Beginning of the War Crime and Destruction
Although Amhara and Tigray people have deeply built-in social, historical, and cultural ties, TPLF-led Tigray invading forces carried out ruthless inhuman mass atrocities, lootings, and destruction of Amhara people. Beginning on November 03, 2020, discriminatory and inhuman killings of the Ethiopian army members and in particular Amhara soldiers, Tigray invading forces uncovered their unfathomable hatred of Amhara people in areas which they temporarily occupied during the war.
Civilian Killings, Rape and Schools as Mass Funeral Places
This historically unparalleled war crime intentionally targeted civilians, women, public institutions, factories, and agriculture centers. Civilians were mercilessly killed; women were raped in daylight and in front of their children; wives were raped in front of their husbands and children, and schools were used as mass funeral places.
Sexual, Emotional, Psychological and Physical Abuses by the TPLF forces
The TPLF invading forces have made a number of abuses, illegal and immoral acts on humanity during their invasion to the Amhara region. These sexual, emotional, psychological and physical abuses are against the international law of human protections during such conflicts to the civilians particularly women, children, people with disability and the elderly people.
Bahir Dar University in collaboration with the Universities Forum and Ethiopian statistics agency has conducted a study on sexual, emotional, psychological and physical abuses made by the TPLF forces during their invasion to the Amhara region. The results of the study revealed that the TPLF forces have committed all sorts of violations on humanity which are against the international humanitarian laws and conventions.
Some of the major abuses include:
- Psychological terror and tortures: fear, humulitations, cultural and identity humiliations
- Malnutrition; physical abuse; and negligence
- Evicting or threatening women and children by force from their homes
- Dehumanized perception and callings aimed at distressing mental health and cause psychological suffering
The TPLF forces had committed grave breaches of International Humanitarian Law set out in Common Article 3 to the Geneva conventions, additional protocol ii thereto and Customary International Humanitarian Law which tantamount to war crime under the international criminal law rules. Under the same International criminal laws, the widespread and systematic natures of this documented deliberate killing of civilians are elements of crime against humanity.
It can be understood from the statistics assembled that a total of 7,003 innocent people died without any participation in the war due to the conflict in the Amhara region. Among them, 5755 (82%) died in South Wollo (2400), North Wollo (2326) and North Shewa (1029). The high death rate recorded in these three zones was due to the relatively wide scope of the TPLF forces who stayed longer period of time, that lasted for months.
When we look at the ratio of the number of innocent people killed by deliberate attack by TPLF forces, according to their age, 1684 (70.9%) of them were in the age group of 18 to 59. This shows that the TPLF forces had killed productive citizens (young people and adults) in particular. In this regard, it can be understood from the evidence that youths, wealthy and influential people and their families were the focus of the attack by TPLF forces.