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A leaked video of a horrific mass execution has drawn attention to a bloody crisis unfolding in Ethiopia, where a civil war over the territory has erupted in recent months.
The video, believed to have been captured in the northwestern region of the Tigray country, shows dozens of unarmed prisoners surrounded by heavily armed men with Ethiopian flags patterned on their shoulders.
The images were obtained by a US-based pro-Tigray media organization, which said the leak was provided by a “soldier-turned-whistleblower” who is now in hiding.
CNN reported that military experts confirmed that the camouflage worn by the soldiers matched those worn in the Ethiopian military.
“Why don’t you come over and film the execution?” A soldier can be heard telling the whistleblower in Amharic, the official language of the Ethiopian army, which differs from the Tigray dialect.
“Take him over there and shoot him in the back of the head,” says another voice over the grainy vision of a man being led to the edge of a cliff.
The footage then moves on to the aftermath, where soldiers are seen shooting at the bodies of prisoners before throwing them off the cliff.
“I wish we could put gas on them and burn them,” says another off-camera voice.
“It would have been great if there was gas to burn these people,” another soldier responds. “They burn their bodies like the Indians do.”
34 men can be seen in the opening shots, but locals fear as many as 39 were killed.
39 men are believed to have died, adding to the list of thousands estimated to have died in the recent civil war.
A gruesome painting shows a soldier shooting at the body of a prisoner.
Amnesty International and BBC Africa were able to locate the approximate location of the atrocity using geo-analysis software, confirming that it did indeed take place near the town of Mahibere Dego in the Tigray region.
Local village sources described the moment the military raided their village and arrested the prisoners.
A local named Dawit barely escaped by falling off a cliff, breaking his leg in the process. But his brother was not so lucky.
Dawit fled to the northern city of Axum and saw images of his brother being arrested on the news.
“Since we did not see his body with our own eyes and we buried our brother ourselves, it is difficult for us to believe that he is dead. It feels like he is still alive, we cannot accept his death,” he told CNN. “We will always remember”.
The on-camera massacre is just one of many attacks reported in recent months, but a recent communications blackout in Ethiopia has made it difficult to verify exactly what happened and when.
Rough estimates have already put the number of civilians killed in the thousands since the conflict began in late November 2020.
It began when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took up arms against the Tigray region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, for allegedly attacking a military base.
The nation in conflict is now under the microscope with a host of human rights violations and possible war crimes to respond to.
“Take him there and shoot him in the back of the neck,” says a voice over the grainy vision of a man being led to the edge of a cliff.
The prime minister was forced to respond to the allegations last week after Doctors Without Borders reported witnessing the execution of four people by soldiers and claimed that he had attacked his own marked vehicles while traveling through the region.
The government has also faced scrutiny over the alleged involvement of troops from neighboring Eritrea in the conflict, with several claims from local rights groups being crushed by officials from both countries.
After months of denial, Abiy Ahmed admitted that Eritrean troops had been allowed to cross the border and that he “did our soldiers a lasting favor,” but assured that the whip would come down hard if any evidence of human rights violations emerged. .
“The government has shown its willingness to carry out investigations to take stock of what happened in Tigray and allow for an accountability mechanism,” said Billene Seyoum, a spokesperson for Abiy.
“(We will commit) to holding individuals, groups and entities accountable … any harm he has done to our people was unacceptable.”
Whistleblower: ‘I’m so sorry, bro’
Tigrai Media House journalist Stalin Gebreselassie revealed the steps his organization took to protect the identity of the whistleblower.
Gebreselassie said TMH gave the whistleblower money to leave Ethiopia and agreed to wait until he was safely out of the country before releasing the damning images.
“I managed to talk to him alone for three minutes. The words he said to me were: ‘I’m so sorry brother … I’m so sorry for what I did in Tigray, the people of Tigrayan don’t deserve this,'” he He said.
Originally posted as leaked mass execution video online
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