NAIROBI, Kenya (AP): Massacres of civilians. Journalists arrested. People starved to death. The Ethiopian government is under increasing pressure for the world to see first-hand what has happened in its shrouded Tigray region as its Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister rejects “partisan interventions.”
That pressure is expected to increase this month as the United States chairs the United Nations Security Council and addresses the first major African crisis in the Biden administration. Millions of dollars in aid in Ethiopia, a key security ally in the region, are at stake.
Here’s a look at the unrest in Tigray when the Security Council meets behind closed doors on Thursday to discuss it:
WHAT ARE THE MASSACRES OF CIVILIANS?
Last month The Associated Press exhibited Approximately 800 people were killed in the city of Axum, citing several witnesses, and a week later Amnesty International reported that “many hundreds” died there, citing more than 40 witnesses. Soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, an enemy of Tigray’s now fugitive leaders, were blamed.
Ethiopia continues to deny the presence of Eritreans, even as senior officials in Ethiopia’s Tigray interim government are increasingly outspoken about them. There is growing concern that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel in 2019 for making peace with Eritrea, has joined it in war. Eritrea called AP’s story about Axum “outrageous lies.”
Amid the denials, thousands of civilians have been killed as Ethiopian and Allied forces pursue former Tigray leaders who once dominated the Ethiopian government before Abiy took office in 2018. Each gang was considered mutual as illegitimate and then engaged in the struggle.
Axum is far from the only alleged killer in the Tigray conflict. Now they are leaving more as telephone service resumes in the region and more people are fleeing.
The Telegraph, which cites witnesses, has reported to Debre Abay. CNN, which cites witnesses, has reported a Dengelat. And France-Presse Agency more exposed the murders of Dengelat during a rare visit to the site.
On Thursday, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said her office has corroborated the information on incidents such as “mass killings” in Axum and Dengelat, and warned of possible war crimes by all major armed groups. He said the victims “should not be denied their rights to truth and justice,” and urged Ethiopia to let independent monitors enter Tigray.
After U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued the strongest statement to date over the weekend from Washington to Tigray and spoke with Abiy this week, the prime minister’s office Wednesday he reversed his skeptical stance on the Axum massacre and said he was investigating “credible allegations” in the city and elsewhere in the region.
But human rights groups and others are calling for independent international investigations, ideally led by the UN, arguing that a government accused of participating in atrocities cannot be effectively investigated.
CAN JOURNALISTS REPORT TIGRAY?
Yes, at your peril. In recent days, Ethiopia has begun allowing a limited number of foreign media to visit Tigray (the PA did not receive permission), but several Ethiopian media workers with outlets were quickly stopped.
Although it announced limited access to the media, Ethiopia warned journalists to behave essentially. The government statement on Wednesday said Ethiopian defense forces would “ensure the safety” of journalists in parts of Tigray under their control, but those leaving the areas do so at their own risk. And journalists who violate national laws, “even helping and inciting criminal entities and perpetrators, will be held accountable.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists this week criticized Ethiopia’s actions, saying that “the scarcity of independent reports coming out of Tigray during this conflict was already deeply alarming. Now, the arrests of Ethiopian military journalists and the media will undoubtedly lead to fear and self-censorship ”.
Without free access to Tigray, it is difficult to determine the fate of an estimated 6 million people four months after the region was separated from the world.
WERE PEOPLE Dying?
Yes, according to local officials, although it is unclear how many. Although humanitarian aid to Tigray has increased in recent weeks, aid workers have said it is not enough and 80% of the region remains unreachable.
In the harshest warning to date, the Ethiopian Red Cross said last month that if humanitarian access did not improve, thousands would starve to death. in a month and tens of thousands in two months.
On Wednesday, the Ethiopian government said it had distributed food aid to some 3.8 million people and reaffirmed that humanitarian organizations now have free access to Tigray.
But humanitarian workers say the reality is very different, citing obstacles on the part of the authorities and insecurity. An access map published this week by the UN humanitarian agency showed a large part of Tigray inaccessible beyond major roads and cities.
The fighting, which continues in some parts of the Tigray, erupted on the brink of harvest in the mainly agricultural region and sent countless people fleeing their homes. Witnesses have described the widespread looting by Eritrean soldiers, as well as the burning of crops, while the forces of the neighboring Amhara region would have occupied large parts of Tigray.
This week, a senior Tigray acting official, Gebremeskel Kassa, told the BBC that “we are not able to know the whereabouts of a million people”.
Now the US says both Eritreans and Amhara forces should leave Tigray immediately.