2024-02-26 10:00:18
Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) carried out extrajudicial executions of civilians in the Amhara region in 2023. In some of these cases, they denied family members the right to bury their loved ones, Amnesty International said in a new report.
In a new report, Amnesty International documents several extrajudicial executions in Ethiopia’s Amhara region. The report „‘We Thought They Would Fight With Those They Came To Fight‘ – Extra-judicial executions in Bahir Dar by ENDF soldiers“ describes how ENDF soldiers killed civilians in several neighborhoods of Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara region, in August and October 2023.
More than a year following fighting ended in Tigray, the ENDF continues to violate human rights and international humanitarian law, according to the report. Investigating human rights violations during the conflict in the Amhara region is difficult because the internet has been shut down for months and other communication channels are repeatedly disrupted. A far-reaching state of emergency has also been in force since August 2023, restricting freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
The systematic impunity in Ethiopia makes it easy for perpetrators to continue committing crimes. There is no independent judiciary and no consequences for serious crimes, even those that constitute crimes once morest international law.
Shoura Hashemi, Managing Director of Amnesty International Austria
“This widespread impunity must end. Ethiopian authorities must ensure that the human rights violations and international crimes committed by the ENDF and allied forces since late 2020 are investigated and brought to justice,” said Shoura Hashemi, Executive Director by Amnesty International Austria.
“The massive human rights violations in Ethiopia are also due to the failure and disinterest of the international community. Failure to pursue an investigative mechanism at the UN level has allowed the Ethiopian government to create a climate of fear without fear of consequences. The international community must stop ignoring the ongoing human rights violations by the Ethiopian government and finally take responsibility.”
Extrajudicial executions in Abune Hara, Lideta and Seba Tamit
On August 8, 2023, the ENDF extrajudicially executed six civilians during hostilities, Amnesty International documented, in the Abune Hara and Lideta neighborhoods of Kebele 14 in Bahar Dar. According to eyewitnesses and family members, the victims were killed by gunfire at close range.
In October, fighting broke out in other parts of Bahir Dar, mainly in Seba Tamit. In this context, the ENDF executed six more men, including at least five civilians, on October 10 and 11. A patient at a health center was among those killed. At the same health center, the ENDF also beat and threatened medical staff at gunpoint.
In the same area, ENDF soldiers extrajudicially executed three brothers and one of their neighbors on the morning of October 11th. According to relatives, the ENDF initially forbade a family from retrieving the bodies, so they had to wait until the soldiers had left.
background
In August 2023, a national armed conflict broke out between the ENDF and the Fano militia in the Amhara region. The former allies used to fight together in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, but are now enemies. The fighting occurred following the cessation of hostilities agreement between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in November 2022 and the Ethiopian government’s decision in April 2023 to integrate regional special forces into the Ethiopian armed forces. Angered by this decision, members of the Amhara Police Special Task Force joined the Fano militia.
On August 4, 2023, the Ethiopian government declared a nationwide six-month state of emergency due to increasing violence in the Amhara region, which was extended for an additional four months on February 2, 2024.
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