Ethiopia's allies in the Tigray war have unleashed a campaign of looting, rape and expulsions, residents and humanitarian workers in the northern region say, despite a peace deal to halt the fighting.
Since the November 2 peace agreement was signed to end the two-year-old conflict, aid has begun trickling into Tigray, phone lines have been partially restored, and the regional capital Mekele reconnected to the national electricity grid.
Access to Tigray is severely restricted and communication services are limited, making it impossible for journalists to independently verify the situation on the ground.
But interviews with eight residents and aid workers found that civilians remain far from safe, with Eritrean forces and militias from the neighbouring Ethiopian province of Amhara accused of murder, rape and other abuses.
In Shire, a town in northwestern Tigray, a resident described a climate of fear under Eritrean and Amhara occupation and "continuous looting and kidnappings."
"Shire is almost a ghost town," he told AFP in mid-December, adding that civilians were suffering dire shortages of food, fuel and cash.
"Women fear leaving their homes and moving out in the open city for fear of sexual violence."
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