Eritrean troops fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray state
systematically killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the northern city of
Axum on 28-29 November 2020, opening fire in the streets and conducting
house-to-house raids in a massacre that may amount to a crime against humanity,
Amnesty International said today in a
new report.
Amnesty International spoke to 41 survivors and witnesses – including in-person
interviews with recently arrived refugees in eastern Sudan and phone interviews
with people in Axum – as well as 20 others with knowledge of the events. They
consistently described extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shelling and
widespread looting after Ethiopian and Eritrean troops led an offensive to take
control of the city amid the conflict with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front
(TPLF) in mid-November.
Satellite imagery analysis by the organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab
corroborates reports of indiscriminate shelling and mass looting, as well as
identifies signs of new mass burials near two of the city’s churches.
“The evidence is compelling and points to a chilling conclusion. Ethiopian and
Eritrean troops carried out multiple war crimes in their offensive to take
control of Axum. Above and beyond that, Eritrean troops went on a rampage and
systematically killed hundreds of civilians in cold blood, which appears to
constitute crimes against humanity,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty
International's Director for East and Southern Africa.
This atrocity ranks among the worst documented so far in
this conflict. Besides the soaring death toll, Axum’s residents were plunged
into days of collective trauma amid violence, mourning and mass burials.
Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East
and Southern Africa
“This atrocity ranks among the worst documented so far in this conflict.
Besides the soaring death toll, Axum’s residents were plunged into days of
collective trauma amid violence, mourning and mass burials.”
The mass killings came just before the annual celebration at Axum Tsion Mariam,
a major Ethiopian Orthodox Christian festival on 30 November, compounding the
trauma by casting a pall over an annual event that typically draws many
pilgrims and tourists to the sacred city.
Large-scale military
offensive
Overview image of damage & debris around the city of
Axum, in Ethiopia's Tigray region, following an offensive by Ethiopian and
Eritrean forces in November 2020. Image: Google © 2021 Maxar Technologies
On 19 November 2020, Ethiopian and Eritrean military forces
took control of Axum in a large-scale offensive, killing and displacing
civilians with indiscriminate shelling and shooting.
In the nine days that followed, the Eritrean military engaged in widespread looting
of civilian property and extrajudicial executions.
Witnesses could easily identify the Eritrean forces. They drove vehicles with
Eritrean license plates, wore distinctive camouflage and footwear used by the
Eritrean army and spoke Arabic or a dialect of Tigrinya not spoken in Ethiopia.
Some bore the ritual facial scars of the Ben Amir, an ethnic group absent from
Ethiopia. Finally, some of the soldiers made no secret of their identity; they
openly told residents they were Eritrean.
‘All we could see were dead
bodies and people crying’
According to witnesses, the Eritrean troops unleashed the
worst of the violence on 28-29 November. The onslaught came directly after a
small band of pro-TPLF militiamen attacked the soldiers’ base on Mai Koho
mountain on the morning of 28 November. The militiamen were armed with rifles
and supported by residents brandishing improvised weapons, including sticks,
knives and stones.
Sustained gunfire can be heard ringing out across the city in a video recorded
early that day from several locations at the bottom of the mountain.
A 22-year-old man who wanted to bring food to the militia told Amnesty
International: “The Eritrean soldiers were trained but the young residents
didn’t even know how to shoot… a lot of the [local] fighters started running
away and dropped their weapons. The Eritrean soldiers came into the city and
started killing randomly.”
Survivors and witnesses said Eritrean forces deliberately and wantonly shot at
civilians from about 4pm onwards on 28 November.
According to residents, the victims carried no weapons and many were running
away from the soldiers when they were shot. One man who hid in an unfinished
building said he saw a group of six Eritrean soldiers kill a neighbour with a
vehicle-mounted heavy machine-gun on the street near the Mana Hotel: “He was
standing. I think he was confused. They were probably around 10 metres from
him. They shot him in the head.”
I saw a lot of people dead on the street. Even my uncle’s
family. Six of his family members were killed. So many people were
killed.
21-year-old male resident of Axum
A 21-year-old male resident said: “I saw a lot of people
dead on the street. Even my uncle’s family. Six of his family members were
killed. So many people were killed.”
The killings left Axum’s streets and cobblestone plazas strewn with bodies. One
man who had run out of the city returned at night after the shooting stopped.
“All we could see on the streets were dead bodies and people crying,” he said.
On 29 November, Eritrean soldiers shot at anyone who tried to move the bodies
of those killed.
The soldiers also continued to carry out house-to-house raids, hunting down and
killing adult men, as well as some teenage boys and a smaller number of women.
One man said he watched through his window and saw six men killed in the street
outside his house on 29 November. He said the soldiers lined them up and shot
from behind, using a light-machine gun to kill several at a time with a single
bullet.
Interviewees named scores of people they knew who were killed, and Amnesty
International has collected the names of more than 240 of the victims. The
organization has been unable to independently verify the overall death toll,
but consistent witness testimonies and corroborating evidence make it plausible
that hundreds of residents were killed.
Burying the dead
Most of the burials took place on 30 November, but the
process of collecting and burying the bodies lasted several days.
Many residents said they volunteered to move the bodies on carts, in batches of
five to 10 at a time; one said he transported 45 bodies. Residents estimate
that several hundred people were buried in the aftermath of the massacre, and
they attended funerals at several churches where scores were buried. Hundreds
were buried at the largest funeral, held at the complex that includes the
Arba’etu Ensessa church and the Axum Tsion St Mariam Church.
Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab geolocated a video showing
people carrying a dead man on a stretcher in Da’Ero Ela Plaza (14.129918,
38.717113), towards Arba’etu Ensessa church. High-resolution satellite imagery
from 13 December shows disturbed earth consistent with recent graves around the
Arba’etu Ensessa and the Abune Aregawi churches.
Intimidation and looting
In the days following the burials, the Eritrean army rounded
up hundreds of residents in different parts of the city. They beat some of the
men, threatening them with a new round of revenge killings if they resisted.
Axum residents witnessed a surge in the Eritrean army’s looting during this
period, targeting stores, public buildings including a hospital, and private
homes. Luxury goods and vehicles were widely looted, as well as medication,
furniture, household items, food, and drink.
International humanitarian law (the laws of war) prohibits deliberate targeting
of civilians, indiscriminate attacks, and pillage (looting). Violations of
these rules constitute war crimes. Unlawful killings that form part of a
widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population are crimes
against humanity.
“As a matter of urgency, there must be a UN-led investigation into the grave
violations in Axum. Those suspected of responsibility for war crimes or crimes
against humanity must be prosecuted in fair trials and victims and their
families must receive full reparation,” said Deprose Muchena.“We repeat our call
on the Ethiopian government to grant full and unimpeded access across Tigray
for humanitarian, human rights, and media organizations.”
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