Ethiopia: in Teraf, the population victim of atrocities by soldiers
Audio 01:21
A soldier in position on a road in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia in May 2021. AP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In the Ethiopian town of Teraf, several residents have been the victims of abuses.
The UN has decided to set up a commission of inquiry concerning all the parties involved in the conflict.
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With our special correspondent in Teraf
,
Noé Hochet-Bodin
When, at the beginning of December, Mohammed Ahmed tries to find his wife Aisha Ali, hidden in the vicinity of Teraf, he comes face to face with the Tigray soldiers who occupy the city. "
All I can tell you is he was innocent but they killed him anyway." He was walking with a religious by his side. The Tigrayan forces patrol verified their identities. They looked at his card and said: "You, Mohammed Ahmed, we know you, you are a militiaman, you fought against us,"
"says his wife.
The UN Human Rights Council decided on Friday, December 17, during a special session, to create
a commission to investigate
and gather evidence on the atrocities committed in the context of the conflict in Ethiopia which has been going on for over a year.
This decision takes place after the publication of two reports by the organization Human Rights Watch.
One
reports massacre and massive detentions
of Tigrayans by Amhara forces.
The other, on the contrary, points to the summary executions carried out by the Tigrayan rebels in
the neighboring Amhara region.
"It was during the night"
In the village of Teraf, according to residents, 25 people were summarily executed by the Tigrayan forces and their Oromo allies.
“
The first massacre took place when they came to invade us, it was during the night.
Then we buried all the bodies in the same place
, ”says Mohamed Siraj, a 31-year-old farmer, pointing to the mass grave where the victims are buried.
Mohammed Siraj and other farmers then briefly fought the Tigrayan rebels upon their arrival, which may have provoked reprisals as in other towns in the region.
But the farmer prefers to believe in ethnic motivations: “
It is because we are Amharas that they killed us.
Especially because we are Amharas living in an Oromo majority area
.
"
Territorial conflicts are recurrent between the two largest Ethiopian communities, the Oromos and the Amharas, in part because of this complex administrative situation.
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