“All we could see in the streets were corpses” – VG

In less than 24 hours, several hundred civilians are said to have been systematically shot and killed in the town of Axum in the northern region of Tigray.

It appears in a new Amnesty report, which tells in detail what happened on November 28 of last year:

Around 3 pm, Eritrean military vehicles entered the city.

The heavily armed soldiers seemed determined, they quickly raised their weapons and began firing around him.

It was the beginning of a completely black nightmare for the inhabitants of the city.

Ethiopia and Eritrea with a common enemy

A few weeks earlier, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, while the world was busy with the US elections, had given the green light for a military operation against the Tigray Liberation Front (TPLF) group.

Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for making peace with neighboring Eritrea, and in the Tigray offensive, old enemies now benefited from each other: Eritrea has a long-standing hostile relationship with the leaders of Tigray, like the Ahmed government.

Therefore, with Ethiopia’s blessing, several thousand Eritrean soldiers must have moved to the Ethiopian region at the beginning of the offensive to assist the Ethiopian government forces.

Shot in the streets

Three weeks after the offensive, the war reached the town of Axum in earnest, which is known for its ancient ruins and churches that are of great importance to Ethiopian Orthodox Christians.

On the morning of November 28, a group of pro-TPLF fighters had attacked Eritrean soldiers not far from Axum.

Eritrean soldiers responded by entering the city.

The details of what happened are described in a recent report by Amnesty International, which has interviewed 41 survivors and eyewitnesses who were in the city that day.

Closed internet and telephone networks, and the exclusion of independent observers such as journalists and humanitarian aid workers, have made the information unavailable until now.

Organized with radio communications and heavy weapons, they first began shooting and killing young men and men, in the streets, who were trying to escape.

A 21-year-old man tells Amnesty:

– I saw a lot of people killed in the streets. In my uncle’s family, six died. This happened in the middle of the city.

Witnesses say that the soldiers went after the men and that the victims were unarmed. Many of them are said to have been shot while trying to flee from the soldiers. Other witnesses describe how the soldiers searched the city for men. Even a farmer working in a field must have been shot when the soldiers found him.

One survivor describes how five of his friends were shot and killed. He tried to save one of them, who was lying wounded on the ground with gunshot wounds.

– I couldn’t take him to the hospital, because the soldiers ransacked the hospital and killed patients there. My friend’s last sentences were: ‘I’m so tired, I just want to sleep. Just save your own life and run.

Went door to door

During the afternoon of November 28 and the morning of November 29, the soldiers also went from house to house in Axum,

Several women, who were hiding in their homes, have told Amnesty that soldiers knocked on the door looking for the teenagers and men in the family.

A witness describes what he saw from his own window:

He says the detainees, who were his neighbors, were lined up and shot in the back. One soldier is said to have asked, “Where are your weapons?” They replied: “We have no weapons, we are civilians.” Then the soldier went to see his commander and asked if he should let them go or kill them. The answer came in cash: “Kill them.”

Another witness told Amnesty:

– All we could see in the streets were corpses and people crying.

It is unclear exactly how many died on the fatal day in November. Amnesty says “several hundred”.

A deacon from a city church, with whom the AP news agency has spoken, says he helped gather and count the dead. He took care of the identity cards and helped deposit the bodies in mass graves. The auxiliary priest believes that some 800 people died in the city.

Holds Ethiopia to account

– This is a report that puts the situation in Tigray in an extremely brutal light, says Amnesty International Norway’s Secretary General John Peder Egenæs to VG.

The fact that it is a massacre that took place some time ago shows how effectively the Ethiopian authorities have been involved in shutting down access to information, he believes.

“Hundreds of people have been massacred in the open air, and to a large extent it has been possible in the shadow of the curtain that the Ethiopian authorities have around the military offensive,” he said.

In addition to the testimonies, the organization has compiled satellite images showing the destruction and mass graves in Axum.

– We believe that this massacre is the main responsibility of the Ethiopian authorities. Eritrean forces appear to have been invited. Now we demand that the UN have free access to investigate what happened. At the same time, international pressure on the Ethiopian authorities must be intensified, he says.

It claims that no civilians have lost their lives

Various organizations have demanded access to Tigray to investigate allegations of abuse from both sides and to help millions of people in emergencies. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed rejects this as foreign interference. He declared victory over the rebels in November and claimed that no civilians had lost their lives.

His government has also denied allegations that several thousand soldiers have moved from Eritrea.

Despite the words of the Peace Prize winner: Now Ethiopia’s version of what has happened is beginning to crack.