The United Nations refugee agency voiced deep concern on Friday at reports of soldiers taking hundreds of people away from displacement camps in the Tigray region of Ethiopia earlier this week, saying such sites should be a safe haven. 
 
Three aid workers and a doctor told Reuters this week that Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers forcibly detained more than 500 young men and women from four camps for displaced people in the town of Shire in the northern region on Monday night. 
 
"We reiterate our call on all parties to ensure the protection of civilians including the forcibly displaced. It is crucial that all parties to the conflict recognise the civilian and humanitarian character of the displacement sites," Babar Baloch, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a Geneva news briefing. 
 
Some had been released after UNHCR raised the matter with Ethiopian authorities, he said, providing no figure. 
 
"The situation is traumatic and distressing not only for the relatives of the missing but for all the displaced communities residing in Shire," he added. 
 
It was not immediately clear where the remaining youth were being detained, he added. 
 
Thousands of people have been killed since the conflict erupted, 2 million have been forced from their homes and 91% of the population of nearly 6 million are in need of aid, according to the latest report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The United Nations refugee agency voiced deep concern on Friday at reports of soldiers taking hundreds of people away from displacement camps in the Tigray region of Ethiopia earlier this week, saying such sites should be a safe haven.

The United Nations refugee agency voiced deep concern on Friday at reports of soldiers taking hundreds of people away from displacement camps in the Tigray region of Ethiopia earlier this week, saying such sites should be a safe haven. Three aid workers and a doctor told Reuters this week that Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers forcibly detained more than 500 young men and women from four camps for displaced people in the town of Shire in the northern region on Monday night. "We reiterate our call on all parties to ensure the protection of civilians including the forcibly displaced. It is crucial that all parties to the conflict recognise the civilian and humanitarian character of the displacement sites," Babar Baloch, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a Geneva news briefing. Some had been released after UNHCR raised the matter with Ethiopian authorities, he said, providing no figure. "The situation is traumatic and distressing not only for the relatives of the missing but for all the displaced communities residing in Shire," he added. It was not immediately clear where the remaining youth were being detained, he added. Thousands of people have been killed since the conflict erupted, 2 million have been forced from their homes and 91% of the population of nearly 6 million are in need of aid, according to the latest report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

UN alarmed at soldiers detaining displaced from Tigray camps

Researchers have identified about 2,000 people who have lost their lives in over 150 massacres by soldiers, paramilitaries and insurgents in the conflicting Tigray region.&nbsp;

The youngest victims were infants and the oldest in their 90s.&nbsp;

The reports of a network of informants in the northern Ethiopian province who work for a team at the University of Ghent in Belgium helped in the identifications, reports The Guardian.&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="http://wionews.com/videos/exclusive-ethiopian-envoy-tizita-mulugeta-to-india-says-humanitarian-aid-being-delivered-366444/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Media reports and other sources were used by the team, who is studying the Tigray conflict since it started last year, to crosscheck the identifications.&nbsp;

The findings can raise global pressure on Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who has stressed that the reports of mass killings and other sufferings are exaggerated.&nbsp;

Also read | <a href="http://wionews.com/world/ethiopia-risks-lengthy-stalemate-in-war-hit-tigray-report-says-374935">Ethiopia risks lengthy stalemate in war-hit Tigray, report says</a>

Ethiopia sent troops in November in Tigray to oust the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which resulted in a larger clash in which thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced.&nbsp;

The researchers mentioned 20 massacres in which more than five people died and include killings of more than 250 civilians over three days in the town of Humera.&nbsp;

Jan Nyssen, a professor who led the probe and spent decades living and working in Tigray, said the report was like a "war memorial".&nbsp;

"These individuals should not be forgotten and these war crimes should be investigated … The list is to show the magnitude of what is happening. We know there are many more but … we know the name and the circumstances of these 1,900," he said.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Researchers have identified about 2,000 people who have lost their lives in over 150 massacres by soldiers, paramilitaries and insurgents in the conflicting Tigray region.

Researchers have identified about 2,000 people who have lost their lives in over 150 massacres by soldiers, paramilitaries and insurgents in the conflicting Tigray region. The youngest victims were infants and the oldest in their 90s. The reports of a network of informants in the northern Ethiopian province who work for a team at the University of Ghent in Belgium helped in the identifications, reports The Guardian. Watch | Media reports and other sources were used by the team, who is studying the Tigray conflict since it started last year, to crosscheck the identifications. The findings can raise global pressure on Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who has stressed that the reports of mass killings and other sufferings are exaggerated. Also read | Ethiopia risks lengthy stalemate in war-hit Tigray, report says Ethiopia sent troops in November in Tigray to oust the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which resulted in a larger clash in which thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced. The researchers mentioned 20 massacres in which more than five people died and include killings of more than 250 civilians over three days in the town of Humera. Jan Nyssen, a professor who led the probe and spent decades living and working in Tigray, said the report was like a "war memorial". "These individuals should not be forgotten and these war crimes should be investigated … The list is to show the magnitude of what is happening. We know there are many more but … we know the name and the circumstances of these 1,900," he said.

Ethiopia: Researchers identify 1,900 people killed in Tigray

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UN alarmed at soldiers detaining displaced from Tigray camps

Ethiopia: Researchers identify 1,900 people killed in Tigray