CNN Exclusive | This Is Not The Only Massacre Perpetrated in Tigray

“ከቀበራቸው መካከል ፳፬/24 የሰንበት ትምህርት ቤት ሕፃናት ነበሩ” 😢😢😢

ምዕራባውያኑ ከመጀመሪያው ቀን ጀምሮ ጀነሳይድ/የጅምላ ጭፍጨፋ እንደሆነ ያውቁት ነበር። “ኢትዮጵያውያን ነን!” በማለት በአደዋ ክብረ በዓል ሆን ተብሎ በኮሮና እንዲጠቁ ማስክ ሳያደርጉ ሲያቅራሩ፣ ሲፎክሩ፣ ሲጨፍሩና ሲዘሉ የነበሩትስ? ከሃዲው “መሪያቸው” ዓይናቸው እያየ ለጠላት እየሸጣቸው ብሎም የአባቶቻቸውን፣ የራሳቸውንና የልጆቻቸውን ሃገር እያሳጣቸው እንደሆነ ዛሬም ለማወቅ ተስኗቸዋልን? ይህን አውሬ ለምንድን ነው የማይደፉት? እንደው ሱዳናዊቷ የሲ.ኤን.ኤን ቃል አቀባይ ኔማ ኤል-ባጊር ከሳህለወርቅ ዘውዴ የተሻለች ኢትዮጵያዊት ሆና ነው የምትታየው፤ ለፍትህ የቆመች ሴት ምን ያህል የታደለች ናት! ሲ.ኤን.ኤን የሰራው ዓይነት የምርመራ ሪፖርት ማድረግ የነበረበት ኢትዮጵያዊ የሆነ ሜዲያ ወይም ግለሰብ ነበር፤ አለመታደል ሆኖ አሁን በረከቱንና ጽድቁን ሌሎች እየነጠቋቸው ነው። “ኢትዮጵያዊ ነኝ” የሚለው ግብዝ በስንፍናው የማይችለው መዘዝና መቅሰፍት ወደ ቤቱ እየጋበዘ ነው። ሰዶምና ገሞራ አዲስ አበባ፤ አቤት እየመጣብሽ ያለው እሳት!

👉 The Transcript from CNN’s investigative report on The Maryam Dengelat Massacre

VAUSE: A month’s long CNN investigation has found detailed evidence of the massacre of dozens of civilians in Ethiopia.

The atrocity took place in Tigray in the country’s north where Ethiopian troops and their allies from neighboring Eritrea have waged a brutal military offensive on forces loyal to the regional government.

CNN has spoken to dozens of the witnesses who say Eritrean soldiers went on a killing spree killing unarmed civilians just days before a religious holiday.

And despite an information blackout, our reporters uncovered a pattern of atrocities which may have claimed thousands of lives.

And a warning now. The details and the images in CNN’s Nima Elbagir’s exclusive report are disturbing.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (Voice-over): A bloody jacket, some rope used to tie the victims ,shoes worn by a Sunday school boy. The haunting remnants of a brutal massacre in a village in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region. A massacre perpetrated by Eritrean soldiers on Ethiopian soil.

Fifty-two out of the 54 pictures you see here are victims whose identities have been verified by CNN. This is the village of Maryam Dengelat where CNN’s investigation uncovered the murder of dozens, possibly even more than hundred civilians. Witnesses tell CNN people were murdered here over three days of mayhem.

With video and communication limited due to an Ethiopian government- imposed blackout on the region and fear of government retribution rife, CNN has had to illustrate witness testimony through animation and use of actors voices to describe what happened in December last year

One eyewitness, Marta (ph), not her real name, told CNN they were returning from morning church service. When they got home, they were confronted by Eritrean troops.

MARTHA (ph), (Captioned): “They came to our house then they told us to get out. There were a lot of soldiers outside and they were saying, ‘Come out, come out, you bitch.’ We said, ‘we’re civilian, we’re civilians’ showing our IDs. They didn’t ask any question. They just opened fire.

ELBAGIR (Voice Over): To understand what happened here over the course of these three days, you need to understand what’s been happening over the last few years in Ethiopia.

Under the country’s former rulers, the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, Ethiopia waged hostilities with Eritrea for the TPLF almost 30 years in power.

Ethiopia’s President Abiy Ahmed won a Nobel Peace Prize for bringing all that to an end.

The Tigray region has always been distinct in culture and language and its leadership is battling for autonomy from Ethiopia’s government.

Now the two former enemies stand accused of working together to crush to graze fight for autonomy and civilians are being killed in what could be war crimes and something the ousted Tigray leader described as acts of genocide. This video was secretly taken and smuggled out to CNN to avoid Ethiopian and Eritrean troops. It’s footage of the graves that eyewitnesses described to CNN in harrowing testimony. Underneath the branches and sticks are the grave sites for the victims.

Another eyewitness Abraham (ph), again, not his real name, was supposed to help clean the church at Maryam Dengelat before the festival. Instead, he became a grave digger.

ABRAHAM (ph), (Captioned): “They were all so young and they took them and killed them together in a field.”

ELBAGIR: Among those he buried were 24 Sunday school children. Abraham (ph) and others registered the kids names as best they could. One by one, the shallow graves were uncovered and parents came to identify their children. Some was so badly disfigured, they could only be identified by their clothing.

This is not the only massacre perpetrated in Tigray. Using satellite images and interviews with witnesses, Amnesty was able to find evidence of at least one other separate massacre involving hundreds of civilians, believed to be carried out in another city days earlier.

A day after the investigations by CNN and Amnesty International, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken said, “Those responsible [for them] must be held accountable.”

Strong words, but will words be enough when the crimes described bear all the hallmarks of a possible genocide?

ELBAGIR (Voice Over): Nima Elbagir, CNN.

VAUSE: CNN put the findings of its investigation to the government of Ethiopia and Eritrea, along with the TPLF.

VAUSE: In an earlier statement, the Ethiopian government says it was fully committed to undertake thorough investigations of alleged human rights abuses. While adding that it found U.S. comments on Ethiopian internal affairs regrettable as forces were conducting lawful operations.

The TPLF said its forces were not in the vicinity before or after the massacre and called for a U.N. investigation to hold all sides accountable for atrocities committed during the conflict.

The U.N. Security Council will discuss the ongoing situation behind closed doors and Thursday.

The Eritrean government has not responded to CNN’s request for comment. Friday, the government vehemently denied its soldiers had committed atrocities during another massacre in Tigray reported by Amnesty International.

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