Thread by @MapEthiopia

An article from the Telegraph on the Debre Abay massacre. As most of you are aware, the article contains disturbing material (mentions of violence, etc)

telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/1…

Chatting as they wander through the aftermath of what appears to be a mass execution of civilians in the Tigray region, soldiers laugh and joke among themselves.
Off to one side they spot a young man who seems to have survived by pretending to be dead.

“You should have finished off the survivors,” the cameraman says in Amharic, Ethiopia’s lingua franca

Around 40 bodies in civilian clothes can be seen in the four-minute clip.

The Telegraph was able to geolocate the video to Debre Abay monastery in central Tigray - about 175 miles west of Tigray’s capital, Mekele. It has also confirmed that the clip has not been doctored.

“This is disturbing footage to watch and I would expect the Federal Government to allow the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission full access to establish the facts and to ensure there's proper accountability for these killings" said Dr Alex Vines, Africa Director at Chatham House

“It is time to move beyond warnings and statements of concern to investigations and legal proceedings to hold perpetrators accountable for mass atrocities,” added Judd Devermont, Africa Director at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington DC.

Ethiopia’s state-run Human Rights Commission (EHRC) confirmed to The Telegraph that they were examining the shorter clip of the massacre that has circulated online.

“The EHRC is aware of the purported video and is working to verify its authenticity,” said the organisation’s spokesman, Aaron Maasho. “We have a team on the ground and will investigate the incident should we confirm its veracity.”

The cameraman in the footage, presumed to be an Ethiopian soldier, is heard speaking in an accent from southern or western Ethiopia.

At one point, off-screen civilians plead for mercy as soldiers weigh up whether to kill another survivor seen trying to limp away to safety.

Eventually, they agree to leave him.

The Telegraph was sent about two dozen photos, also too graphic to publish, showing the bodies of children blown to pieces by the Ethiopian federal government’s artillery barrage of the city

Despite the lack of communication, journalists and rights groups have been able to confirm that forces on both sides of the war have committed atrocities against civilians.

Retreating Tigrayan forces killed hundreds of civilians in the town of Maykadra on November 9th, using blunt objects, according to rights group Amnesty International.

Archived link. Should be free to read in the original article although it appears to have a paywall for some

archive.vn/361rs