Ethiopia: ‘Genocide is happening in Tigray’ (Aleteia)
Posted: 03 Jun 2021, 08:22
A source told the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need, that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea are continuing to slaughter and rape civilians.
The targeting of young people, indiscriminate killings and widespread sexual violence – including the rape of nuns – is part of a genocide against the Tigrayan ethnic group of northern Ethiopia, according to a source close to the Church.
The source, anonymous for security reasons, told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, who entered the country to support the Ethiopian federal troops, are continuing to slaughter civilians.
ACN’s source said: “This is clearly genocide against the people of Tigray. This is not just fighting; they are killing everybody – that is a sign of genocide. Many people are escaping from Tigray to Sudan and some of them, especially the young, are escaping because they are being targeted. They are deliberately targeting the young. Young people are killed, our ladies and women are abused with sexual harassment – that is a sign of genocide itself.”
The source was the latest to claim the attacks constituted genocide, following Patriarch Mathias, the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, who earlier this month described events including the rape of women and the bombing of churches in the region as genocide.
The source went on to describe the spate of sexual abuse which Tigrayan women – including nuns – have been subjected to at the hands of troops from neighbouring Eritrea: “[Our relatives], our sisters have been raped. Some of them we had to take to hospital, even nuns have been raped. The women and the girls are receiving a different kind of abuse, like you’ve never heard before, things that are very bad. Some of the places that can help support us are closed by the soldiers.”
Last November, fighting broke out in Tigray after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent federal troops, with the support of troops from Eritrea, to fight the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which he accused of holding illegitimate elections.
Continue reading
The targeting of young people, indiscriminate killings and widespread sexual violence – including the rape of nuns – is part of a genocide against the Tigrayan ethnic group of northern Ethiopia, according to a source close to the Church.
The source, anonymous for security reasons, told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, who entered the country to support the Ethiopian federal troops, are continuing to slaughter civilians.
ACN’s source said: “This is clearly genocide against the people of Tigray. This is not just fighting; they are killing everybody – that is a sign of genocide. Many people are escaping from Tigray to Sudan and some of them, especially the young, are escaping because they are being targeted. They are deliberately targeting the young. Young people are killed, our ladies and women are abused with sexual harassment – that is a sign of genocide itself.”
The source was the latest to claim the attacks constituted genocide, following Patriarch Mathias, the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, who earlier this month described events including the rape of women and the bombing of churches in the region as genocide.
The source went on to describe the spate of sexual abuse which Tigrayan women – including nuns – have been subjected to at the hands of troops from neighbouring Eritrea: “[Our relatives], our sisters have been raped. Some of them we had to take to hospital, even nuns have been raped. The women and the girls are receiving a different kind of abuse, like you’ve never heard before, things that are very bad. Some of the places that can help support us are closed by the soldiers.”
Last November, fighting broke out in Tigray after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent federal troops, with the support of troops from Eritrea, to fight the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which he accused of holding illegitimate elections.
Continue reading