"Samri", informal Tigrayan youth group, police and militia responsible for Mai Kadra massacre says Ethiopian Human Right Commission (EHRC)

 

"It took 3 days to bury all of the bodies", said survivors to EHRC

Addis Ababa, November 24, 2020 - "Samri", an informal Tigrayan youth group - set up and manned checkpoints at all of the town’s four main exits, comprised of several groups consisting of 20 to 30 youth, each accompanied by  an estimated 3 to 4 armed police and militia, carried out the massacre in Mai Kadra while  police and militia - strategically posted at street junctions - aided and directly participated in the carnage by  shooting at those who attempted to escape. The number of killed are estimated to be 600 or above. The massacre was ethnic based targeting those who are non-Tigrayan specifically those who were Amhara.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC/The Commission) sent a team of human rights investigators to Maikadra, in Tigray Region’s Western Zone, for a rapid investigation  into purported mass killings of civilians and related human rights violations.

The events of what went on in Mai Kadra goes like this. On November 9, 2020, the day of the attack, from around 11:00 AM on wards, the town police started checking identity cards of different people of non-Tigray origin and raided all their houses/huts, stretching from the neighborhood known as “Genb Sefer” up to the area called Wolkait Bole (Kebele 1 Ketena 1) which is largely resided by ethnic Amharas. 

They detained up to 60 people they profiled as Amhara and Wolkait and who were said to use Sudanese SIM cards on their mobile phones and destroyed said SIM cards. Ethiopian SIM cards had already stopped working by then and the motive for confiscating and destroying the Sudanese SIM cards was to prevent any communications or call for help during the attack, according to testimony of the people in the area. Women and children of Tigrayan ethnic origin were made to leave the town a few hours ahead of the attack. 

On the same day (November 9^th, 2020), around 3:00 P.M., the local police, militia and the  informal Tigray youth group called “Samri” returned to “Genb Sefer” where the majority of  people of Amhara ethnic origin live and began the attack against civilians.

According to eyewitnesses and families of victims who spoke with EHRC, the first act committed by the perpetrators was to execute an ethnic Amhara former soldier called Abiy  Tsegaye in front of his family and outside his house and set the house on fire. Afterwards, they threw his body into the fire. Residents said Abiy Tsegaye was a former soldier and militia member who had declined a request to re-join the militia as tensions began to rise. They surmise  that this might be why he was targeted. The victim’s wife and eyewitnesses have given a  detailed account of how the group of perpetrators forced Abiy Tsegaye out of his house and  had him shot in front of his family by a local militia and former colleague called Shambel  Kahsay, before throwing his body into the raging fire that engulfed their house. The EHRC  team also visited said house, still smouldering, and the area around it, still heavy with burned  body smoke.

Immediately after the attack on Abiy Tsegaye’s house, members of "Samri", with the help of the local police and militia, moving from house to house and from street to street, began a cruel  and atrocious rampage on people they pre-identified/profiled as Amharas and Wolkaits. They  killed hundreds of people, beating them with batons/sticks, stabbing them with knives,  machetes and hatchets and strangling them with ropes. They also looted and destroyed  properties. 

It has been made apparent that the attack was ethnicity based and specifically targeted men. However, some women, including mothers who have tried to shield their families, have suffered physical and mental injuries. Eyewitnesses also said women received threats from the perpetrators that “tomorrow, they will come after the women. It will be their turn”.

Members of the Burial Committee, who spoke with EHRC investigators, were set up after the  attack, eyewitnesses and other local sources, estimate a minimum of 600 have been killed and  say the number is likely to be higher still.

Survivors told EHRC that they managed to escape by hiding inside roof openings, pretending  to be dead after severe beatings, fleeing to and hiding in the “desert plains” and, for a few of  them, by hiding inside the nearby Abune Aregawi Church. The attack which began on  November 9^th at around 3:00 p.m. went on throughout the night until the perpetrators left in the  early hours of November 10^th. 

The entry into the city of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) at around 10:00 a.m. made it possible to start the process of getting medical help to victims. 

 

The State of Emergency Fact Check was quick to accept this finding and labelled the "Samri" group as "TPLF youth group".

 

Ethiopia Human Rights Commission led by renowned human rights advocate @DanielBekele formerly with @amnesty & @hrw confirms #Maykadra atrocities committed by TPLF ‘Samri’ youth group. https://t.co/HG2z2mMpRp

— Ethiopia State of Emergency Fact Check (@SOEFactCheck) November 24, 2020