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- Amnesty International interviewed 41 survivors and witnesses of mass killings in November
- Troops carried out extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate bombing and widespread looting
- Satellite Image Analysis Shows Evidence Consistent With New Burial Sites
Eritrean troops fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray state systematically killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the northern city of Axum on November 28-29, 2020, opened fire in the streets and conducted house-to-house raids in a massacre that may constitute a crime against humanity. Amnesty International said today in a new report.
Amnesty International spoke with 41 survivors and witnesses, including face-to-face interviews with newly arrived refugees in eastern Sudan and telephone interviews with people in Axum, as well as 20 other people with knowledge of the events. They systematically described extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate bombing and widespread looting after Ethiopian and Eritrean troops led an offensive to seize control of the city amid conflict with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in mid-November.
Analysis of satellite images by the organization’s Crisis Evidence Laboratory corroborates reports of indiscriminate bombing and mass looting, and also identifies signs of new mass burials near two of the city’s churches.
“The evidence is compelling and points to a chilling conclusion. Ethiopian and Eritrean troops carried out multiple war crimes in their offensive to take control of Axum. Beyond that, Eritrean troops wreaked havoc and systematically killed hundreds of civilians in cold blood, which appears to constitute crimes against humanity, ”said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern and Southern Africa. “This atrocity is among the worst documented so far in this conflict. In addition to the soaring death toll, Axum residents were plunged into days of collective trauma amid violence, mourning and mass burials. ”
The mass killings occurred just before the annual celebration at Axum Tsion Mariam, a major Ethiopian Orthodox Christian festival on November 30, compounding the trauma by tarnishing an annual event that normally draws many pilgrims and tourists to the holy city.
LARGE-SCALE MILITARY OFFENSIVE
On November 19, 2020, the military forces of Ethiopia and Eritrea seized control of Axum in a large-scale offensive, killing and displacing civilians with indiscriminate shelling and shooting.
Over the next nine days, the Eritrean army engaged in widespread looting of civilian property and extrajudicial executions.
The witnesses were easily able to identify the Eritrean forces. They drove vehicles with Eritrean license plates, wore distinctive camouflage and footwear used by the Eritrean army, and spoke Arabic or a Tigrinya dialect that is not spoken in Ethiopia.
Some bore the ritual facial scars of the Ben Amir, an ethnic group absent from Ethiopia. Finally, some of the soldiers did not hide their identity; They openly told residents that they were Eritreans.
‘ALL WE CAN SEE WERE DEAD BODIES AND PEOPLE CRYING’
According to witnesses, Eritrean troops unleashed the worst of the violence between November 28 and 29.
The attack came immediately after a small group of pro-TPLF militiamen attacked the soldiers’ base on Mai Koho Mountain on the morning of November 28. The militiamen were armed with rifles and supported by residents brandishing improvised weapons, including sticks, knives and stones.
Sustained gunfire can be heard throughout the city in video recorded earlier that day from various locations at the foot of the mountain.
A 22-year-old man who wanted to bring food to the militia told Amnesty International: “The Eritrean soldiers were trained, but the young residents did not even know how to shoot … many of the [local] the fighters began to flee and dropped their weapons. Eritrean soldiers came to the city and started killing randomly. “
Survivors and witnesses said that Eritrean forces deliberately and arbitrarily fired at civilians starting at 4:00 p.m. on November 28.
According to neighbors, the victims were not carrying weapons and many were fleeing from the soldiers when they were shot.
A man who hid in an unfinished building said he saw a group of six Eritrean soldiers kill a neighbor with a vehicle-mounted heavy machine gun on the street near the Mana hotel: “I was standing. I think he was confused. They were probably within 10 meters of him. They shot him in the head.
”I saw a lot of dead people on the street. Even my uncle’s family. Six members of his family died. So many people died. ”
The murders left the streets of Axum and the cobbled squares strewn with corpses. A man who had run out of town returned at night after the shooting stopped. “All we could see in the streets were corpses and people crying,” he said.
On November 29, Eritrean soldiers shot anyone who tried to move the bodies of the dead.
Soldiers also continued to carry out house-to-house raids, hunting and killing adult men, as well as some teenagers and a smaller number of women.
One man said he looked out the window and saw six dead men on the street in front of his home on Nov. 29. He said the soldiers lined them up and fired from behind, using a light machine gun to kill several at once with a single bullet.
Interviewees named dozens of people they knew were killed, and Amnesty International has compiled the names of more than 240 of the victims. The organization has not been able to independently verify the total death toll, but constant witness testimonies and corroborating evidence make it plausible that hundreds of residents were killed.
BURING THE DEAD
Most of the burials took place on November 30, but the process of collecting and burying the bodies lasted several days.
Many residents said they volunteered to move the bodies in carts, in batches of five to ten at a time; one said it transported 45 bodies.
Residents estimate that several hundred people were buried after the massacre, and they attended funerals at various churches where dozens were buried. Hundreds of people were buried in the largest funeral, held in the complex that includes the Arba’etu Ensessa church and the Axum Tsion St Mariam church.
Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Laboratory geolocated a video showing people carrying a dead man on a stretcher in Da’Ero Ela Plaza (14.129918, 38.717113), towards the Arba’etu Ensessa church.
High-resolution satellite images from December 13 show disturbed land that matches recent graves around the Arba’etu Ensessa and Abune Aregawi churches.
BULLYING AND LOOTING
In the days after the burials, the Eritrean army detained hundreds of residents in different parts of the city. They beat some of the men, threatening them with a new round of revenge killings if they resisted.
Residents of Axum witnessed an increase in looting by the Eritrean army during this period, targeting shops, public buildings, including a hospital, and private homes. Luxury items and vehicles were widely looted, as well as medicine, furniture, household items, food and beverages.
International humanitarian law (the laws of war) prohibits deliberate attacks against civilians, indiscriminate attacks and pillage (looting). Violations of these rules constitute war crimes. Unlawful killings that are part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population are crimes against humanity.
“As a matter of urgency, there must be a UN-led investigation into the grave violations in Axum. Those suspected of being responsible for war crimes or crimes against humanity must be prosecuted in fair trials and victims and their families must receive full reparation, “said Deprose Muchena.” We reiterate our call on the Ethiopian government to grant full and unimpeded access to Tigray for humanitarian, human rights and media organizations. “
This article first appeared in the Somaliland Chronicle and is republished with permission.
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