(VOA) A U.S.-based human rights group says it is alarmed about the number of governments in East Africa and the Horn, which are using repressive and violent tactics to stay in power and silence their opponents. Several countries named by Human Rights Watch are key western regional allies. 

In the past four months, Human Rights Watch researchers have authored no less than seven major reports about East Africa and the Horn, most of them documenting what they say is a worrisome trend toward governments tightening their grip on power through repression, violence, and human rights abuses. During Ethiopia’s two-year occupation in Somalia, its troops were repeatedly accused of committing atrocities against the Somali people.

At home, the Ethiopian government has been accused of harassing and jailing opposition leaders and killing hundreds of protesters.  Albin-Lackey (HRW Africa head) says the government’s human rights record has worsened in recent years with allegations that Ethiopian military forces have committed war crimes in two conflicts raging inside the country.

“Since the early 1990s, Ethiopia has been growing steadily more repressive and limited democratic openings have been pretty comprehensively sealed off with not much hope, at least in the immediate term, of things moving in the opposite direction,” said Albin-Lackey.