By Meron Getachew
The Human Right Watch and Amnesty International analysis of the terrible crime committed against ethnic Tigrayans in the western Tigray region point out that further and thorough investigation needs to be conducted by the International Investigation Agent to come to a conclusion as to whether genocide is committed on ethnic Tigrayans. The Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International analysis of ethnic cleansing in the western Tigray region, however, raises legitimate questions. Under genocide convention, eliminating people’s way of life is a crime, said Prof. Mukesh Kapila. But the mass atrocities committed against ethnic Tigrayans in the country, especially in the western Tigray and the vast humanitarian crisis in the Tigray region is beyond the destruction of the way of people’s lives. In Western Tigray alone more than 100,000 civilian Tigrayans were savagely killed by the evading Amhara forces. Tigray has been under siege for more than 500 days and due to all-out blockade and inhibition to humanitarian aid and to basic human needs, such as food, water, and medicines, several hundred thousand Tigrayans have died as a result of human-made famine and lack of life-saving medications. According to researchers, 500,000 Tigrayans have already died within 500 days in the Tigray region. Furthermore, 1.2 million civilian Tigrayans are forcibly removed from their home and countless Tigrayans were arbitrarily shot and killed in the desert as they were fleeing to Sudan and to the other part of Tigray. This is beyond the destruction of a way of people’s lives because it had led countless numbers of Tigrayans from young to old to die in the desert. Out of 1.2 million civilian Tigrayans who were forced out of their home into the desert, 400,000 of them are not still known where they disappeared or their whereabouts. In addition, approximately hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans are forcibly entered into concentration camps in different regions in the country and tens of thousands of detainee Tigrayans were forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially killed. Tigrayan detainees who are still held in secret detention sites are suffering: they are being ill-treated, tortured, and deliberately starved and many have died as a result of terrible mistreatment. The reluctantness and lack of effort to ensure accountability have encouraged genociders to commit further atrocities on ethnic Tigrayans.
According to research data, 276 massacre sites are identified in different areas in the Tigray region. Mai Kadra massacre is the first horrific massacre that took place in Western Tigray on November 9 &10, 2020. A crowd of barbaric Fano gangsters and Amhara militias armed with axes, knives, and matchet crept behind federal troops and raid on house to house in the town, and savagely slaughtered and hatched to death an estimated 1100 civilian Tigrayans (men, women, and children). All the victims in MaiKadra massacre were ethnic Tigrayans. But, the Abiy government staged the crime by fabricating a story on the Mai Kadra massacre and twisted the crime into an imaginary force calling it youth loyal Tigrayans and misleading the world communities. Abiy’s government spread the propaganda through the institution it funds, the Ethiopia Human Right Commission led by Daniel Bekele. Daniel Bekele seemingly did a premilitary and so-called investigation which he said he did by sending a group of investigators to investigate the crime, but what they did was they concealed the massacre crime by changing the identity of the corpses of Tigrayans to Amhara identity and twisted the crime to an imaginary force that they call ‘loyal youth Tigrayans. Netsanet Belay of the Amnesty International along with Daniel Bekele of EHRC then released a false report and misled the international communities. But the question is why Amnesty International failed to detect the biasness of the report when the so-called investigation was carried out by people of Amhara ethnicity in race-related crime. Why did Amnesty International has not conducted interviews with survivors, relatives, and eyewitnesses from Mai Kadra who are still in Sudan refugee camps? Why Amnesty International has not re-examined the so-called investigation when the invading Amhara force burned the corpses of Tigrayans in the attempt to destroy trace of evidence from Mai Kadra massacre. Why didn’t Amnesty International re-examined the so-called investigation when the truth about Mai Kadra massacre was exposed through survivors who bear blade wounds on their bodies which exactly reflect the blade injuries on the corpses of Tigrayans that were seen in the two videos, which were supposedly analyzed by crew such as Netsanet and Daniel of EHRC.
The following text materials come from a trustworthy source: TGHAT Media.
The following testimonial pieces of evidence from survivors, relatives, and eyewitnesses, who had fled from Mai Kadra and Welkait to Sudan in search of sanctuary, expose the truth about Mai Kadra massacre and the brutal death of ethnic Tigrayan in Welkait with detailed information. The pieces of evidence that are gathered from survivors and eyewitnesses show civilian Tigrayans were stabbed, slaughtered, and hacked to death with axes, knives, and machetes. Some of the identified Tigrayan victims are Mr. Tesfay Mitiku (60), Mr. Aregay Weldu (82), Mr. Mehari Niguse (47), and Mr. Birhane Gebrehiwet Gebremedhin (28), Mr. Haftu (80) with his wife. Tigrayan refugees in Sudan sharply rejected the Abiy government’s false story on the Mai Kadra massacre because they said it is the Abiy government who sent Fano Amhara militias on them, and then twisted the crime to Tigrayans to criminalize Tigrayans and to make Tigrayans target of further attack. As the matter of fact, the false story Abiy sold out on the Mai Kadra massacre had emboldened the invading Amhara forces, barbaric Fano gangsters, and Amhara militias to commit further massacres and ethnic cleansing of ethnic Tigrayans.
According to TGHAT, One witness said: Fano from the Amhara region came, then took us all out from homes. We saw our neighbors killed and slaughtered in the same way as you cut wood with an axe and knife. Youths were sent to kill us. We [scape from them and] hid in the field, more than 70 [fano militias] were [looking for us] trying to kill us. They hunted us. On the way, many were killed. We passed many dead bodies. They checked the IDs of people
if they find someone with Tigrayan origin’ [they] slaughter with a knife.” Another witness Belay (58) said, We saw evil things, [Tigrayans] whose necks were cut, limbs hanging. There was no one to bury the dead. They were just laying there.”
Genet Haile is another eyewitness who saw her father being hacked to death in the onslaught attack. Teklehiwot Abraham is a survivor of Mai Kadra massacre. Teklehiwot said that he was encountered by a crowd of fano Amhara gangsters with knives, axes, and machetes in their hands as he was going back from the farm to home and he was attacked and was left to die on the ground. Teklehiwot said, We didn’t know what was going on. They hit my leg and my head with an ax. They left me for dead. We couldn’t even speak. We didn’t know what was happening to us. Yonas is another survivor from Mai Kadra, who was encountered by slug Amhara gangsters and was struck on the head repeatedly with a machete and axe. Yonas miraculously survived after he was attacked barbarically and was left to die. Several hundred Tigrayan refugees from Mai Kadra have a list of hundreds and hundreds of Tigrayans who were killed by barbaric fano Amhara militias. Woldegiorgis is another survivor and witness of many painful encounters in Welkait. Woldegiorgis said in his neighborhood alone more than a hundred Tigrayans were killed and he could list the names of Tigrayan victims. Woldegiorgis said it is genocide with an aim to erase Tigrayans from the face of the earth. Awetash Yibra (32), an eyewitness from Welkait, attested to the shacking scene of dead bodies she saw in the streets as she was fleeing to Sudan. Yibra said, There were dead boys everywhere, their body parts were cut. They were spread throughout the sidewalk and streets. I can’t get the boy, they ran over, out of my head. It makes you wish you were dead. Beriye Atsbaha is another witness, and she said, Fano slaughters people. Fano kills people, they kill you because you are Tigrayan.
Sources
Reference 1) ttps://www.tghat.com
[Survivors Recount the Mai Kadra Massacre]
[Days 54 of War on Tigray: Mai Kadra]
[The Mai Kadra Massacre]
Reference 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmT6YEvxsCY&t=2117s
[The History of Tigray: 17th Century to Present]
Reference 3) https://youtu.be/QGwf7iv4Gng
Season1Eouside2 GRW-Amnesty Joint Report on Tigray with Prof KapilalP / CPOTM
