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major overhaul based on Adigrat University lecturer Getu Mak's testimony from the interruption of a 4-week TigraiCodes school workshop; disputed timeline and disputed location of main massacre are (if I haven't messed up) attributed better to the sources; some of the EEPA statements that were absent in the Woinishet interview (English translation, as sourced here) are now removed (e.g. water/electricity cut off on 2 Nov is not in the Tghat/Woinishet interview)
per talk page - comment that this might have been two major massacres
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| perps = {{flagicon|Ethiopia}} [[Ethiopian National Defense Force|ENDF]] <br />{{flagicon|Amhara}} Amhara militias <br />{{flagicon|Eritrea}} [[Eritrean Defence Forces|EDF]]
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The '''Maryam Ts'iyon massacre''' was a massacre of about 720–750 civilians that took place in [[Axum]] during the [[Tigray War]]. The date is reported as either 28 November,<ref name="Tghat_Axum_GetuMak_what_happened" /> 15 December<ref name="EEPA_No53_12Jan2021" /> or 17–20 December 2020.<ref name="Nyssen_Tigray_situation_begin_2021" /> The event consisted either of indiscriminate shooting by the [[Eritrean Defence Forces]] (EDF) throughout Axum<ref name="Tghat_Axum_GetuMak_what_happened" /><ref name="Tghat_Aksum_Woinishet_testimony" /> or of a focussed killing at the [[Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion]] (''Maryam Ts'iyon'') by the [[Ethiopian National Defense Force]] (ENDF) and Amhara militia.<ref name="EEPA_No53_12Jan2021" /><ref name="Nyssen_Tigray_situation_begin_2021" /><ref name="LeMonde_dying_hunger" /> The church is the place where bodies were collected for burial.<ref name="Tghat_Axum_GetuMak_what_happened" /> Due to a tight communication block, news of the massacre was only revealed internationally in early January 2021 after survivors escaped to safe locations.<ref name="ERHub_Plaut_Maryam_massacre" />
The '''Maryam Ts'iyon massacre''' was a massacre of about 720–750 civilians that took place in [[Axum]] during the [[Tigray War]]. The date is reported as either 28 November,<ref name="Tghat_Axum_GetuMak_what_happened" /> 15 December<ref name="EEPA_No53_12Jan2021" /> or 17–20 December 2020.<ref name="Nyssen_Tigray_situation_begin_2021" /> The event consisted either of indiscriminate shooting by the [[Eritrean Defence Forces]] (EDF) throughout Axum<ref name="Tghat_Axum_GetuMak_what_happened" /><ref name="Tghat_Aksum_Woinishet_testimony" /> or of a focussed killing at the [[Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion]] (''Maryam Ts'iyon'') by the [[Ethiopian National Defense Force]] (ENDF) and Amhara militia.<ref name="EEPA_No53_12Jan2021" /><ref name="Nyssen_Tigray_situation_begin_2021" /><ref name="LeMonde_dying_hunger" /> The church is the place where bodies were collected for burial.<ref name="Tghat_Axum_GetuMak_what_happened" /> Due to a tight communication block, news of the massacre (or two separate massacres; reports are still emerging) was only revealed internationally in early January 2021 after survivors escaped to safe locations.<ref name="ERHub_Plaut_Maryam_massacre" />


==Background==
==Background==

Revision as of 02:27, 14 February 2021

Maryam Ts'iyon massacre
Part of Tigray War
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion is located in Ethiopia
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion is located in Tigray Region
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion
Location of the massacre
LocationAxum, or Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, Axum, Tigray Region, Ethiopia
Date28 November or 15 December or 17–20 December 2020
TargetTigrayans
Attack type
Deaths720–750 civilians
PerpetratorsEthiopia ENDF
Amhara Region Amhara militias
Eritrea EDF

The Maryam Ts'iyon massacre was a massacre of about 720–750 civilians that took place in Axum during the Tigray War. The date is reported as either 28 November,[1] 15 December[2] or 17–20 December 2020.[3] The event consisted either of indiscriminate shooting by the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) throughout Axum[1][4] or of a focussed killing at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion (Maryam Ts'iyon) by the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and Amhara militia.[2][3][5] The church is the place where bodies were collected for burial.[1] Due to a tight communication block, news of the massacre (or two separate massacres; reports are still emerging) was only revealed internationally in early January 2021 after survivors escaped to safe locations.[6]

Background

Pro-federal-government sources claimed that the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) gained control of Axum Airport on 11 November 2020.[7] Debretsion Gebremichael, head of the Tigray People's Liberation Front in power in the Tigray Region prior to the Tigray War, stated on 19 November that fighting was taking place in the town of Axum itself, but that the TPLF was still in control of the town.[8] The ENDF claimed to have taken full control of Axum the following day.[9] On 22 November, images, video and text asserting that the TPLF had damaged Axum Airport runway were published. The TPLF denied the claim. BBC News satellite image analysis suggested that the damage occurred between 19 and 23 November.[7] On 29 November, Debretsion claimed that the TPLF had retaken control of Axum.[10]

Massacre

Versions of the massacre include dated[1][2][3] and undated[4] versions. The role of the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion (Maryam Ts'iyon) as the main location of the massacre[2][3][5] or the place for collecting and burying bodies[1] varies between the sources.

Timeline

A detailed timeline was given by Getu Mak, a lecturer from Adigrat University who was three weeks into a four-week high-school pupil software training workshop in Axum when the 4 November Northern Command attacks occurred. According to Getu, Axum was shelled by the EDF and ENDF on 19 November, starting at 14:00. Many residents fled at some slept at the Maryam Ts'iyon church. The EDF left Axum, continuing to Adwa, while the ENDF destroyed the Brana Hotel, an international luxury hotel.[1]

On 27 November, 50–80 EDF soldiers returned to Axum. On 28 November, from 07:00 to 17:00 the EDF fought against local youth militias. Two thousand more EDF had arrived by 17:00. They started firing indiscrimately on a massive scale against the civilian residents of Axum.[1]

On 29 November, the EDF went from house to house, looting and murdering two hundred youths and suspected militia members.[1]

Europe External Programme with Africa (EEPA) dated the massacre to 15 December[2] and Belgian physical geographer Jan Nyssen dated it to 17–20 December.[3]

Loosely dated

Woinishet, born in Axum and based in the US, visited Axum during the events, and later escaped to Addis Ababa. Her interview was published in English on 20 January 2021. According to Woinishet, on an unspecified date after the Tigray War started, two thousand Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) soldiers entered Axum in tanks and carried out a massacre, firing indiscriminately without warnings. The witness stated that "the entire city from the bus station to the park was covered in bodies". She stated that the EDF soldiers said that they had been ordered to kill all Tigrayan males older than four. The EDF, according to Woinishet, killed soldiers, priests and farmers, burned crops and ordered farmers to kill their livestock.[4][11]

Woinishet stated that EDF soldiers were "completely in charge of the situation" and that the ENDF soldiers observed without interfering, "seem[ing] like they were afraid".[11]

Role of church and numbers

Getu Mak attributed the role of the Maryam Ts'iyon church as being the place where 720 corpses were buried, without specifying the date of burial. He stated that "hundreds" of youths and milita members were extrajudicially executed in the 29 November house-to-house EDF raids.[1]

EEPA stated that the massacre started with security forces from the ENDF and Amhara militia approaching the Maryam Ts'iyon church, which contained 1000 people inside and in the surrounding compound. A confrontation occurred due to people in the church believing that the soldiers wanted to take the Ark of the Covenant that the church claims to hold. People exited to the square. The ENDF and Amhara militias started shooting, killing 750 people.[2][6] Based on witness testimonies, Jan Nyssen dated the massacre to 17–20 December.[3] A witness in contact with Le Monde agreed with the estimate of 750 deaths.[5]

A witness who spent two months "going from village to village on foot" around the Tembien and Naeder Adet areas stated in Ethiopia Insight that some of the killings were done by EDF soldiers who killed people in their homes. According to the witness, a priest from Maryam Ts'iyon church stated that on one particular day, 243 victims had been buried, and that people who tried to pick up corpses were shot.[12]

Slow communication

With a ban on journalists entering the Tigray Region continuing as of 11 January 2021, news of the massacre was first provided by survivors arriving in Mekelle after walking by foot about 200 kilometres (120 mi).[13][14][6]

Laurie Nathan of the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies called the reports "credible, though unverified." Nathan said the details are not clear, and will not be, until the United Nations or a human rights NGO can safely enter the area and conduct an investigation.[15]

Cultural heritage risks

Historians and archeologists expressed concern that the Ark of the Covenant and the church architecture, significant in the history of Christianity, were at risk of damage or destruction.[16]

Reactions

In early January 2021, British member of parliament David Alton informed the British Foreign Secretary about reports of the massacre and tabled a question in parliament.[17]

Catholic News Agency brought attention to the EEPA reports in the US.[18][19]

In response to the massacre, the Polish Foreign Ministry stated, "We strongly condemn the perpetrators of this barbaric crime committed in a place of worship. We expect the Ethiopian authorities to immediately take all possible to clarify its circumstances and punish the perpetrators."[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mak, Getu (2021-02-13). "What happened in Aksum? My personal account". Tghat. Archived from the original on 2021-02-13. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 53 – 12 January 2021" (PDF). Europe External Programme with Africa. 2021-01-12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-12. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Nyssen, Jan (2021). "The situation in Tigray at the beginning of 2021". Researchgate. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  4. ^ a b c Woinishet; Tsegaye, Tedros; T. Gebreananaye, Meron (2020-01-20). "Massacre and silenced voices in Aksum: An eyewitness account". Tghat. Archived from the original on 2021-02-13. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  5. ^ a b c Hochet-Bodin, Noé (2021-01-18). "'Les gens meurent de faim' : en Ethiopie, le Tigré au bord du désastre humanitaire" ['People are dying of hunger': in Ethiopia, Tigray is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster]. Le Monde (in French). Archived from the original on 2021-01-18. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
  6. ^ a b c Plaut, Martin (2021-01-11). "Massacre at Tigray's Mariam of Zion cathedral in Aksum". Eritrea Hub. Archived from the original on 2021-01-13. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  7. ^ a b Mwait, Peter; Giles, Christopher (2020-11-26). "Tigray crisis: How the Ethiopian army and TPLF clashed over an airport". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  8. ^ "Leader of Ethiopia's rebel Tigray forces says Axum town 'with us'". Thomson Reuters. 2020-11-19. Archived from the original on 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  9. ^ "Federal Troops Takes Full Control of Axum & Adowa, Closing in on Adigrat City". Ethiopia Monitor. 2020-11-20. Archived from the original on 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  10. ^ "Tigray forces claim to have shot down Ethiopian plane, taken town". Thomson Reuters. 2020-11-29. Archived from the original on 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  11. ^ a b "Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 62 – 21 January 2021" (PDF). EEPA. 2021-01-21. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  12. ^ Sew, Mistir (2021-02-08). "'The sadism is very disturbing': Two months on the run in Tigray". Ethiopia Insight. Archived from the original on 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  13. ^ "Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 50 – 09 January 2021" (PDF). Europe External Programme with Africa. 2021-01-09. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-08. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  14. ^ "Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 51 – 10 January 2021" (PDF). Europe External Programme with Africa. 2021-01-10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-11. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  15. ^ "Were Orthodox Christians massacred in Ethiopia?". America Magazine. 2021-01-29. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  16. ^ Sherwood, Harriet (2021-01-24). "Fabled ark could be among ancient treasures in danger in Ethiopia's deadly war". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  17. ^ Alton, David (2021-01-11). "Massacre in Tigray at the Mariam of Zion cathedral Aksum and reports of attacks on refugee camps". David Alton. Archived from the original on 2021-01-13. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  18. ^ "Hundreds reportedly dead after massacre at Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia". Catholic News Agency. 2021-01-20. Retrieved 2021-01-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ "750 Christians Reported Dead Defending Supposed Ark of the Covenant". persecution.org. 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2021-01-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ^ "Polish response to the massacre". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Poland). 2021-01-22. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
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