Finding the truth behind the Tigray conflict
THE Tigray conflict of 2020 involves not only possible war crimes, but also a war of narratives and a battle to find the truth so that suspected perpetrators of these crimes may be held accountable.
The sequence of events, the perpetrators and the extent of atrocities committed during the conflict in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region remain distorted as new evidence continues to surface, along with conflicting statements by the authorities concerned.
Access to Tigray in northern Ethiopia was prohibited after a state of emergency was declared and a military offensive was launched in the region by the Ethiopian federal government to “save the country”.
The move followed an attack on an Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) base in Tigray on November 4, 2020, by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling government of the region, according to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Netblocks, a watchdog organisation set up in 2017 to monitor internet freedom, revealed evidence that showed telecommunications were cut in Tigray soon after the military offensive was launched, curtailing news coverage and transparency.
On November 28, Abiy declared the Tigray conflict successfully concluded.
However, reports of massacres against the civilian population persisted into 2021, with multiple investigations being revealed by rights-based groups such as Amnesty International and global news organisations that suggested that the conflict was continuing, and implicated neighbouring Eritrean forces in the massacre of civilians.
Both the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments initially denied claims that Eritrean forces were ever in Tigray to begin with.
But in late March 2021, Abiy admitted to the presence of Eritrean forces in Tigray, as well as to an agreement between the two countries for the soldiers to return to Eritrea, the BBC reported.
At the beginning of April, Abiy further admitted that the conflict in Tigray continued, The Guardian UK reported.
“The junta which we had eliminated within three weeks has now turned itself into a guerrilla force, mingled with farmers, and started moving from place to place,” Abiy said.
Abiy added that eliminating the enemy would not take three months and that “it is very difficult and tiresome”.
The task of ascertaining facts about those responsible for potential crimes against humanity, the number of casualties and verifying emerging evidence has become harder than ever. Five video clips of uniformed armed men marching a number of unarmed civilians to a cliff’s edge before shooting them at close range and then pushing their bodies over the edge emerged on social media in March.
Distinctive geographical features seen in these videos, such as a dirt road, lakes and patterns of vegetation, were cross-referenced with satellite images to verify where the videos were filmed. Taken together with minute clues, such as the direction of shadows, languages spoken and uniforms worn, the videos suggested who the perpetrators were, according to a BBC investigation published at the beginning of April.
Their findings implicated the ENDF, the victims being Tigrayan civilians. However, the timing of the incident could not be verified.
Geotagging of videos that recorded atrocities, along with satellite images of alleged mass graves and in-depth interviews of survivors, were some of the techniques used by Amnesty International in its investigation.
In an interview with US media outlet PBS NewsHour in April, Fisseha Tekle, an Ethiopian researcher for Amnesty International and co-author of the organisation’s report, said, “What we have published is just the tip of the iceberg.”
According to the latest report on the crisis titled “Tigray: Atlas of the Humanitarian Situation”, 7 259 civilians were killed during the conflict, including 151 massacres.
Written by academics from Ghent University in Belgium and Tigray’s Mekelle University, the report states that the perpetrators of potential crimes against humanity in Tigray were 43% Eritrean forces, 18% ENDF and 5% militias from Ethiopia’s Amhara region.
However, as one of the researchers of the report, Tim Vanden Bempt, told The Guardian UK, “A lot is still unknown.” |