Aid workers ‘executed’ in Ethiopia’s Tigray war, charity says
An investigation by medical charity doctors Without borders (MSF) in the “execution” of three of its workers during a humanitarian mission in the northern region of the northern war in Ethiopia found that the country’s army was responsible for murders four years ago.
The MSF report includes affirmations that the Ethiopian troops were present at the scene of the murder of the three – a Spanish national and two Ethiopians.
“They were executed,” said MSF Spain, Raquel Ayora at the BBC. “They were facing their attackers [and] were killed very closely … several times. “”
The BBC asked the Ethiopian government an answer to allegation.
MSF said that he published the conclusions of his report on the incident because the government had not provided a “credible account” of deaths despite 20 meetings face to face in the last four years.
The Spaniard María Hernández Matas, thirty-five, as Yohannes Halefom Reda, 32, and Tedros Gebremariam, 31, were killed on June 24, 2021 while they were traveling in the center of the Tigray to assess medical needs.
“They were very professional and passionate,” Ayora told BBC.
She added that the three were fully identifiable in the MSF vests and that their vehicle had the flag and logos of the charity on each side when they were slaughtered.
“So they knew they were killing humanitarian workers,” she said.
Ms. Matas had been working in Tray since before the war and “was very loved” by people from the region, said Ms. Ayora.
Her death was particularly devastating for her mother because she was her only child, added the MSF official.
Mr. Tedros was killed shortly after his wife gave birth to a little girl. His widow appointed the baby Maria, after the Spanish colleague killed by his father, said Ayora.
The humanitarian workers were targeted despite the fact that their vehicle had a MSF flag [MSF]
The TIGRAY conflict broke out in 2020 following a massive fall between regional and federal governments, the neighboring Eritrea entering the war on the side of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF).
The conflict ended two years later following a peace agreement negotiated by the African Union (AU). His envoy, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, put the number of people who died in the conflict at around 600,000.
The researchers said that deaths were caused by fighting, famine and lack of health care.
MSF said that the murder of its staff had taken place at a time when the conflict intensified and that the Ethiopian and Eritrean troops became more and more hostile to the humanitarian workers in the region.
The relationship of the charity understands what it says is proof that a convoy of soldiers of the Ethiopian army, withdrawing from the fighting, was present at the scene of deaths, which, he adds, is corroborated by satellite imagery.
The report indicates that civilian and military witnesses arose to directly involve soldiers of the Ethiopian army in the killings, one of which would have heard a commander order an attack on the vehicle of accident workers.
However, the charitable organization says that “the level and nature” of the involvement of the army in the attack “remains to be clarified”.
“The review revealed a large corroborant body of evidence that placed a convoy of final retired troops on the road where murders took place on the day of the incident,” said MSF.
More stories from the BBC on the TIGRAY conflict:
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