside tool. you can also join the conversation on twitter handle. there is a j inside for me, hasn't speaker, and the whole team here in doha bye. for now. the news news. news. news news. my name's a place where they can truly call it their home groups bringing wanted me to want to know. you all angel please. morning. my name is just

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with me i you're watching over there with me as the whole romilly though. ha, reminder of our top news stories after president ash have gone. he has visited the government's last northern stronghold of the taliban places in nice trying to rally troops to defend the city of missouri sharif, the biggest in northern afghanistan. if the city falls, the government would lose control of the region of coming sounds. interior minister has told out his error that government forces are pushing to secure main highways, large cities and border crossings. local groups sobbing, given all.