ጊዚያዊው የኢትዮጵያ ህገ-ወጥ አገዛዝ በትግራይ ላይ ያደረሰውን ፋሺስታዊ ጥቃት በሕይወት የተረፉት በወር በተካሄደው ዘመቻ ወታደሮች ሰላማዊ ሰዎችን ስለመግደላቸው ይናገራሉ።
በሌላ በኩል እየተፈጸመ ያለውንና ሃገራችን ዓይታው የማታውቀውን የጭካኔ ማራቶን የምዕራባውያኑ ሳተላይቶቻቸው አንድ በአንድ ይቀርጹታል፤ አሁን አላስችል ስላላቸውና መቅረጻቸውን ከበላይ ሆኖ በሚቀርጸው በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ተጠያቂ ከመሆን ለማምለጥ ሲሉ መደረግ ያለበትን ያደርጉ ዘንድ ይገደዳሉ።
አውሮፓ ለኢትዮጵያ የምታደርገውን የገንዘብ ድጋፍ ሁሉ ታግዳለች። የኢትዮጵያ አገዛዝ በትግራይ የተፈጠረውን ግጭት የሚያስተናግድበት መንገድ የዚያ አውሮፓዊ ውሳኔ መሰረት ነው። አዲስ አበባ ውስጥ ያለው መንግሥት በዚያ ግጭት ሰብዓዊ መብቶችን እስከጣሰ ድረስ የአውሮፓ የገንዘብ አቅርቦት እንደተዘጋ ይቆያል።
👉 የቢሶበር ነዋሪ የሆኑት አቶ ጌታቸው አበራ፤ “በዚህ አንድ አካባቢ ብቻ ይህ ሁሉ ጭፍጨፋ ከተደረገ ታዲያ በአጠቃላይ ምን ሊሆን እንደሚችል አስቡ፡፡”
👉 “If in just this one area you have this much destruction,” said Bisober resident Getachew Abera, “then imagine what might have happened generally.”
The first shells landed before dawn, crashing through tin-roofed mud homes and sending Jano Admasi’s neighbours fleeing for the cacti-dotted hills around her village in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
Jano, a soft-spoken woman in her sixties, tried to escape as well, running with her eldest son, 46-year-old Miskana, along a dirt road leading out of the village.
But on the way, she says, they encountered Ethiopian government soldiers who turned them around, forcing them into a nearby house with two other terrified families.
What happened next, described by three eyewitnesses but denied by the Ethiopian government, casts doubt on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s claim that his military offensive in Tigray has been prosecuted with special care for civilian lives.
In an apparent rage, the soldiers accused Miskana and two other men in the group of aiding the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), whose leaders are the target of the military operations ordered last month.
“They asked us who we were, and we said we are just farmers and elderly women,” Jano told AFP. “They came back again and said ‘Get out’, and separated the men from the women.”
The soldiers made the men including Miskana sit down and, before Jano fully realised what was happening, shot them dead with Kalashnikov rifles.
A 15-year-old boy who leapt in front of a bullet in a futile bid to save his father was also killed.
The killings — which took place on November 14, 10 days after Abiy announced the offensive — represent just one incident of civilian suffering in Bisober, a farming village home to roughly 2,000 people in southern Tigray.
In the three days it took federal forces to wrest control of the village from the TPLF, 27 civilians died, according to local officials and residents: 21 from shelling and six in extrajudicial killings.
The government has tightly restricted access to the region, making it difficult to assess the toll of a conflict the UN warns is “spiralling out of control”.
But AFP recently obtained exclusive access to southern Tigray, where residents of multiple towns and villages accused both government and pro-TPLF combatants of, at best, putting civilians in harm’s way — and, at worst, actively targeting them.
Survivors told AFP they dreaded how many civilians could have died across Tigray.
“If in just this one area you have this much destruction,” said Bisober resident Getachew Abera, “then imagine what might have happened generally.”
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