• Amnesty International on Thursday said it had confirmed that scores, “and likely hundreds”, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the situation in the Ethiopian region of Tigray was “rapidly deteriorating”
Image: REUTERS
International rights groups have decried abuse of human rights in Ethiopia, as the federal forces engage the Tigray People's Liberation Front in a military offensive.
Amnesty International on Thursday said it had confirmed that scores, “and likely hundreds”, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the South West Zone of Ethiopia’s Tigray region on the night of November 9.
“The organisation’s Crisis Evidence Lab has examined and digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers. It confirmed the images were recent and using satellite imagery, geolocated them to Mai-Kadra in western Tigray state,” Amnesty said in a statement.
Amnesty International’s director for East and Southern Africa Deprose Muchena said they had confirmed the massacre “of a very large number of civilians, who appear to have been day labourers in no way involved in the ongoing military offensive”.
"People who saw the dead bodies told Amnesty International that they had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes... Witnesses said there were no signs of gunshot wounds," Muchema said.
Witnesses told Amnesty that forces loyal to TPLF were responsible for the mass killings, apparently after they suffered defeat from the federal EDF forces.
Muchena urged the Ethiopian government to restore all communication to Tigray as an act of accountability and transparency for its military operations.
He also called for unfettered access to humanitarian organisations and human rights monitors to the region.
On Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the situation in Tigray was “rapidly deteriorating”.
“There is a risk this situation will spiral totally out of control, leading to heavy casualties and destruction, as well as mass displacement within Ethiopia itself and across borders,” Bachete said.
“If confirmed as having been deliberately carried out by a party to the current fighting, these killings of civilians would of course amount to war crimes, and there must be an independent investigation and full accountability for what has happened,” she added.
This is even as Nobel-Prize winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed remained adamant that the operation would continue until “the criminal junta is disarmed, legitimate administration in the region restored, and fugitives apprehended & brought to justice — all of them rapidly coming within reach”.
In a recored speech shared on official social media accounts on Thursday, Abiy said they had handled the situation with "great restraint".
"We will exercise due care to protect law abiding and peaceful citizens from being harmed by the operation we are undertaking,"Abiy said.
The AU and IGAD have called for immediate cessation of hostilities and dialogue.
The European Commission on Thursday warned that ethnically targeted measures, hate speech and allegations of atrocities occurring in Ethiopia are “deeply worrying”.
In a joint statement by High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell and Commissioner Janez Lenarčič on Thursday, the EU said the demonisation of ethnic groups “is a vicious and lethal cycle from which Ethiopia must be spared”.
“The danger of a major humanitarian crisis is imminent and an immediate de-escalation is needed. All parties should show restraint and reinforce their calls to avoid incitement to hatred and violence,” they said.
Borrel and Lenarčič said human rights and international humanitarian law need to be upheld, “including ensuring safe and free movement of civilians as well as a timely, independent, unimpeded and unconditional access of humanitarian workers to most vulnerable”.
Ethiopia federal government is involved in a conflict with the Tigray region since November 4, when TPLF allegedly attached a military base in the north.
Already, there are reports that refugees are arriving in Sudan in their thousands.
“At least 2,500 refugees were counted in the past two days, but hundreds more civilians arriving were yet to be processed by authorities,” lsir Khaled, head of Sudan’s refugee agency in the eastern border town of Kassala, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.
Sudanese state media on Wednesday said more than 8,000 Ethiopians had crossed into Sudan in 48 hours.
UN refugee agency on Friday said more than 14,500 people have fled to Sudan, among them are thousands of children.
There are also reports of a crackdown on the media, with at least four journalists arrested.
Ethiopia Human Rights Commissioner Daniel Bekele on Wednesday said he was concerned with the arrest of more journalists, “with EPA’s (Ethiopian Press Agency) Haftu Gebregzhiabher, Tsegaye Hadush, and Abreha Hagos, as well as OMN’s (Oromia Media Network) Udi Mussa detained overnight.”
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Kenea Yadeta has said a transitional administration will be formed in parts of Tigray that have been set free from TPLF.