Ethiopia's request for an investigation into the humanitarian consequences of the conflict in the country's northern Tigray region is agreed by United Nations human rights (OHCHR) chief Michelle Bachelet, according to the statement of U.N. spokesperson on Wednesday.

Tigray residents have told human rights groups and journalists of massacres, widespread sexual violence and indiscriminate killings of civilians by security forces in the region.

Aid workers, meanwhile, say Tigray's health system has largely collapsed and warn of possible large-scale starvation.

"The High Commissioner responded positively to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission's (EHRC) request for joint investigations on Monday," Jonathan Fowler, spokesperson for OHCHR told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The U.N. office is now preparing a plan in order to launch the mission as soon as possible.