TPLF Summarily Executed Civilians in Chinna Kobo Towns of Amhara Region: HRW

 December 10 /2021 (ENA) The terrorist TPLF forces summarily executed dozens of civilians in two towns they controlled in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara region between August 31 and September 9, 2021, according to a report issued by the Human Rights Watch (HRW).

These killings highlight the urgent need for the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish an international investigative mechanism into abuses.

Chinna residents told Human Rights Watch that over the next five days Tigrayan forces summarily executed 26 civilians in 15 separate incidents, before withdrawing on September 4.

In the town of Kobo on September 9, Tigrayan forces summarily executed a total of 23 people in four separate incidents, witnesses said.

“Tigrayan forces showed brutal disregard for human life and the laws of war by executing people in their custody,” Crisis and Conflict Director at Human Rights Watch, Lama Fakih said.

In September and October, Human Rights Watch remotely interviewed 36 people, including witnesses to killings, victims’ relatives and neighbors, religious figures, and doctors about fighting and abuses in and around Chinna Teklehaimanot village (Chinna) and the town of Kobo.

Nineteen people described seeing Tigrayan fighters in Chinna and Kobo summarily execute a total of 49 people who they said were civilians, providing 44 names.

Human Rights Watch also obtained three lists of civilians who had allegedly been killed in Chinna between August 31 and September 4.

Taken together, the lists contain 74 names, 30 of which witnesses and relatives of those killed also mentioned to Human Rights Watch.

Witnesses also said that Tigrayan forces put civilians at grave risk by holding them in residential compounds and shooting from those compounds at Ethiopian troops positioned on nearby hills, drawing return fire. Such actions may amount to “human shielding,” a war crime.

Tigrayan forces seized control of Kobo in North Wollo district in mid-July. According to residents of Kobo and nearby villages, on the morning of September 9, Tigrayan forces from Kobo conducted operations in neighboring villages.

Four residents described the summary execution of 23 people, including farmers returning to Kobo, in four incidents in the town.

On December 4, Human Rights Watch sent TPLF authorities a summary of findings requesting comment but received no response.

The investigation should include alleged summary executions and other serious violations of the laws of war by Tigrayan forces, identify those responsible at all levels, and preserve evidence for future accountability, Human Rights Watch said.