NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Eritrean soldiers have systematically killed “many hundreds” of people, mostly men, in a massacre in late November in the Ethiopian city of Axum in the Tigray region, he said. Friday Amnesty International. The new report echoed the findings of an Associated Press story last week and cited more than 40 witnesses.
As pressure on Ethiopia increased for what could be the deadliest massacre in the Tigray conflict, the prime minister’s office announced that “humanitarian agencies have now been given free access to aid in the region.” . He added that the government “welcomes international technical assistance to carry out investigations (on alleged abuses), as well as invites collaboration in joint investigations.”
However, the government alleged that the Amnesty report was based on “little information” and said the human rights group should have visited the Tigray region. Amnesty said it applied for permission from the government in December and never received a response.
“As you know, no independent human rights monitors have been allowed in the region since the conflict began,” spokesman Conor Fortune said in an email to the AP.
The head of the government-established Ethiopian human rights commission, Daniel Bekele, says Amnesty’s findings “should be taken very seriously.” The commission’s own preliminary findings “indicate the killing of a still unknown number of civilians by Eritrean soldiers” in Axum, according to its statement.
Amnesty report describes soldiers killing civilians as they fled, lining up men and shooting them in the back, rounding out “hundreds if not thousands” of men by beatings and refusing to allow those who suffer to bury the dead.
Over a period of about 24 hours, “Eritrean soldiers deliberately shot civilians in the street and conducted systematic house-to-house searches, extrajudicially executing men and boys,” the report says early Friday. “The massacre was carried out in retaliation for a previous attack by a small number of local militiamen, who were joined by local residents armed with sticks and stones.”
The mass execution of Axum civilians by Eritrean troops could lead to crimes against humanity, according to the report, and calls for an international investigation led by the United Nations and full access to Tigray for groups of Eritreans. human rights, journalists and humanitarian workers. The region has been largely cut off since fighting began in early November.
The federal government of Ethiopia has denied the presence of soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, an enemy of the now fugitive leaders of the Tigray region, and the ousted government of Eritrea the AP’s story about the Axum massacre as “outrageous lies”. Eritrea’s information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, said on Friday that his country “is outraged and categorically rejects the absurd accusations” of the Amnesty report.
But even senior members of Ethiopia’s designated interim government in Tigray have acknowledged the presence of Eritrean soldiers and widespread allegations of looting and killings.
Ethiopia said the “alleged incident” in Axum “will have to be thoroughly investigated.”
And Ethiopia’s ambassador to Belgium, Hirut Zemene, told a webinar on Thursday that the alleged massacre in November was a “very unlikely scenario” and “we suspect it’s a very, very crazy idea.”
No one knows how many thousands of civilians have died in the conflict between Ethiopian and allied forces and those of the Tigray regional government, which had long dominated the Ethiopian government before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. Humanitarian officials have warned that the number of people may starve to death until death as access, while improving, remains restricted.
“Hostilities must stop immediately,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement in response to Amnesty International’s report, adding that “the level of suffering endured by civilians , including children, is frightening. “
The presence of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray has caused some alarm. The United States has repeatedly urged Eritrea to withdraw its troops and has cited credible reports of “serious” human rights abuses. Wednesday asked, “Does the Eritrean military have enough control over its troops to prevent them from committing human rights abuses?”
Witnesses to the Axum massacre told Amnesty International that Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers jointly took control of the city, but Eritreans carried out the killings and then made house-to-house raids on men and teenagers.
The bodies were scattered through the streets after the events of November 28 and 29, witnesses testified.
“The next day we were not allowed to choose the dead. Eritrean soldiers said the dead could not be buried before our dead soldiers were buried, “a woman told Amnesty International. With hospitals looted or health workers fled, some witnesses said several people went die from his wounds due to lack of attention.
“It took days to gather the bodies and carry out the funeral. Most of the dead appear to have been buried on November 30, but witnesses said people found many additional bodies in the days that followed, “the new report says.
After obtaining permission from Ethiopian soldiers to bury the dead, witnesses said they feared the killings would resume at any time, even as they piled bodies on horse-drawn carts and took them to churches to be buried, sometimes in mass graves.
The AP spoke with a deacon in a church, the church of St. Mary of Zion, who said he helped count the bodies, gathered the victims’ IDs and helped with burials. He believes about 800 people died that weekend in the city.
After being exposed for a day or more, the bodies had begun to rot, further traumatizing families and those who came together to help.
The new report says satellite images show “altered land” recently next to churches.