Thread by @WritesRights

Last month @amnesty revealed a horrific massacre (a potential crime against humanity) & alleged war crimes in Axum.

State-aligned @EthioHRC went there (Amnesty was blocked from doing so) & corroborated a massacre took place.

UN-led investigation now!

https://twitter.com/EthioHRC/status/1374467857954705411?s=20

"[The] # of civilian fatalities & other casualties cited in this preliminary finding report are not final and only represent those the Commission was able to
verify at this stage of the investigation."

@amnesty has the names of 240+ victims. There are likely more. #AxumMassacre

"Residents also say 'The injuries of the five people who died on the spot was such that it was impossible to identify them before they were buried.'"

That was from strikes outside Axum on 18 November, before the #AxumMassacre even took place.

"Those who decided to stay behind say that some members of ENDF and Eritrean soldiers looted the hospitals. St Mary Hospital staff recount how “on Nov 19, ... ENDF & Eritrean soldiers ... looted the hospital’s pharmacy. They shot a man in bed in the emergency ward."

A video analyzed by @hrw shows the St Mary Hospital pharmacy after it was looted:

"Berana, a privately owned hotel, has sustained heavy damages. The ... owners told the Commission that 'ENDF was targeting another hotel nearby owned by a TPLF general. But instead, they hit our hotel.'"

@amnesty documented the damage w/ satellite imagery h/t @AI_Micah

"In addition, residents say 'privately owned mobile shops, clothes shops, edible oil, food aid reserves and government offices were all looted by Eritrean soldiers'. The breakdown of law and order also allowed other individuals to take part in the looting.

On 28 Nov the mass killings began. “Eritrean soldiers tried to loot Aksum Tsion Church and when angered residents tried to prevent it the Eritrean soldiers began shooting at civilians”. drive.google.com/file/d/1i20a7K…

"Other sources of the Commission said 'some residents joined local militia to attack Eritrean soldiers and the Eritrean soldiers retaliated with vengeful attacks,
killing civilians and especially targeting men.'”

"On Nov 29, residents tried to recover bodies of people killed on Nov 28, but Eritrean soldiers [shot at them]. The Eritrean soldiers were saying 'your people will not be buried before our soldiers are buried.'" They were only allowed to come back for the bodies on Nov 30.

“bodies were left lying on the streets of the city for close to three days and hence some were difficult to collect
because parts of them were dismembered by animals or because they were in an advanced state of decomposition.”

Residents also told the Commission “that they were forced to cover/wrap the bodies in cement bags
and other packaging bags and to transport them in manual carts. We buried them in mass graves in Arba’etu Ensesa Church, Enda Michael Church, Endayesus Church and other churches”.

.@amnesty previously identified likely mass burial sites next to some of these. Here's Aba'etu Ensessa church:

(Image: © Google, © 2021 Maxar Technologies)

In recent weeks a @ZDF crew went there to corroborate w/ locals that mass burials did indeed take place there after the mass killings on 28-29 November. Many were buried in these concrete crypts at Arba'etu Ensessa

https://twitter.com/jbgallopin/status/1373276341647372290?s=20

Among the video clips @amnesty verified as part of its original research was one of people carrying a body for burial to this church. facebook.com/10000057849182…

Our Crisis Evidence Lab geolocated part of the route shown in that video to nearby Da'ero Ela Plaza. My colleague @samdubberley spells out the great lengths he went to in order to do so #OSINT

https://twitter.com/samdubberley/status/1365247681703145475?s=20

The deceased man in that video has an ID card from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. The @EthioHRC report also documents a bank employee's killing: "Eritrean soldiers who shot him first on one leg and then on his chest and killed him”. “A tank drove over the deceased’s body."

The @EthioHRC report goes on to document how civilians were dragged out of their homes & brutally murdered in front of family members: “civilians were killed in front of their children, spouses and mothers.”

Similarly to @amnesty's investigation, the report concludes that the atrocity may amount to crimes against humanity and "underscores the need for a
comprehensive investigation into overall human rights situation in Tigray region."

Crucially, for @amnesty's detractors: @EthioHRC cites Axumites about the televised religious celebrations: “although the Nov 30 Aksum Tsion holiday was marked within the Church’s compound, they have been saddened that the media did not report the state of grief the city was in.”

For the full, original @amnesty investigation into the #AxumMassacre, and the @hrw investigation that followed soon after, see:
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…

hrw.org/news/2021/03/0…