Ethiopia: Amnesty International accuses Ethiopia of mass killings in Axum
The city of Aksum, Ethiopia.
Creative commons / Jialiang Gao
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Massacre, summary executions, war crimes ... Amnesty International unveils a report on what it considers to be a mass killing in the province of Tigray, in Ethiopia, which has been in the grip of fighting for nearly four months.
With the war taking place out of sight, it remains extremely difficult to investigate.
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A deluge of violence is said to have descended on Aksum, the third largest city in Tigray, last November.
A mass killing, a collective punishment, according to the consultant Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, who collaborated with Amnesty International, interviewed by
our correspondent in Addis Ababa,
Noé Hochet-Bodin.
It is, he says, "
a massacre which took place during approximately 24 hours on November 28 and 29, by Eritrean troops, in reaction to an attack by a small group of fighters on an Eritrean base in the city. of Axum.
"
Ten days ago,
RFI reported information
from a professor who reported the massacres and the terror that followed for several weeks.
Difficult for the moment to establish a balance sheet, but the NGO estimates it at several hundred deaths.
As we recall, carrying out the investigation is particularly difficult, because the province of Tigray is still largely cut off from the world, without real access or telecommunications.
Amnesty talks about multiple war crimes committed in Axum.
In particular, the Eritrean troops, allies of Addis Ababa in this conflict.
“
The massacre was the culmination of a series of violations that was preceded by indiscriminate bombings followed by extra-judicial executions.
During this period, Eritrean forces also looted the city of Axum on a large scale and in a very systematic way.
"
The NGO calls for an investigation by the United Nations to be held.
The Ethiopian government has already refused in December.
He felt that he did not need a “
babysitter
” to conduct independent investigations.
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