Violence in Tigray – September 2021

Since the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region began last November over 52,000 people have died, and an estimated 1.7 million have been displaced internally.

The Ethiopian government imposed a communications blackout at the beginning of the conflict. Nevertheless, reports continued to filter through of appalling crimes perpetrated largely by Eritrean soldiers, who from the beginning fought alongside Ethiopian soldiers and militia from the country’s Amhara region. These crimes include brutal acts of sexual and gender-based violence, indiscriminate bombing, the possible use of chemical weapons, extra judicial killings, and looting of homes, businesses, and historical and religious sites.

There are worrying indications that atrocity crimes – war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly genocide – may have occurred and could still be underway. In the words of a priest from the Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat interviewed at the height of the occupation: ‘They want to annihilate Tigray. By killing the men and boys, they are trying to destroy any future resistance…They are raping and destroying women to ensure that they cannot raise a community in the future. They are using rape and food as weapons of war.’ By June 2021 researchers at Belgium’s University of Ghent had documented 10,000 deaths and 230 massacres, with many more incidents yet to be fully investigated and victims identified.

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