Terrorist TPLF forces summarily executed dozens of civilians in Amhara Region: HRW

Addis Ababa, December 10, 2021 (FBC) – Human Rights Watch unveiled that the Terrorist TPLF forces summarily executed dozens of civilians in Chena and Kobo towns in Amhara region between August 31 and September 9, 2021.

The Report by the Human Rights Watch indicates that these killings highlight the urgent need for the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish an international investigative mechanism into abuses by the forces.

On August 31, Terrorist TPLF forces entered the village of Chenna and engaged in sporadic and at times heavy fighting with Ethiopian federal forces and allied Amhara militias. Chenna residents told Human Rights Watch that over the next five days Terrorist TPLF forces summarily executed 26 civilians in 15 separate incidents, before withdrawing on September 4.

In the town of Kobo on September 9, Terrorist TPLF forces summarily executed a total of 23 people in four separate incidents, witnesses said.

“TPLF forces showed brutal disregard for human life and the laws of war by executing people in their custody,” said Lama Fakih, crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.

In September and October, Human Rights Watch remotely interviewed 36 people, including witnesses to killings, victims’ relatives and neighbors, religious figures, and doctors about fighting and abuses in and around Chenna Teklehaimanot village (Chenna) and the town of Kobo.

Nineteen people described seeing TPLF forces fighters in Chenna and Kobo summarily execute a total of 49 people who they said were civilians, providing 44 names.

TPLF forces seized control of Kobo in North Wollo district in mid-July. According to residents of Kobo and nearby villages, on the morning of September 9, TPLF forces from Kobo conducted operations in neighboring villages. When TPLF forces returned to Kobo shortly after midday, they attacked farmers working in the fields between the villages and Kobo, the report indicates.

Four residents described the summary execution of 23 people, including farmers returning to Kobo, in four incidents in the town.

A resident of Kobo’s Segno Gebia neighborhood said that at about 2 p.m. on September 9 he watched from the window of his home as TPLF forces executed four men.

Chenna residents interviewed provided the names of 39 civilians they said TPLF forces summarily executed while occupying the village, although they only saw 26 of them being killed. In addition, Human Rights Watch obtained three lists of 57, 48, and 37 names, drawn up by a local official and two priests who had each overseen the funerals of about 30 people after the fighting had ended.

“TPLF forces’ apparent war crimes in Chenna and Kobo spotlight the urgent need for all warring parties in Ethiopia to prioritize the protection of civilians,” Fakih said.