Johannesburg – The medical charity Doctors Without Borders has revealed details of the horrific war taking place outside the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, reporting that government forces have executed cold-blooded civilians.
Since the outbreak of violence in Tigray a few months ago, the Ethiopian government has imposed a media shutdown, preventing both foreign and local journalists from entering the region until recently. Some journalists have begun to approach the fighting now, but with little freedom of movement, so the veil of secrecy is slowly lifted and we continue to hear about the horrific violence long after that.
That is why eyewitness accounts from Doctors Without Borders – known by the French acronym MSF – about recent brutality have become key evidence of the ongoing conflict.
The group said the MSF car was clearly marked and that two public buses running behind it were stopped on a road by Ethiopian soldiers. Their driver was beaten but left behind in the vehicle, but the organization said the passengers in the buses were unloaded, the men and women separated, and the men, who numbered at least four, were shot at a distance.
Minasse Wondimu Hailu / Anadolu / Getty Agency
It is a horrible story, but what is worse is that it seems to happen regularly in the region, as stories of massacres and other violence continue to appear, usually long after that and always difficult to verify.
Sexual violence
On Monday, the United Nations called for an end to non-discriminatory and targeted attacks on civilians in Tigray, including rape and other forms of sexual violence.
Gender-based violence has long used as a weapon of war all over the world and in this special conflict – which has become more and more like an example of ethnic cleansing – rape is used to humiliate, shame, destroy the dignity and shatter the souls of Tigrian women.
Ethiopian government troops have been accused of joining forces with soldiers in neighboring Eritrea to brutalize and rape Tigrinya women. Some of the limited reports that will appear in the region suggest that when these women are attacked, they are told that it will cleanse them of their Tigrayan blood.
British Channel 4 recently aired a devastating report on these atrocities. One survivor recounted a painful 10-day network attempt during which she said she and five other women were gang-raped by Eritrean soldiers. She said the troops joked and took pictures when they injected her drugs, tied her to a stone, stripped her naked, stabbed her and repeatedly raped her.
Doctors who treated Tigrayan women said a woman’s vagina was filled with nails, stones and plastic.
For the first time since the conflict began, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has acknowledged that atrocities have been committed, saying any soldier found guilty of raping women or other war crimes will be held accountable. But, as he said, he also suggested that the circumstances in the region were exaggerated for propaganda.
What is the Tigray War about?
The conflict began in November after Ahmed ordered an offensive against the party in Tigray, a semi-autonomous region of Ethiopia, accusing them of attacking a government military base.
But it was the result of long-running tension between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and Ahmed’s central government in the capital Addis Ababa. The TPLF was the ruling party in Ethiopia, dominating politics and enjoying disproportionate economic power for decades.
Abiy came to power in 2018 following widespread anti-government protests and immediately sought to increase central government control and minimize regional autonomy. TPLF officials have been ousted from government, with some accused of corruption, and tensions between the two entities have risen steadily since the armed conflict began in November.
The Eritrean forces crossing the border to join Abiy’s troops have been particularly worrying.
In 2019, Abiy received the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the long war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. As early as Tuesday of this week, Abiy and his government blatantly denied the presence of any Eritrean forces in Ethiopia, but the evidence was overwhelming and he was forced to admit that Eritrean troops had crossed the border.
He said they came because they were worried they would be attacked by their longtime enemy – the TPLF, whose forces had borne the brunt of the fighting during the Ethiopia-Eritrea war.
Eritrea was part of Ethiopia, but became a separate nation after a war of independence in the early 1990s. Then war broke out between them again in 1998. Abiy said this week that Eritrea had promised to withdraw its forces when the Ethiopian army could control the border.
Eritrean forces are now accused of the worst human rights atrocities committed in Tigray since the beginning of the current conflict.
US intervention?
The Biden administration sent $ 50 million in aid and sent Senator Chris Coons to speak with Ethiopian leaders, but many experts say that not only the United States but the rest of the Western world are failing to address the crisis.
Despite repeated condemnations by the US and the United Nations of atrocities, the brutality has continued and, according to reports, has become even more severe.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Abiy to call for an end to the conflict, and there is no doubt that diplomatic pressure is being put on the Ethiopian leader to end the violence.
Until recently, Ethiopia, a close US military ally, was seen as a strategic landmark in the volatile Horn of Africa, but as the Tigray conflict continues, analysts worry that Ethiopia could become another source of instability in a region. affected by Islamist insurgencies and unrest.
In an indication of how serious the US is for the crisis, Blinken announced on Wednesday night that a special envoy will be appointed for the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia being a top priority.
Blinken held talks with EU officials this week to discuss “a variety of measures to support unhindered humanitarian access, the investigation of human rights abuses, the cessation of hostilities and the immediate withdrawal of Eritrea from Ethiopia.”