Ethiopia

Amnesty accuses Ethiopian military of 'extrajudicial executions' in Amhara region

Members of special force of the Amhara police stand next to sacks of food during food distribution for internally displaced people from Amhara. (Photo: Eduardo Soteras/AFP)

By Foreign Reporter | Tuesday, February 27, 2024

According to the agency, the soldiers also assaulted and threatened health workers at gunpoint at a health centre.

Amnesty International has accused the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) of carrying out "extrajudicial executions" of civilians in the Amhara region, and, in some instances, denying family members the right to bury their loved ones.

In a Monday briefing titled "We Thought They Would Fight with Those They Came to Fight-Extra-judicial Executions in Bahir Dar by ENDF Soldiers," Amnesty details how Ethiopian soldiers carried out extrajudicial executions of six civilians in the Abune Hara and Lideta neighbourhoods of Kebele 14 area on August 8, 2023.

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Bahir Dar is the regional capital of Amhara, where Ethiopian forces fought against a non-state militia, Fano.

The report claims, that on October 10-11, 2023, members of the ENDF extrajudicially executed another six men, including at least five civilians in the city's Seba Tamit neighbourhood.

According to Amnesty International, on August 8, 2023, in the Kebele 14 neighbourhood of Bahir Dar City, ENDF soldiers allegedly fired indiscriminately into residential compounds while pursuing unidentified individuals.

Among those killed were Aynew Defresh, a 55-year-old trader, and his two sons, Kassahun and Abraham, according to their relatives.

Amnesty International also documented the extrajudicial execution of six people by ENDF soldiers on October 10 and 11, 2023, including a patient receiving treatment at a health centre.

According to the agency, the soldiers also assaulted and threatened health workers at gunpoint in the same health centre.

The organisation disclosed that on the morning of October 11, ENDF soldiers entered the home of 69-year-old Tadesse Mekonen and extrajudicially executed three of his brothers and one neighbour.

Witnesses reported that soldiers left the bodies in the street for nearly eight hours before allowing the family to retrieve them for burial.

Amnesty International emphasised the need to bring Ethiopia back to regional and international scrutiny.

Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, called for immediate action from Ethiopia's partners, including members of the United Nations Human Rights Council, to resume scrutiny of the human rights situation and follow up on the findings of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE).

Chagutah stated that the alleged executions may constitute war crimes under international law and violate the right to life under human rights law.

He urged an end to impunity and impartial prosecutions of any violations and called for an independent investigation into abuses by all parties and accountability for perpetrators.