In the region of Tigray in Ethiopia, a mass killing has taken place- As reported by Amnesty International on last Thursday.
They have corroborated that hundreds of people were brutally murdered in Mai-Kadra. Mai-Kadra is located in the South West region of Ethiopia where people were stabbed to death in the dark of the night on November 9.
The photographs that are the concrete evidence of the ghastly killings have been verified by the organization. A number of horrid videos have also been surfaced. The videos very clearly show bodies being taken across the town or being taken to the nearby hospitals on stretchers.
What have Witnesses Said About This?
Deprose Muchena, who is the Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa, stated,
“We have confirmed the massacre of a very large number of civilians, who appear to have been day laborers in no way involved in the ongoing military offensive.”
In addition to this, the massacre has also been confirmed by several witnesses who were present at the scene or saw the bodies of the people laid across everywhere themselves.
Among the dead bodies, there were also many people who were injured severely.
One of the witnesses let the human rights organization know that the wounds that they observed were inflicted by sharp objects such as axes, knives etc. Not only did the ones who were inhumanly killed lost their lives to machetes but the wounded people were also the victims of the same kind of weapon.
The official statement of the witness is as follows:
“Those wounded told me they were attacked with machetes, axes and knives. You can also tell from the wounds that those who died were attacked by sharp objects.”
There were no marks from any other weapons, affirming that all injuries were the mere result of merciless usage of sharp weapons.
Even though some witnesses were devastated to see the horrific incident, they still came forward with the details they saw. Some of them didn’t feel comfortable with giving out their names in case of a counterattack.
A little overview:
If we look at the latest occurrence in Ethiopia, we can come to know that a kind of war was declared with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, also known as TPLF, which is the ruling party of the Tigray region.
Over a month ago, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Ably Ahmed gave that order to the Ethiopian Defense Forces. That order also included airstrikes.
Both parties accusing each other
The Prime Minister has blatantly accused Tigray’s leaders of the mass killing. But the leaders have contradicted that allegation. They have in turn blamed Ably Ahmed of this dreadful happening that ended in the butchery of innocent people.
The Tigray leader, Debretsion Gebremichael, informed Agence France-Presse, an international news company which also holds the title of being the world’s oldest news agency, that the accusations that the Prime Minister have made are nothing but baseless.
According to the leader, they have no solid foundation since the attack wasn’t ordered by the regional party that is under the said leader’s supervision.
TPLF’s leader has gone so far as to say that they will be glad to co-operate with an international examination that will scrutinize the cause and the forces behind the killing of Mai-Kadra’s civilians.
So who is actually responsible for this attack?
It has not yet been known that who exactly is responsible for this gruesome attack.
The witnesses that Amnesty International spoke to, said that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) were amenable for this. Especially after being overthrown by the EDF forces.
The ones who made it out alive also told the organization that they were assailed by TPLF and TSPF (Tigray Special Police Force).
Refugee present situation:
Refugees have fled the western Tigray region into the neighboring country, Sudan. They have found shelter there. Two days after the horrifying killing, on 11th of November, this step was taken by many people. This act was done by 7,000 refugees as reported by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Many refugees are living in refugee camps and host communities are also living with them.
At the start of the conflict between the two parties in question, more than 90,000 people were already replaced. Now, more refugees, in addition to the ones who were already present there, have joined them.
This makes a total number of almost 200,000 people.
The refugees don’t stop coming. It has been claimed by Babar Baloch, who is the spoke person of UNHCR, that 4,000 people are seen crossing the border in just a single day.
The refugees have professed that the attack was not carried out only by one regional party but by the both of them. Both of them are equally involved in this extremely cruel action taken against the civilians.
A witness who fled the region where this atrocity took place said that the killings were ‘ethnic.’ The witness declared that standing on the border of Ethiopia, from where he fled.
Because of the ongoing dispute between the two parties, the United Nations has said that supplies could run out in northern Ethiopia.
Shortage of food and other important and basic supplies have been reported. The supplies that the UN is shipping out to Tigray would most likely be disturbed. The people who are in need of them will obviously suffer as an unavoidable consequence.
For that to not happen, the safety of the United Nations should also be assured.
Communication made difficult in Mai-Kadra:
Due to the rivalry, the communication has become difficult.
Mobile phone and internet connections have been cut off. Because of this, the news isn’t delivered easily. The people who are living in Mai-Kadra have no way to contact their families and friends.
Even worse, the people who are disabled need more care. Because of this inconvenience, they are not able to even talk to their loved ones.
However, the restoration of communication is in the process as requested by the people.
