NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Massacred civilians. Arrested journalists. People starving. The Ethiopian government is under increasing pressure to allow the world to see firsthand what has happened in the Tigray region, while its Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister rejects “party interventions”.
That pressure is expected to increase this month as the United States chairs the United Nations Security Council and deals with the Biden administration’s first major African crisis. Millions of dollars in aid for Ethiopia, a key security ally in the region, are at stake.
Here is a look at the turmoil in Tigray as the Security Council meets behind closed doors on Thursday to discuss it:
WHAT HAPPENS TO MASSACRED CIVILS?
Last month, the Associated Press exposed the murder of some 800 people in the city of Axum, citing several witnesses, and a week later Amnesty International reported “many hundreds” of dead there, citing more than 40 witnesses. Soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, long enemies of the now fugitive leaders of Tigray, have been held responsible.
Ethiopia continues to deny the presence of the Eritreans, even with senior officials from the Tigray provisional government, which Ethiopia has appointed, speaking more and more openly about them. There is growing concern that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Prize in 2019 for making peace with Eritrea, has now joined him in the war. Eritrea called the AP’s story about Axum “outrageous lies”.
Amid the denials, countless thousands of civilians were killed while Ethiopian and Allied forces harassed former Tigray leaders who once dominated the Ethiopian government before Abiy took office in 2018. Each side has come to consider itself illegitimate, then he started to fight.
Axum is far from the only alleged massacre in the Tigray conflict. More are coming to the fore as telephone service is resumed in the region and more people are fleeing.
The Telegraph, citing witnesses, reported a in Debre Abay. CNN, citing witnesses, reported a in Dengelat. E Agence France-Presse more exposed the Dengelat murders during a rare visit to the site.
On Thursday, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said her office had corroborated information on incidents, including “mass murders” in Axum and Dengelat, and warned of possible war crimes committed by all major armed groups. Victims “should not be denied their rights to the truth and justice,” she said, urging Ethiopia to allow independent monitors to enter Tigray.
After US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the weekend issued the strongest statement yet Washington in Tigray and spoke to Abiy this week, the Prime Minister’s office on Wednesday he reversed his skeptical stance on the Axum massacre and said he was investigating “credible allegations” in the city and elsewhere in the region.
But human rights groups and others are calling for independent international investigations, ideally led by the UN, arguing that a government accused of involvement in atrocities cannot effectively investigate itself.
CAN JOURNALISTS REPORT FROM TIGRAY?
Yes, at your own risk. Ethiopia in recent days has begun to allow a limited number of foreign media outlets to visit Tigray – the AP has not received permission – but several Ethiopian media officials with the points of sale were quickly arrested.
Even in announcing limited access to the media, Ethiopia warned journalists to essentially behave. The government statement on Wednesday said that Ethiopian defense forces would “ensure the safety” of journalists in the parts of Tigray under their control, but those who leave the areas do so at their own risk. And journalists who violate national laws, “including helping and inciting criminal entities and perpetrators, will be held accountable.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists this week criticized Ethiopia’s actions, saying that “the scarcity of independent reporting from Tigray during this conflict was already deeply alarming. Now, Ethiopian military prisons of journalists and media workers will undoubtedly lead to fear and self-censorship. “
Without unimpeded access to Tigray, it is a challenge to determine the fate of some 6 million people four months after the region was cut off from the world.
ARE PEOPLE HUNGRY TO DEATH?
Yes, according to local authorities, although it is unclear how many. Although humanitarian aid to Tigray has increased in recent weeks, aid workers say it is far from sufficient and about 80% of the region remains inaccessible.
In the most severe warning to date, the Ethiopian Red Cross said last month that if humanitarian access did not improve, thousands of people would starve to death. in a month and tens of thousands in two months.
The Ethiopian government said on Wednesday that it had distributed food aid to some 3.8 million people and again said that humanitarian organizations now have unrestricted access to Tigray.
But humanitarian workers say the reality is very different, citing obstacles from the authorities and insecurity. An access map published this week by the UN humanitarian agency, it showed much of Tigray inaccessible beyond major roads and cities.
The fighting, which is taking place in parts of Tigray, broke out on the verge of harvest in the predominantly agricultural region and caused an incalculable number of people to flee their homes. Witnesses described widespread looting by Eritrean soldiers, as well as the burning of crops, while forces from the neighboring region of Amhara have reportedly occupied large parts of Tigray.
This week, a senior interim Tigray official, Gebremeskel Kassa, told the BBC that “we are not able to know the whereabouts of a million people”.
The United States now says that both Eritreans and Amhara forces should leave Tigray immediately.