A team of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) circulating in the Ethiopian region of Tigray, the scene of an armed conflict, saw Ethiopian soldiers execute civilians and violently attack their driver and threaten him with death, announced Wednesday. long.
According to a statement from MSF, three of its members were driving on Tuesday in a vehicle clearly identified with the colors of the NGO on the road connecting the capital of Tigray, Mekele, to the town of Adigrat.
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“During the journey, they came across what appeared to be the result of an ambush set up for an Ethiopian military convoy by an armed group, during which soldiers were killed and wounded,”
explains Karline Keijer, program manager. emergency response in this text.
Ethiopian soldiers there stopped the MSF vehicle and two public transport minibuses following it, she adds:
“The soldiers forced the passengers out of the minibuses.
The men were separated from the women, who were allowed to leave.
Shortly after, the men were shot ”.
The MSF team was allowed to leave the scene, but their vehicle was stopped again soon after by Ethiopian soldiers.
“They forcibly removed the MSF driver from the vehicle, beat him with a rifle and threatened to kill him. Eventually, the driver was allowed to get back into the vehicle and the team was able to return to Mekele, ”
according to Karline Keijer.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military offensive in Tigray on November 4 to overthrow the leaders of the party in power in the region, the TPLF (Front for the Liberation of the People of Tigray), who had challenged his power for several months and of which he accused the forces of attacking local federal army bases.
2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner Abiy Ahmed proclaimed the end of the conflict after the federal army captured Mekele in late November, but the fugitive TPLF leaders have vowed to continue hostilities and fighting persists.
Abiy Ahmed admitted on Tuesday that atrocities had been committed in Tigray.
"There has been damage in the Tigray region (...) information indicates that there has been rape and looting of properties".
Testimonies from residents point to large-scale sexual violence and killings of civilians by forces fighting the TPLF.
Abiy Ahmed also admitted the presence in Tigray of soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, after months of denials by both Asmara and Addis Ababa.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said in a damning report Wednesday that more than 100 civilians were killed in late November in Aksum, Tigray by Eritrean soldiers.