Since the conflict began in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray on November 4, nearly 50,000 refugees have crossed the border to seek refuge in neighboring Sudan. Their testimonies were collected by the international press, which echoed their individual stories. A report based on several of these testimonies, published on Friday, December 18, enables us to better understand what took place during a month in this Ethiopian province cut off from the world.
The report was published by the Sudanese-American organization Saraya International and examined the commonality of these stories of Tigrayan refugees reported by the international press.
The first day of the war in Tigray, the refugees say, confusion and fear reigned. “We expected war, but nothing like it,” said one of them. “The scale of the atrocities and the targeting of civilians were not expected and surprised the population,” concludes the study by Saraya International.
Brutal “cleaning” of some villages
Witnesses speak of indiscriminate artillery bombardment from Eritrea, including at Humera Hospital, and Amhara militia, nicknamed “Fannos”, engaged in a brutal “cleansing” of the villages they passed through, killing and robbing the Tigrayans they identified as such.
But they were not the only fighters. “Several state and non-state actors have worked, often in coordination, across Tigray. These include the federal army, the Eritrean army, the regional military forces of Amhara and Tigray, armed ethnic militias and opportunistic bandits, the study said.
“Residents fled their homes without taking anything. The young men feared more than anything forced recruitment to militias that support the Ethiopian army, “the report adds. It was then to flee to Sudan at all costs, avoiding roads and checkpoints, because when the refugees were stopped by them, the refugees said they had been shut down and robbed by “Fannos”.
