People react as they stand next to a mass grave containing the bodies of 81 victims of Eritrean and Ethiopian forces, killed during violence of the previous months, in the city of Wukro, north of Mekele, on February 28, 2021. - Every phase of the four-month-old conflict in Tigray has brought suffering to Wukro, a fast-growing transport hub once best-known for its religious and archaeological sites. Ahead of federal forces' arrival in late November 2020, heavy shelling levelled homes and businesses and sent plumes of dust and smoke rising above near-deserted streets. Since then the town has been heavily patrolled by soldiers, Eritreans at first, now mostly Ethiopians, whose abuses fuel a steady flow of civilian casualties and stoke anger with Nobel Peace Prize-winner Abiy. (Photo by EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP)
Buses carrying Ethiopian refugees who fled the fighting in the Tigray depart from the Hamdayet area of Sudan’s eastern Kassala state to a camp, on November 22, 2020. – Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has been rocked by bloody fighting since November 4, when Ethiopia announced the launch of military operations there. The ongoing conflict is reported to have killed hundreds of people and forced thousands more to flee into neighbouring Sudan. (Photo by ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP)
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The document released on Wednesday morning reports on incidents when armed Eritrean troops went from house to house asking for men and boys from villages. They then shot them.
The document, ‘Investigation into Grave Human Rights Violations in Aksum City’ is only preliminary finding, but it came a day after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed admitted for the first time of the presence of Eritrean troops on Ethiopian soil.
The report confirmed that on two days, November 28 and November 29, 2020, “grave violations of human rights” were committed and that in Aksum, more than 100 civilians including tourists on a pilgrimage who were attending to mark the annual Aksum Tsion celebration and IDPs living in the area. “As the residents, families of victims and eyewitnesses described to EHRC, “civilians were killed in front of their children, spouses and mothers.” Eritrean soldiers went door to door asking women “where their husbands or children were” telling them “to bring their sons out if they have any” and asking questions in Tigrinya and shooting at civilian men they dragged out of houses and caught on streets even as the men pleaded saying they were not armed.
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“Families of victims and eyewitnesses identified the attackers as Eritrean soldiers by their distinct Eritrean Tigrinya accent, by the uniforms and shoes they were wearing and a distinct cultural marking on the face of some of the Eritrean soldiers.”
Eritrea had reacted angrily to earlier findings by Amnesty International and later Human Rights Watch in February, accusing the rights watchdogs of relying on ‘biased’ witnesses among the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
On Tuesday, however, Dr Abiy said Eritrean troops had done “favours” to his country when he first launched an operation targeting the erstwhile ruling party, TPLF. But he did say Addis Ababa will not defend atrocities committed by either his own troops or those of Eritrea.
“However, after the Eritrean army crossed the border and was operating in Ethiopia, any damage it did to our people was unacceptable,” he said.
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“We don’t accept it because it is the Eritrean army, and we would not accept it if it were our soldiers. The military campaign was against our clearly targeted enemies, not against the people. We have discussed this four or five times with the Eritrean government,” Abiy said.
The Ethiopian rights watchdog said the crimes were not ‘ordinary’ “but grave contraventions of applicable international and human rights laws and principles, marked by intentionally directed attacks against civilians who were not directly taking part in the hostilities and including intentional looting, destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity (including religious institutions and health facilities).
“As these grave human rights violations may amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes, it underscores the need for a comprehensive investigation into overall human rights situation in Tigray region.”
