Mai Kadra massacre | |
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Part of 2020 Tigray conflict | |
Location of Mai Kadra in Ethiopia | |
Location | Mai Kadra, Tigray Region, Ethiopia |
Date | 9 November 2020 |
Target | Day laborers |
Attack type | |
Deaths | Up to 500 laborers |
Perpetrators | ![]() |
The Mai Kadra massacre was a series of ethnic cleansing carried out in the town of Mai Kadra, in the Tigray Region of northwestern Ethiopia, near the Sudanese border, on the night of 9 November 2020 or early in the morning on 10 November 2020.[1]
The killings took place amidst an armed conflict between the regional govenment and the federal government, as troops of the Ethiopian National Defense Force were advancing towards the town. The victims have been described as "civilians, who appear to have been day labourers in no way involved in the ongoing military offensive," particularly those hailing from outside the area.[2] The total death toll remains unclear, but according to Amnesty International, "likely hundreds" were killed.[3] Two videos, which were analyzed by Amnesty International to prove that the massacre had taken place, show dozens of corpses with injuries caused by bladed weapons, like machetes. According to local media, up to 500 people may have been killed. Most of the victims were Amhara.[2]
The perpetrators have not yet been confirmed, but local eyewitnesses implicated the regional security forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party of the region, accounts corroborated by surviors.[2] The TPLF leadership has denied responibility.[3]
Background
Throughout 2019 and 2020, tensions progressively increased between the Ethiopian federal government, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and the local government of the Tigray Region, led by Chief Administrator Debretsion Gebremichael, over allegations that members of the ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which was the dominant force in Ethiopian politics after the fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, were being unfairly targeted for prosecution by the central government, and misgivings of the Eritrea–Ethiopia peace deal, which the TPLF viewed as endangering its security.
Federal-state relations deteriorated considerably after the region held local elections in September 2020, which the TPLF claimed to have won in a landslide, despite the Ethiopian govenment having postponed elections until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] After the elections, both sets of governments proclaimed the other illegitmate and illegal; the federal government maintaining that the regional elections had been extra-constitutional and neither free nor fair, and the regional government insisting that the federal government's mandate had expired, rendering its authority null and void.[4]
In November 2020, open conflict broke out between the two governments when regional security forces allegedly attacked the headquarters of the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) in Mekelle.[2] The federal government quickly launched an offensive to restore its authority, in concert with regional security forces from the Amhara and Afar Regions. One of its first priorities was to secure the region's border with Sudan and the border town of Humera, thereby forestalling any possibility of the TPLF forces opening a cross-border supply route.[5] Mai Kadra (or Mai Cadera, May Cadera, etc.) is a medium-sized market town on the Gonder-Humera road, in Kafta Humera woreda of the Mi'irabawi (Western) Zone of the Tigray Region.
Killings
References
- ^ "Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: 'Civilians massacred', says Amnesty International". BBC World News.
- ^ a b c d "Ethiopia: Investigation reveals evidence that scores of civilians were killed in massacre in Tigray state". Amnesty International. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
- ^ a b Guilia, Parravicini (12 November 2020). "Ethiopia claims big advance in Tigray, Amnesty reports mass killing". Reuters. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
- ^ a b Gebremedhin, Desta (5 November 2020). "Tigray crisis: Why there are fears of civil war in Ethiopia". BBC World News. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
- ^ Atit, Michael (9 November 2020). "Sudan Closes Ethiopia Border Until Tigray Tensions Subside". Voice of America. Retrieved 12 November 2020.