Ethiopian Inquiry Blames Tigrayans For Mai Kadra Massacre

Ethiopia's state human rights body said its initial findings showed that Tigrayan militants were behind a gruesome massacre in the town of Mai Kadra that left hundreds of civilians dead

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2020) Ethiopia's state human rights body said its initial findings showed that Tigrayan militants were behind a gruesome massacre in the town of Mai Kadra that left hundreds of civilians dead.

Amnesty International was the first to report the killings of people from the minority Amhara and Wolkait ethnicities that happened in the southwestern Tigray region on the night of November 9. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission blamed the murders on an "informal group of Tigrayan youth known as 'Samri'," who it claimed were accompanied by local security forces.

"The preliminary findings state that what transpired in Maikadra... strongly indicate the commission of grave human rights violations which may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes," it said.

The commission estimated that at least 600 civilians had been beaten to death with sticks, stabbed, hacked with hatchets and strangled during door-to-door raids by retreating Tigrayan forces.

"It is now an urgent priority that victims are provided redress and rehabilitation, and that perpetrators involved directly or indirectly at all levels are held to account," Chief Commissioner Daniel Bekele said.

The massacre took place days after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered troops loyal to the government in Addis Ababa to march on the semi-autonomous state after accusing its ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front of attacking Ethiopian military bases in the region.