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Category: Eritrean Involvement

Economist: Soldiers have killed hundreds of civilians in Tigray

Posted on by Tech Support

In late november Hailay Haileselassie said goodbye to his children and drove towards Edaga Hamus, a town in the mountainous northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, where his ageing parents live and his father is a priest. As churchgoers gathered in his father’s church on November 30th, the familiar murmur of prayer was replaced by the crackle of gunfire.

Witnesses say that Eritrean soldiers had entered the village that morning, looting homes and burning crops. Then they went from door to door, seizing young men and killing anyone who resisted. Scores died. Many families lost more than one member. Hailay was dragged from his parents’ home and shot in front of them. The killers drove off in his pickup truck.

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VOA: Tigray Victim Pleas for Justice After Eritrean Soldiers Allegedly Massacre Civilians

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

“There are people who lost three or four people in our neighborhood,” Guesh told VOA’s Tigrigna service in one of the multiple interviews conducted with residents of Axum weeks before Amnesty International’s report. “Many people were killed, including monks in the monasteries.”

In the city, Guesh said, many young people were killed.

“Bodies in the city were laid out for three days because they didn’t have anyone to bury them. Some of the bodies were taken with a carriage after four days. My cousin was found after four days and they identified him using his identification card,” he added, making his cousin the third family member allegedly killed by Eritrean soldiers. All his family members were buried in one grave, he said. “I hope to get justice for my parents and my family.”

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the economist: Soldiers have killed hundreds of civilians in Tigray

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

In late november Hailay Haileselassie said goodbye to his children and drove towards Edaga Hamus, a town in the mountainous northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, where his ageing parents live and his father is a priest. As churchgoers gathered in his father’s church on November 30th, the familiar murmur of prayer was replaced by the crackle of gunfire.

Witnesses say that Eritrean soldiers had entered the village that morning, looting homes and burning crops. Then they went from door to door, seizing young men and killing anyone who resisted. Scores died. Many families lost more than one member. Hailay was dragged from his parents’ home and shot in front of them. The killers drove off in his pickup truck.

Read the full story…

Barron’s: ‘Blanket Of Sadness’ Covers Conflict-hit Tigray Capital

Posted on by Tech Support

Women walk the streets wearing black as news of dead relatives trickles in from rural areas that remain inaccessible.

Mekele natives worry their home may never regain its old charm.

“This was a fast-growing city, it was a very vibrant city. It was alive for 24 hours,” said Dr Kibrom Gebreselassie, chief clinical director at Mekele’s Ayder Referral Hospital.

“Now, as you can see, it is covered in a blanket of sadness.”

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NYTimes: Ethiopia’s War Leads to Ethnic Cleansing in Tigray Region, U.S. Report Says

Posted on by Tech Support

Ethiopian officials and allied militia fighters are leading a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in Tigray, the war-torn region in northern Ethiopia, according to an internal United States government report obtained by The New York Times.

The report, written earlier this month, documents in stark terms a land of looted houses and deserted villages where tens of thousands of people are unaccounted for.

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Tigray conflict: Joint Statement by HR/VP Borrell and Commissioner Lenarčič on massacres in Axum

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

“Amnesty International issued a report today on atrocities that took place in Axum, Ethiopia, in November 2020. The report concludes that indiscriminate shelling and mass execution may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is another harrowing reminder of the violence that civilians in Tigray have been suffering since the onset of the conflict. We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, all crimes against civilians and call for the perpetrators to be swiftly brought to justice. We recall the obligation under International Humanitarian Law for all parties to ensure the protection of all civilians, including refugees and those internally displaced.

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BBC: Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: How a massacre in the sacred city of Aksum unfolded

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

Eritrean troops fighting in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray killed hundreds of people in Aksum mainly over two days in November, witnesses say.

The mass killings on 28 and 29 November may amount to a crime against humanity, Amnesty International says in a report.

An eyewitness told the BBC how bodies remained unburied on the streets for days, with many being eaten by hyenas.

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channel4: Amnesty accuses Eritrea and Ethiopia of committing atrocities together

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

It wasn’t so long ago that the Prime Minister of Ethiopia was receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for ending a conflict with Eritrea.

Today Amnesty International released a report accusing both the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments of working alongside each other to commit atrocities.

Ethiopia and Eritrea brought their two-decade long conflict with each other to an end in 2019.

Now it seems they have a common enemy in Tigray, an Ethiopian province along the border with Eritrea.

Amnesty says Eritrean forces massacred hundreds of civilians in the sacred city of Axum last November.

Wereport from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, and a warning: his report has distressing images from the start.

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NYTimes: Ethiopia’s War Leads to Ethnic Cleansing in Tigray Region, U.S. Report Says

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

Ethiopian officials and allied militia fighters are leading a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in Tigray, the war-torn region in northern Ethiopia, according to an internal United States government report obtained by The New York Times.

The report, written earlier this month, documents in stark terms a land of looted houses and deserted villages where tens of thousands of people are unaccounted for.

Fighters and officials from the neighboring Amhara region of Ethiopia, who entered Tigray in support of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, are “deliberately and efficiently rendering Western Tigray ethnically homogeneous through the organized use of force and intimidation,” the report says.

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metro: Biden discusses crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray region with Kenyan leader: White House

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

U.S. President Joe Biden, in a call with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday, discussed the crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the White House said.

Biden and Kenyatta “discussed the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights crises in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and the need to prevent further loss of life and ensure humanitarian access,” the White House said in a statement.

The United States has expressed concern over the crisis in Tigray, where the Ethiopian government has claimed victory over a rebellious regional government in a conflict that began in November.

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