HAMDAYET, Sudan: Atrocities have been ransacked in the skin and minds of Tigrayans, who take refuge in thousands of people at the sight of the homeland who fled northern Ethiopia.
They arrive with heat rising above 100 º F, bringing the pain of gunshot wounds, torn vaginas, spiked back tips. Less visible are the memories: dozens of bodies scattered on the banks of the river. Fighters who rape a woman one by one to speak their own language. A child, weakened by hunger, left behind.
Now, for the first time, they are also providing evidence of an official attempt at so-called ethnic cleansing in the form of a new identity document that removes all traces of Tigray, as nine refugees from different communities confirmed to The Associated Press. Written in a language other than their own, published by authorities of another ethnic group, the letters are seen as the latest evidence of an impulse by Ethiopia and its allies to destroy the Tigrayan people.
Amhara authorities now in charge of the nearby town of Humera took Seid Mussa Omar’s original ID card showing his Tigrinya identity and burned it, the soft-spoken nurse said. His new AP-examined card, released in January, shows the Amharic language, an Amhara stamp and a border of tiny hearts.
“I kept it to show the world,” Seid said. “This is genocide … Its goal is to wipe out Tigray.”
What began as a political dispute in one of Africa’s most powerful countries has become a campaign against minority tigrayans, according to PA interviews with 30 refugees in Sudan. The Ethiopian government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Abiy Ahmed is accused of associating with the Abyy ethnic group (his mother was Amhara) and soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, an enemy of Tigray’s now fugitive leaders. , to punish about 6 million people.
Ethiopia claims that life in Tigray is back to normal. But refugees said abuses are still taking place. Almost all described slaughter, rape and destruction of crops that without massive food aid could cause famine in the region.
For months, Tigray has been sealed in much of the world, with electricity and telecommunications access disrupted, leaving little to support claims that it may have killed tens of thousands of people.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that “ethnic cleansing” has taken place west of Tigray, the first time a senior official in the international community has openly described the situation as a tal. The term refers to forcing a population of a region by expulsions and other violence, including killings and rapes.
The refugees said Amhara authorities have seized the communities and ordered the departure of the tigrayans. Goitom Hagos, of Humera, told the AP that he saw thousands of tigrayans loaded on trucks and did not know what happened to them.
Some Tigrayans were ordered to accept Amhara’s identity or leave, refugees said.
The Tigray conflict began in November as a political clash of past and present. Tigray leaders had dominated the country’s government for nearly three decades, creating a system of ethnic-based regional states. But Abiy took office in 2018 and went on to centralize power. He set aside the Tigray leaders and made peace with Eritrea, winning a Nobel Peace Prize.
Challenging Tigray leaders saw the central government as illegal after last year’s elections were delayed and they kept their own vote. The government opened a military offensive, saying Tigray forces had attacked a military base. Witnesses say the Amhara and Eritrean forces are basically dividing much of Tigray between them.
Ethiopia says it rejects “all notions and practices of ethnic cleansing.” An Amhara regional spokesman declined to comment.
The killings continue. In early March, Alem Mebrahtu, 30, attempted to cross the Tekeze River between parts of the Tigray under the rule of Eritrea and Amhara. Separated from her children in the conflict, she had felt that they were in Sudan.
About 50 bodies were scattered near the river bank, he said. “Some were upside down. Some looked up at the sky. Exhaustion tucked deep under her eyes and she began to cry.
Reluctantly, to protect himself, he tries to learn Amharic.
“His goal is not to leave any Tigrayan,” he said.
Refugees said the rapes are also widespread. One woman said that when she returned to her looted house in Humera, she was taken by members of the Amharic-speaking militia. She asked them to talk to the tigress and they attacked her.
“Say you are Amhara and we will return you home and find you a husband,” the men said. “But if you claim to be Tigrayan, we will come to rape you again.”
She is pregnant now. The PA does not name people who have been sexually abused.
The United Nations has said more than 500 rapes in Tigray have been reported to health workers. But armed groups have destroyed most of Tigray’s health centers, leaving little help.
And there is more pain to come.
Almost all refugees described a worrying shortage of food. Most saw the crops being looted or burned. Kidu Gebregirgis, a farmer, said the Amhara harvested about 5,000 kilograms (5.5 short tons) of sorghum from its fields and took it, a task that took two weeks.
The conflict began shortly before harvest in the mainly agricultural region. Now the planting season is approaching.
“But there is no seed,” Kidu said. “There’s nothing to start over.”
Tigrayans passing through rural communities described hungry people, often elderly, begging outside the churches. Sometimes they did too.
Again, ethnicity was crucial. Dansha’s Belaynesh Beyene said she made sure to speak Amharic when approaching West Tigray houses to look for food.
Ethiopia, under international pressure, has said food aid has been distributed to more than 4 million people in Tigray. The refugees did not agree.
Maza Girmay, 65, said he heard food being distributed, so he went to the Bahkar government office to inquire.
“They told me,‘ Go home, you’re Tigrayan, ’” she said.The rejection led her to cry.
A colonel with Tigray fighters, Bahre Tebeje, worried that starvation would kill more people than war.
Tigrayans continue to arrive daily at the border post where Sudanese soldiers guard no man’s land. One recent afternoon, the AP saw three approaching.
In Sudan, tigrayans are registered and asked for their ethnicity. For once, they are free to answer.