Amnesty International denounces 'hundreds of civilians' killed by Eritrean forces in Tigray

Eritrean troops killed more than 240 civilians between 28 and 29 November in the Ethiopian town of Axum in the northern state of Tigray, a territory against which federal troops have been conducting an offensive for nearly four months, Amnesty International (AI) said in a report on Friday.

"Those interviewed mentioned dozens of acquaintances who were killed, and Amnesty International has compiled the names of more than 240 victims," said the organisation, which acknowledges that it has not been able to "independently verify the total number of dead" in a massacre that could constitute "a crime against humanity".

On 19 November 2020, Ethiopian and Eritrean military forces took control of Axum in a large-scale offensive involving shelling and gunfire, and over the next nine days, AI says, the Eritrean army (with different number plates and uniforms) engaged in looting and extrajudicial killings.

According to eyewitness accounts, the worst outbreak of violence occurred on the 28th after militia supporters of the then ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked a federal base with rifles as well as sticks, knives and stones.

"The Eritrean soldiers were trained, but the young residents did not even know how to shoot... many of the (local) fighters started to flee and left their weapons behind. The Eritrean soldiers came to the town and started killing at random," explains a 22-year-old witness.

"All you could see in the streets were dead bodies and people crying," recounts another Aksum resident who fled the town during the day and returned at night. The next day, Eritrean soldiers apparently opened fire on anyone who tried to move the dead.

"The evidence is compelling and points to a chilling conclusion," AI's regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Deprose Muchena, said today.

"This atrocity is among the worst documented to date in this conflict. In addition to the high death toll, residents of Axum were plunged into days of collective trauma amid violence, mourning and mass burials," she said.

Through satellite imagery analysed by the Crisis Evidence Lab, the NGO was able to corroborate reports of indiscriminate shelling, mass looting and digging for new graves in the vicinity of two churches.

For this report, AI also interviewed 41 survivors and witnesses, including newly arrived refugees in eastern Sudan, held phone calls with Ethiopians in Aksum and spoke to another 20 or so people with knowledge of what happened.

"The UN must lead an investigation into the serious violations (committed) in Aksum," said Muchena, who demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice and that the Ethiopian government allow "full access" to aid workers, human rights organisations and journalists.

The European Parliament itself called on 11 February for "unrestricted access" of humanitarian aid to Tigray, where civilians are deprived of food, water, electricity and fuel.