Humera massacre

The Humera massacre was an ethnic mass murder event carried out in early November 2020 in the town of Humera in the Tigray Region of northwestern Ethiopia, next to the Sudanese border. The massacre took place during an armed conflict between the regional government of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government of Ethiopia. Refugees attributed the massacre to Amharan militias, including Fano,[1][2] and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF).[4]

Humera massacre
Part of Tigray conflict
Humera
Humera
Location of Humera in Ethiopia
LocationHumera, Tigray Region, Ethiopia
Dateearly November 2020[1][2]
TargetTigrayans[1]
Attack type
Deaths92[1][3]
Perpetrators

Background

During the Tigray conflict, the ENDF claimed to have obtained control of Humera Airport, 70 km south of Humera, on 10 November[5] and claimed to gain control of Humera on 12 November.[6]

Testimonies

Refugees who had been interviewed by the Daily Telegraph implicated the Ethiopian military and Amhara militias in a massacre in Humera on unknown dates in early November 2020. The refugees stated that they "were attacked by knife-wielding militiamen from the neighbouring Amhara region, who had joined forces with federal troops and cut people to death as they tried to escape." Zenebe, an ethnic Tigrayan, stated, "The soldiers of Abiy Ahmed didn't differentiate between people. They crushed all the people. It is like a genocide." Gidey, also a Tigrayan, stated, "I saw soldiers kill a taxi man and the two people in the taxi because there was a poster of the Tigrayan president in the car." One witness said that he had seen twenty bodies killed by knives, guns and shelling.[1]

A 54-year old refugee interviewed by The Guardian, Gush Tela from Humera, stated that he was beaten by federal security forces "until he was covered in blood and could not walk". He stated that the federal forces transferred him to an Amharan youth group, Fano, who freed him. Tela stated that the Fano were ordered to destroy Humera and "'finish' Tigrayans". Tela said that he witnessed a man "beheaded with machetes". Other refugees showed wounds that they attributed to "knife and machete attacks by Fano militia".[4]

A Humera resident, Meles, interviewed by The New York Times in a refugee camp, stated that the Amharan militias that arrived in Humera had "cut people's heads".[2]

EHRC visit

Based on its 14–18 November 2020 visit to Dansha, Humera and Mai Kadra and a visit to Mekelle and other parts of Tigray Region starting on 10 January 2021, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) reported a Humera hospital employee's count of the war deaths as 92, including ENDF, TPLF and civilians. Security was mainly controlled by Amhara Liyu Hayl and militia. Looting by Fano, Amhara Liyu Hayl and militia, and ENDF and Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) soldiers was reported, as well as harassment of ethnic Tigrayan residents.[7]

Wider region

Ashenafi Hailu, an ethnic Tigrayan, survived a massacre on a road during the Tigrayan conflict, and fled to the Hamdayet Border Reception Centre in Sudan as a refugee.[2]

Location specific

The Mai Kadra massacre of 600 people took place during the night of 9–10 November 2020 in Mai Kadra. Amnesty International and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission issued reports of preliminary investigations stating that Amharans were the victims of the Tigrayan Samri militia.[8][9] Thomson Reuters and the Financial Times each interviewed a refugee who attributed the perpetrators as Amharan militias.[10][11]

On 29 November, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation stated that 70 burial pits containing bodies were found close to Humera Airport. In the televised report, an anonymous military official attributed the deaths to the TPLF.[6]

References
  1. Brown, Will (23 November 2020). "After the bombs they attacked with knives, claim Ethiopians fleeing peace prize winner's war". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2020-11-24. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  2. Latif Dahir, Abdi (2020-12-09). "Fleeing Ethiopians Tell of Ethnic Massacres in Tigray War". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2020-12-09. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  3. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X9iK4jPtdgREXCfS1UJ1MhrkuvWhwNjl/view
  4. Akinwotu, Emmanuel (2020-12-02). "'I saw people dying on the road': Tigray's traumatised war refugees". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  5. "Ethiopian military seizes airport as fighting rages in Tigray". Al Jazeera English. 2020-11-11. Archived from the original on 2020-12-10. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  6. "70 clandestine burial pits found in Humera-reports". Ethiopia Observer. 2020-11-29. Archived from the original on 2020-12-09. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  7. Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (2021-01-18). "Brief Monitoring Report on the Situation of Civilians in Humera, Dansha and Bissober". Archived from the original on 2021-01-20. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  8. "Ethiopia: Investigation reveals evidence that scores of civilians were killed in massacre in Tigray state". Amnesty International. 12 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-11-21. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  9. "Rapid Investigation into Grave Human Rights Violations in Maikadra: Preliminary Findings" (Digital report). Addis Ababa: Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. 24 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  10. Khalid Abdelaziz, El Tayeb Siddig (13 November 2020). "Ethiopians fleeing to Sudan describe air strikes and machete killings in Tigray". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2020-11-26. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  11. Schipani, Andres (2020-12-04). "Refugees flee Ethiopia's brutal war with tales of atrocities on both sides". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2020-12-04. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
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