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At least 600 people were killed during a “horrible massacre” carried out by Tigray militiamen on 9 November in Mai Kadra, northern Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (ECHR), which is administratively independent but whose director Daniel Beckele was appointed by Prime Minister Abi Ahmed, in a preliminary report accuses an informal youth militia from Tigray and its loyal security forces “Massacre “aimed at seasonal farm workers who weren’t from Tigray.
Amnesty International had already reported that “probably hundreds” of civilians were killed with knives or axes on 9 November in Mai Kandra, the deadliest brutality known since the launch of the federal government’s military operation against regional authorities on 4 November. . Tigray Front (TPLF).
Crimes against humanity according to the Report
In its report, the EHRC accuses an informal youth militia from Tigray called “Samri” and backed by local security forces loyal to the TPLF of “attacking seasonal workers who” were of “Amhara and Walkait ethnic origin” who worked in sesame and sorghum crops.
“Throughout the night”, the perpetrators killed with truncheons, knives, machetes and axes or “strangled with ropes”, and dedicated to looting and destruction, describes the EHRC, which considers that what was committed are crimes against humanity and war crimes “.
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According to eyewitnesses and members of the committee created to bury the victims, “the EHRC estimates that at least 600 civilians were killed”, but the figure may be higher, as some were still missing during the EHRC visit and the bodies were still hidden. in public view in the fields around Mai Kantra.
“The burial (of the victims) lasted three days due to the disparity between the large number of bodies and the possibilities of their burial,” according to their report.
The UN calls for an independent investigation
The UN has called for an independent investigation into what exactly happened at Mai Kantra, while Tigray is isolated and journalists’ travels there are severely restricted. Without commenting on the perpetrators of the “massacre”, Amnesty cited testimonies that it attributed to the forces in favor of the Tigray Popular Liberation Front (TPLF).
However, the people of Mai Kandra, who fled, like 40,000 other Ethiopians, from the fighting in Sudan, have accused government forces of committing atrocities in the area, where heavy fighting has raged since the beginning of the conflict and since then in the hands of government forces. .
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