Most of the deaths in Axum City during in late November 2020 are those who took part in the war on the part of Tigray People’s Liberation Front, says Attorney General report
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The Federal Attorney General on Monday disclosed its findings from an investigation into alleged human rights violations in Axum City, Tigray region of Ethiopia, in late November 2020.
A statement from the AG said a team drawn from Federal police and the office of the Attorney General undertook a two months long investigation into the allegation.
There were claims that Eritrean and Ethiopian troops committed gross human rights violations including raping women. And the team travelled to the city as part of its investigation, the AG said.
Furthermore, the statement claimed that five civilians were killed when fired artillery missed the target, hit residential homes and near Aksum University. Another man was killed during a confrontation with a member of Federal police over curfew in the city.
The investigation also revealed that the Ethiopian Defense Force was in the city for about a week between November 19, 2020, and November 27, 2020.
It was after that TPLF special forces and militia along with 1500 new recruits from the city moved to a military strategic spot near Axum city to wage war – and there were stationed Eritrean troops in the city – apparently much less than the TPLF army.
It is claimed that the team verified the information from an interview with TPLF soldiers and youth who were given firearms to take part in the war. Some firearms distributed were looted from the Ethiopian Defense Force arsenal when TPLF launched a surprise attack on several army bases of the Northern Command on November 4, 2020.
The TPLF forces were in a battle between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. and moved to Axum city as reinforcement arrived, the investigation team said. According to the statement, 95 eyewitnesses were interviewed who confirmed that 93 people were killed during the war. It is also claimed that most of those killed took part in the war, although they were not in military uniforms.
In connection with rape, 116 victims have reported to police. Some members of the Federal police and some members of Ethiopian Defense Forces took part in the war near the city.
Those federal police members who were involved in it will face justice at the region’s office of attorney general while members of the Ethiopian defense forces will stand trial in a court-martial, as reported by Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation.
There have been allegations of genocide in Axum city. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the United Nations Human Rights Commission have agreed to jointly investigate the human rights violations in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
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