ADIGRAT, Ethiopia (Reuters) – The young mother was trying to get home with food for her two children when she said soldiers took her off a minibus in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, claiming she was overloaded.
It was the beginning of an 11-day ordeal in February, during which she says she was repeatedly raped by 23 soldiers who forced nails, a stone and other objects into her vagina and threatened her with a knife.
Doctors showed Reuters a bloodstained stone and two 3-inch nails that they said they removed from their bodies.
The 27-year-old woman is among the hundreds who reported being subjected to horrific sexual violence by Ethiopian Eritrean and Allied soldiers after fighting broke out in November in the northern mountainous region of Ethiopia, doctors said.
Some women have been held captive for extended periods, days or weeks at a time, said Dr. Fasika Amdeselassie, the government’s highest-appointed interim administration public health official in Tigray.
“Women are being held in sexual slavery,” Fasika told Reuters. “The perpetrators must be investigated.”
Rape reports have been circulating here for months. Fasika’s statement, based on women’s accounts, marks the first time an Ethiopian official – in this case, a top regional health officer – has been charged with sexual slavery in connection with the Tigray conflict.
In addition, eight other doctors from five public hospitals told Reuters that most rape victims described their attackers as soldiers of the Ethiopian government or Eritrean troops. It was more common for women to report sexual violence by Eritrean soldiers, doctors said.
Eritreans helped the central government of Ethiopia fight the region’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), in the conflict that affected the Horn of Africa nation.
Taken together, the descriptions present the most detailed picture to date of sexual violence against women in Tigray and the alleged involvement of the military in it.
Most of the people interviewed for this article refused to be identified. They said they fear reprisals, including possible violence, from soldiers guarding hospitals and cities.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed acknowledged in a speech to parliament on March 23 that “the atrocities were committed by raping women” and promised that the perpetrators would be punished. He did not identify the alleged perpetrators.
He then said for the first time that Eritrean soldiers had entered the Tigray conflict in support of the Ethiopian government after the TPLF attacked military bases in the region in the early hours of November 4th. The Ethiopian government has previously denied this, and the Eritrean government still does not recognize the presence of their troops. The TPLF was the dominant power in the central government when Eritrea waged a bloody border war with Ethiopia a generation ago.
Neither the Ethiopian nor the Eritrean governments have responded to Reuters’ questions about specific cases raised by women and their doctors, or about the accusation of sexual slavery. No charges have been announced by civilian or military prosecutors against any of the soldiers. However, officials in both countries stressed that their governments have zero tolerance for sexual violence – a point Abiy’s spokesman, Billene Seyoum, said the prime minister recently reiterated in talks with military leaders.
The alleged sexual violence has attracted international attention.
Billene said the UN, the African Union and the state-appointed human rights commission in Ethiopia have been authorized to conduct joint investigations into alleged abuses by all parties to the conflict. This includes the “criminal clique,” she said, referring to the TPLF.
An Ethiopian military spokesman and the head of a government task force on the Tigray crisis did not respond to phone calls and text messages asking for comments. Reuters could not reach military leaders in any of the countries.
Asked about reports that Eritrean troops had raped Tigray and held women in sexual slavery, the country’s intelligence minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, accused TPLF activists of “training” sympathizers “to create false testimonies.”
“All fabricated stories – which are foreign to our culture and laws – are trafficked to cover up the war-torn TPLF crimes,” he told Reuters in a written response.
Reuters could not contact a TPLF spokesman.
ABUSE RECORDS
Fasika, the health official, said at least 829 cases of sexual assault had been reported in the five hospitals since the Tigray conflict began.
These cases were probably “the tip of the iceberg,” Fasika said. Rape is not reported here in Ethiopia because it has a huge stigma. Also, most health facilities in the region are no longer functioning, and commuting between cities remains dangerous, he said.
Most of the women who showed up are either pregnant or have suffered serious physical injuries due to rape, Fasika said.
Reuters interviewed 11 women who said they had been raped by soldiers in Eritrea, Ethiopia or both. Four said they were abducted, taken to military camps and gang-raped, in some cases along with other women. The women did not know the name of the camp, but said they were near Mekelle and the towns of Idaga Hamus, Wukro and Sheraro.
Five other women said they were held in deserted fields or houses for up to six days. And two said they were raped in their own homes.
Reuters could not independently verify its accounts. However, they all told similar stories about beatings and brutalization. Healthcare providers confirmed that the 11 injuries to the women were consistent with the events they described and showed Reuters medical records for three of the women detailing their conditions.
Healthcare providers also shared details of nine other cases of sexual assault, including the trials of two 14-year-old girls.
Although the Ethiopian government declared victory over the TPLF in November, fighting continues in some areas, and medical workers say new rapes are reported at health facilities in the region every day.
“This is done to dishonor women, to break their pride,” said a doctor at Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle, citing the brutality of the attacks and the humiliation of the victims. “It simply came to our notice then. Rape must punish Tigray. “
“Tell me the story”
The 27-year-old mother said Eritrean soldiers in uniform took her off a minibus on the road from Mekelle to the town of Adigrat on February 6. After 11 days of rape and beatings, she said, the soldiers forced nails, cotton, plastic bags and a stone into her vagina and left her alone in the bush.
The villagers found her unconscious and took her to a nearby hospital.
She said she was still bleeding from serious internal injuries and could not control her urine, walk without a crutch or stand for long periods of time. One leg was broken, she said.
She also described another type of pain: while she was in hospital, she could not talk to her 4-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter because Eritrean soldiers had taken her mobile phone. She had left the children with her mother to look for food and never returned. At that time, the family had bread in less than a week.
“I don’t know if they’re dead or alive,” she said. “The enemy has ruined my life.”
A 32-year-old mother from Mekelle told Reuters that soldiers took her out of a minibus on the same road in late February. They were dressed in Ethiopian uniforms, she said, but spoke with an Eritrean accent and had a traditional scarification of the face, typical of the neighboring country. She said she shot her 12-year-old son in front of her, then brought her to a camp where she was held along with other captive women and was repeatedly raped for 10 days.
“Tell me the story,” she said. “It simply came to our notice then. I want this to end with me. ”
A 28-year-old cleaner said soldiers took her from a street in Mekelle on the afternoon of Feb. 10 and took her to a field outside a military base where she was raped. by more than 10 men wearing Ethiopian or Eritrean uniforms.
Wiping away her tears, she said that during her two-week ordeal, soldiers moistened her with alcohol and mocked her while assaulting her. She escaped when her captors were distracted by gunfire, she said.
TAXATION FOR RESISTANCE
The government has set up a task force separate from the human rights commission to investigate reports of sexual violence. Its head, Mebrihit Assefa, said the body includes representatives from the regional health office, the prosecutor general’s office and the federal police.
The working group intends to set up five centers where rape survivors can report to law enforcement and receive medical and psychosocial support.
“Our prosecutors (and) police officers are there to investigate all crimes, including sexual violence,” said Awol Sultan, a spokesman for the prosecutor general’s office.
He did not answer questions about women claiming to have been raped during captivity or whether prosecutors were in contact with either the Eritrean or Ethiopian military. The results of the criminal investigation will be published publicly at an unspecified date, he said.
Abera Nigus, the head of Tigray’s court, said the legal process could be complicated because most courts do not operate in Tigray and many rape victims cannot identify their perpetrators.
Knowing that their rapists are still at large, he discouraged women from seeking help, doctors said.
Many of the women who sought treatment at hospitals had vaginal and anal tears, sexually transmitted diseases and injuries that made them incontinent, said hospital doctor Ayder, an obstetrician-gynecologist. The doctor shared notes from 11 hospital-treated cases with women raped by soldiers.
A woman was raped in the gang on three separate occasions, according to hospital notes.
Another woman was five months pregnant when she was raped, the notes said. Two 14-year-old girls were sexually assaulted in front of their families. A girl had her hand and foot amputated.
She had been shot because she resisted the attacker.
Reporting by Katherine Houreld. Written by Silvia Aloisi. Editing by Alexandra Zavis and Julie Marquis