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Ethiopia: extrajudicial executions in Amhara

The 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 killings in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. The report “‘We thought they would fight with those who came to fight’ – extrajudicial executions in Bahir Dar by ENDF soldiers” describes how ENDF soldiers killed civilians in several neighborhoods in Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara region, in August and October 2023.

More than a year after fighting in Tigray ended, 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 closed for months and other lines of communication have been repeatedly disrupted. A broad state of emergency has also been in force since August 2023, restricting freedom of expression and the press.

Systematic impunity in Ethiopia makes it easy for perpetrators to continue committing crimes. There is no independent judiciary or consequences for serious crimes, even those that constitute crimes against international law.

Shoura Hashemi, General Director of Amnesty International Austria

“This widespread impunity must end. Ethiopian authorities must ensure that human rights violations and international crimes committed by ENDF and allied forces since late 2020 are investigated and brought to justice,” said Shoura Hashemi, Executive Director of Amnesty International in Austria.

“The massive human rights violations in Ethiopia are also due to the failure and lack of interest of the international community. The inability to implement 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 Ethiopian government’s continued human rights violations and finally take responsibility.”

Extrajudicial executions of Abune Hara, Lideta and Seba Tamit

On August 8, 2023, 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 shot dead 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 the 10th and 11th of October. A patient at a health center was among the dead. At the same health center, 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 family members, the ENDF initially prohibited a family from recovering the bodies, so they had to wait until the soldiers left.

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In August 2023, a nationwide armed conflict broke out between the ENDF and the Fano militia in the Amhara region. The former allies used to fight together in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, but are now enemies. The fighting occurred following the agreement to cease hostilities 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 armed forces. Ethiopians. 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 six-month national state of emergency due to increased violence in the Amhara region, which was extended for another four months on February 2, 2024.