Eyewitnesses told CNN that in November a group of Eritrean soldiers opened fire on Maryam Dengelat Church in the village of Dengelat, east Tigray, as hundreds of congregants were celebrating Mass. Dozens of people died of chaos over three days, with soldiers slaughtering local residents, displaced people and pilgrims, they said.
Thousands of civilians are believed to have died since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation against leaders in the Tigray region and sent troops from the neighboring Amhara region. CNN has previously reported that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea have committed many of the extrajudicial killings, assaults and human rights abuses in the Tigray region.
After taking control of the main cities of Tigray in late November, Abiy declared victory, claiming that no civilians had been injured in the offensive.
“They kill our people in this country, they kill children, all ages of the population and they commit rape,” Debretsion told CNN in a telephone interview from an unknown location.
“Genocides of all kinds have been committed in Tigray. So the most important thing is that there should be an investigation,” he added.
“We are calling for an investigation into CNN’s findings on the spot in Tigray.”
The Ethiopian State Department on Monday rejected a United States call to the Ethiopian federal government to withdraw troops from Tigray, saying it was “regrettable” that the US had tried to “make statements on Ethiopia’s internal affairs and in particular the reference to the Redeployment of Amhara Regional Armed Forces. ”
“It should be understood that such matters are the sole responsibility of the Ethiopian government, which, as a sovereign nation, is responsible for deploying the necessary security structures and available resources to ensure the rule of law within every corner of its borders,” said the ministry. said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the US was “deeply concerned about the reported atrocities and the overall deteriorating situation” and called on Eritrean and Amhara regional forces to withdraw immediately. Blinken’s statement came a day after CNN’s investigation, as well as another by Amnesty International, both of which carried out eyewitness accounts of civilian massacres in two separate attacks in late 2020.
The government of Eritrea has denied involvement in the atrocities reported by Amnesty, but has not yet responded to CNN’s request for comment regarding the Dengelat massacre.
Debretsion said he made an urgent appeal to the Biden government to keep pressure on the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments.
“We want to have peace in this region, we want that in this country too [the US] to continue pushing [for the withdrawal] of Tigray’s invaders to stop the atrocities, genocide and destruction, ”he told CNN.
“We need, you know, humanitarian aid too … The whole Tigray is in a social and economic crisis. Our people need help, they need humanitarian aid. So it’s an urgent call. [US] President. “
Repeated denial of Eritrean involvement
The Amnesty International report in November accused Eritrean forces of hundreds of unarmed civilians in the city of Axum, including in the Tigray region, through indiscriminate shelling and shootings and extrajudicial killings, which the human rights organization said could be a crime against humanity.
The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry statement on Monday made no mention of the presence of troops from neighboring Eritrea during the recent offensive. It added that it was “fully committed” to investigating human rights violations. Prime Minister Abiy has also denied that Eritrea soldiers crossed Tigray to support Ethiopian troops.
Blinken had called for a “full, independent international investigation into all reports of human rights violations, violations and atrocities”.
“We strongly condemn the murders, forced relocations and relocations, sexual assaults and other very serious human rights and violations by various parties reported by multiple organizations in Tigray,” he said.
Blinken also acknowledged Abiy’s commitment to allow humanitarian aid to the region, saying the US Agency for International Development would send a disaster response team to Ethiopia. On Monday, the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was working towards unfettered access to Tigray for the provision of humanitarian aid.
TPLF forces seized power in Ethiopia in 1991 with the support of Eritrea. TPLF leader Meles Zenawi became the nation’s leader, with Debretsion as his deputy. The TPLF ruled until 2018, when members of the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups rallied against the party. Abiy was appointed prime minister in 2018 and last year won a Nobel Prize for his peace deal with Eritrea.
Last year, violence flared up in the region after Tigray pushed through local elections that the government banned Abiy over the pandemic.
CNN’s Angela Dewan, Eliza Mackintosh, Emmet Lyons, Bethlehem Feleke, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Katie Polglase contributed to this report.