November
9 brought to light how cruel and merciless TPLF forces are. The cruelty of TPLF
is not new for Ethiopians as it has been inflicting atrocities on Ethiopians
across the country for over 40 years. But
to go that low even at its eleventh hour shows TPLF is never ready to repent
and that it will do everything possible to keep creating havoc in the country.
Even though TPLF is at its demise and almost ready for burial, it may continue
inflicting pain.
According
to the preliminary findings of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, ‘On
November 9, 2020, the day of the attack, from around 11:00 AM onwards, the town
police started checking identity cards to differentiate people of non-Tigray
origin from the rest and raided all the houses/huts, stretching from the
neighbourhood known as “Genb Sefer” up to the area called Wolkait Bole (Kebele
1 Ketena 1) which is largely resided by ethnic Amharas. They detained up to 60
people they profiled as Amhara and Wolkait and who were said to use Sudanese
SIM cards on their mobile phones and destroyed said SIM cards. Ethiopian SIM
cards had already stopped working by then and the motive for confiscating and
destroying the Sudanese SIM cards was to prevent any communications or call for
help during the attack, according to testimony of the people in the area. Women
and children of Tigrayan ethnic origin were made to leave the town a few hours
ahead of the attack. On the same day (November 9th , 2020), around 3:00 P.M.,
the local police, militia and the informal Tigray youth group called “Samri”
returned to “Genb Sefer” where the majority of people of Amhara ethnic origin
live and began the attack against civilians. According to eyewitnesses and
families of victims who spoke with EHRC, the first act committed by the
perpetrators was to execute an ethnic Amhara former soldier called Abiy Tsegaye
in front of his family and outside his house and set the house on fire.
Afterwards, they threw his body into the fire. Residents said Abiy Tsegaye was
a former soldier and militia member who had declined a request to re-join the
militia as tensions began to rise. They surmise that this might be why he was
targeted. The victim’s wife and eyewitnesses have given a detailed account of
how the group of perpetrators forced Abiy Tsegaye out of his house and had him
shot in front of his family by a local militia and former colleague called
Shambel Kahsay, before throwing his body into the raging fire that engulfed
their house. The EHRC team also visited said house, still smouldering, and the
area around it, still heavy with burned body smoke.’
Full report of The Human Right Commission below
