Eyewitnesses told CNN that a group of Eritrean soldiers opened fire on Maryam Dengelat Church in the town of Dengelat, east of Tigray, in November, while hundreds of congregations celebrated the mass. Dozens of people died in chaos over three days, with soldiers slaughtering locals, displaced people and pilgrims, they said.
Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation against leaders in the Tigray region, sending troops from neighboring Amhara region. CNN reported earlier that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea had committed many of the extrajudicial killings, assaults and human rights violations in the Tigray region.
After taking control of Tigray’s largest cities in late November, Abiy declared victory and claimed no civilians had been harmed in the offensive.
“They are killing our people in this country, they are killing children, all ages of the population and they are carrying out rape,” Debretsion told CNN in a telephone interview from an unknown location.
“All sorts of genocides have been committed in Tigray. The most important thing is that an investigation be done,” he added.
“We are asking for an investigation into the CNN findings on the spot in Tigray.”
Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday rejected a call by the United States to withdraw the Ethiopian federal government’s powers from Tigray, saying it was ‘regrettable’ that the US was trying to make “statements on Ethiopia ‘s internal affairs and specifically redeploy the reference to the Amhara regional forces. ”
“It should be clear that such matters are the sole responsibility of the Ethiopian Government, which as a sovereign nation is responsible for establishing the necessary security structures and resources to ensure the rule of law within all corners of its borders,” he said. the ministry said. said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the US was “seriously concerned about reported atrocities and the overall deteriorating situation”, and called on the regional forces of Eritrea and Amhara to withdraw immediately. Blinken’s statement comes one day after CNN’s investigation, as well as another by Amnesty International, which both set out the eyewitness accounts of civilian massacres in two separate assaults in 2020.
Eritrea’s government has denied involvement in the atrocities reported by Amnesty, but has not yet responded to CNN’s request for comment on the Dengelat massacre.
Debretsion said he was urgently appealing to the Biden government to keep up the pressure on the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments.
“We want peace in this region, in this country, so we want [the US] to keep pushing [for the withdrawal] of Tigray intruders to stop the atrocities, genocide and destruction, ”he told CNN.
“You know, you also know humanitarian aid … The whole of Tigray is in a social and economic crisis. Our people need help, they need humanitarian support. So this is an urgent call. We need this pressure [US] President. ‘
Repeated denials of Eritrean involvement
According to the Amnesty International report, in November, Eritrean forces killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the city of Axum, also in the Tigray region, by indiscriminate shelling and shootings and extrajudicial killings, according to which the human rights organization may amount to a crime against the mankind.
The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry on Monday did not mention the presence of forces from neighboring Eritrea during the recent offensive. It added that it was “fully committed” to investigating any human rights violations. Prime Minister Abiy also denied that troops had moved from Eritrea to Tigray to support Ethiopian forces.
Blinken called for a “complete, independent international investigation into all reports of human rights abuses, abuses and atrocities.”
“We strongly condemn the killings, forced evictions and displacements, sexual assaults and other extremely serious human rights violations and abuses by various parties that have reported to various organizations in Tigray,” he said.
Blinken also acknowledged Abiy’s strong commitment to allow humanitarian aid to the region, saying the US International Development Agency would send a disaster relief team to Ethiopia. On Monday, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said it was working to ensure unrestricted access to Tigray for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
TPLF troops seized power in Ethiopia in 1991 with the support of Eritrea. TPLF leader Meles Zenawi became the country’s leader and Debretsion was his deputy. The TPLF ruled until 2018, when members of the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups united against the party. Abiy was named prime minister in 2018 and won a Nobel Prize last year for his peace deal with Eritrea.
Violence flared up in the region last year after Tigray continued with local elections banning the Abiy government due to the pandemic.
CNN’s Angela Dewan, Eliza Mackintosh, Emmet Lyons, Bethlehem Feleke, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Katie Polglase contributed to this report.