b) Mai Kadra massacre
178. The first documented massacre took place on 9 November 2020 in Mai Kadra [May Cadera], a town in the
southwest Tigray.347 Both the TPLF and allied forces, as well as Amhara militia and the ENDF are accused of
having killed inhabitants of the town where people of both Amhara and Tigrayan ethnicities lived alongside
each other.348 People were killed with machetes, sticks, and cobblestones,349 and were scattered around the
town.350 A witness describes entering Mai Kadra once the massacre had begun, seeing “dead bodies on the
ground; … people were slaughtered, necks cut, stomachs stabbed.”351
179. According to one report, “the massacre […] resulted from a unique combination of local circumstances,
including preexisting tensions in the town and news of the advance and abuses by Ethiopian and allied
Amhara forces as fighting spread in Western Tigray.”352 Fueled by news of the imminent advance of
Ethiopian and allied forces and attacks in surrounding towns, Tigrayan men and youth killed ethnic Amhara
with knives, machetes, and axes.353 The number of Amhara killed ranged from 200 to over 1,000.354
180. Amhara armed forces then retaliated against Tigrayan residents,355 and were later joined by Ethiopian
soldiers and Amhara security forces and militia, who captured the town. Tigrayan residents were killed in
revenge, arbitrarily detained and expelled from the area.356 This was a precursor to the “pattern that would
repeat against Tigrayan communities across the Western Tigray Zone in the year that followed.” 357
181. One Tigrayan survivor reports that he witnessed Fano militia kill 15 people with rifles and machetes.358 In a
Sudanese refugee camp, a Tigrayan student showed his injuries which were inflicted by an axe after being
dragged from his home in Mai Kadra by Amhara militiamen. His injuries included cuts with a machete to
neck and wrist, almost causing him to lose his hand: “They discussed whether to kill me or take me with
them, then attacked me with sticks and machetes. They left me there thinking I was dead.”359 He alleges
that an Amhara friend of his disclosed his location because of his Tigrayan ethnicity.360 The exact number of
Tigrayan civilians killed in this massacre is unknown, but in total, according to a special Reuters report, “at
least 767 people were killed.”361