The Ethiopian government has rejected a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that alleges an “ethnic cleansing” campaign is under way in western Tigray despite a truce signed in November.The allegations are “not substantiated by evidence”, Ethiopia’s Government Communication Service said in a statement on Tuesday. The war, which broke out in November 2020, has pitted regional forces from Tigray against Ethiopia’s federal army and its allies, including forces from other regions and neighbouring Eritrea. It stems from grievances rooted in periods of Ethiopia’s turbulent past when particular regional power blocs held sway over the country as a whole.

Fighting has raged on and off since then, killing thousands of civilians, uprooting millions and leaving hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine.The HRW issued a report last week saying the November peace agreement to end the two- year conflict in Tigray had not stopped “ethnic cleansing” in the disputed western part of the region, known as the Western Tigray Zone.