Video of massacre in Tigray overwhelms Ethiopian army
In a statement, the Ethiopian Embassy in London lamented that this video was used, "out of context" and "without verification".
(illustrative image) EDUARDO SOTERAS AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
A video shot on a mobile phone begins to unravel the horrors of war in Tigray, northern Ethiopia.
A thorough investigation by an Ethiopian investigative journalist, published by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, shows Ethiopian soldiers jokingly strolling among the corpses of civilians they have just executed.
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The image is moved, a little dirty.
The dusty ground is soaked in blood.
Dozens of corpses are lying between the houses, in the fields, on the road.
Ethiopian soldiers hang out in this nightmare, sun-drenched landscape, and joke among themselves in Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, with that accent characteristic of the west or south of the country.
At least that's
what Zecharias Zelalem
, the journalist responsible for the
Daily Telegraph
investigation,
explains
.
►
To read (in English): 'You should have finished off the survivors': Ethiopian army implicated in brutal war crime video
A four-minute clip of this video had been circulating on the Internet for several days.
According to the journalist, the full version he was able to see is unbearable to watch.
And on examination, the facts are overwhelming.
A work of geolocation of the place reveals that the massacre took place in the monastery of Debre Abay, southwest of the town of Shire.
It was there that Ethiopian soldiers, in clearly recognizable uniforms, killed around 40 civilians, probably around January 5.
On the side of the Ethiopian authorities, only the London embassy has reacted so far.
In a statement, she lamented that this video was used, "
out of context
" and "
without verification
".
But she promises half-heartedly an investigation and sanctions.
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