Over Ethiopia’s objections, UN rights body backs war monitor

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.’s main human rights body has voted over Ethiopia’s objections to create an international team of experts to boost scrutiny of rights abuses in the country’s devastating yearlong war. Ethiopia’s government decried a “neocolonialist mentality” after the European Union and other Western countries sought a special session of the Human Rights Council to ratchet up attention on the conflict between government forces and fighters from the country’s Tigray region. The fighting has left tens of thousands dead. A resolution that won the council’s approval on a 21-15 vote with 11 abstentions on Friday creates a three-person team with a one-year mandate to monitor and report on rights abuses in Ethiopia.