“We saw evil things, people whose necks were cut, limbs hanging,” Belay said. “There was no one to bury the dead. They were just lying there.” That horrific massacre in Mai Kadra on Nov. 9-10 was a defining moment in the war on Tigray launched by Abiy Ahmed and the Ethiopian government. Ahmed politicized the massacre, blaming “TPLF supporters” and a Tigrayan youth group he called “samri.”
Category: War Crimes
CNN EXCLUSIVE: Leader of Tigray’s forces accuses Ethiopian and Eritrean governments of genocide
The ousted leader of Ethiopia’s Tigray region has accused the federal government and its Eritrean allies of genocide and other crimes against humanity, calling on US President Joe Biden to dial up the pressure against “invader forces.”
AFP: A bid ‘to exterminate us’: Tigrayans recount massacre by Eritrean troops
The soldiers had tied their hands with belts and ropes and shot them in the head.
“I’d rather die than have lived to see this,” Beyenesh told AFP, tears rolling down her face as she described how the annual festival of Saint Mary turned into a bloodbath.
Local church officials say 164 civilians were killed in Dengolat, with most of the deaths occurring on November 30, one day after the festival.
That makes it one of the worst known atrocities in the ongoing conflict in Tigray.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has tightly restricted humanitarian and media access to the region, and for nearly three months Dengolat residents despaired of sharing their story with the world.
Aljazeera: Trauma, anger as Tigrayans recount Eritrea troops’ ‘grave crimes’
December 4 is a date that fills Mona Lisa Abraha with horror. It was then, the 18-year-old says, that Eritrean soldiers entered her village of Tembin in Ethiopia’s embattled region of Tigray.
“They tried to rape me and I was thrown to the ground. Then, one of the soldiers fired bullets to scare me, but they hit my hand and then fired another bullet that went through my arm,” Abraha recalls from a hospital bed on the outskirts of Tigray’s capital, Mekelle.
“I was bleeding for hours. Then, I had my arm amputated,” she says, before breaking down in tears.
Yahoo: Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: Blinken says US concerned about atrocities
The US has condemned reported atrocities in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit northern region of Tigray, urging the African Union to help resolve the “deteriorating situation.”
VOA: US Report Documents Atrocities, Ethnic Cleansing in Tigray, NY Times Says
An internal U.S. government report obtained by The New York Times says that Ethiopia is conducting “a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing” under the cover of war in the Tigray region, an area largely controlled by Amhara militias in the northern part of the country.
The Times says the report, written earlier in February, describes “in stark terms a land of looted houses and deserted villages where tens of thousands of people are unaccounted for.”
AA: Eritrean, Amhara forces must withdraw from Tigray: US
“We strongly condemn the killings, forced removals and displacements, sexual assaults, and other extremely serious human rights violations and abuses by several parties that multiple organizations have reported in Tigray,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The top diplomat voiced deep concern about the worsening humanitarian crisis and said those responsible for the violence must be held accountable.
THE WEEK: An eyewitness account of atrocities in Tigray
“We were scared,” he said. “I could see the pilots, the planes from my room. They came at least 30 times. I was sleeping so I had to fall from the bed. I was taking a nap. I didn’t know where to go.”
USA Today: ‘Gravely concerned’: Secretary of State Blinken condemns reported abuse in Ethiopia’s Tigray region
The US has condemned reported atrocities in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit northern region of Tigray, urging the African Union to help resolve the “deteriorating situation.”
State Department: Atrocities in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region
The immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces and Amhara regional forces from Tigray are essential first steps. They should be accompanied by unilateral declarations of cessation of hostilities by all parties to the conflict and a commitment to permit unhindered delivery of assistance to those in Tigray. The United States is committed to working with the international community to achieve these goals. To that end, USAID will deploy a Disaster Assistance Response Team to Ethiopia to continue delivering life-saving assistance.