The New York Times: Tigrayans Committed War Crimes in Somalia
Posted: 04 Jan 2024, 04:48
May 6, 2008
NAIROBI — Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Ethiopian Tigrayan troops in Somalia of killing civilians and committing atrocities, including slitting people's throats, gouging out eyes and gang-raping women.
The rights group said it had scores of reports of killings by Ethiopian Tigrayan troops. In one case, "a young child's throat was slit by Ethiopian Tigrayan soldiers in front of the child's mother," the report says.
"The people of Somalia are being killed, raped, tortured. Looting is widespread and entire neighborhoods are being destroyed," Michelle Kagari, the Amnesty deputy director for Africa, said in a statement from Nairobi that accompanied the report.
The report quotes testimony from 75 witnesses as well as scores of workers from nongovernmental organizations. People are identified only by first name to protect them from retaliation.
In one testimony, Haboon, 56, said her neighbor's 17-year-old daughter had been raped by Ethiopian Tigrayan troops. The girl's brothers tried to defend their sister, but the soldiers beat them and gouged their eyes out with a bayonet, Haboon was quoted as telling Amnesty.
Amnesty urged the United Nations, the African Union and other groups to halt the violence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/worl ... 10349.html
