00:00International NGO Human Rights Watch is calling for greater access to Ethiopia's Tigray region to better protect the population.
00:09The organisation says the renewed fighting between federal forces and Tigray rebels has cost lives.
00:16Civilians have been killed, injured, and this really underscores and heightens the need for independent monitoring, scrutiny, access for independent
00:30international, national media to look into these reports which have been coming out in the last few weeks.
00:40We know that in some instances the shelling has also had an impact on civilian infrastructure, so health facilities have
00:48had to temporarily, for example, shut down.
00:52Civilians in the region also need urgent humanitarian assistance, Bader said.
00:59The renewed conflict disrupted access to essential services, including internet banking and air travel.
01:06We need a complete restoration of the communications network.
01:11We need to make sure that the humanitarian community is able to scale up their response at the sort of
01:18speed that is necessary and required right now.
01:22We need to see a resumption of services for the region, and a lot of that lays in the hands
01:30of the federal government forces.
01:31Obviously, humanitarian access, all the warring parties need to ensure safe humanitarian access for aid workers on the ground.
01:40Bader also alleged that Eritrean forces have remained in Tigray since the end of the civil war four years ago.
01:47She said HRW has received reports of an escalating presence and of troops committing abuses against civilians.
