“They killed them just like that”: inhabitants of TERAF, Ethiopia, cry their dead

In this rural village of the Amhara region, occupied by the tygrens rebels for a month, twenty-five men were executed.

Many times a day, the relatives of Sheikh Hussein claim their pain by singing. This Friday, December 10 mark for them the last day of Lekso, an Ethiopian funeral rite of a week. At TERAF, about twenty homes simultaneously cry their dead. For more than a month, this rural commune of a few thousand inhabitants, located in the region Amhara, in northern Ethiopia, was occupied by the rebels of the Tygrenne Defense Forces (TDF), until their decline started in early December after a counter-offensive of the government. During this occupation, twenty-five inhabitants – all men – were executed.

In early December, Sheikh Hussein, 65, and her 14 year old son returned from the fields, like every day, with their camel. “They killed them just like that, on the way, no reason; they did not have a weapon,” says Zeiba Getaneh, the widow of the farmer. The bodies covered with stones and branches are at the top of the hill overlooking TERAF, surrounded by twenty-three burials.

Two residents of Teraf, Ethiopia, including husbands were killed during the occupation of the municipality by the Tigerian rebels, in November and December 2021. On the left, Aisha Ali at home. On the right, Zeiba Getaneh with two of his children, in front of their house; she also lost a son 14 years old. — two inhabitants of TERAF, Ethiopia, whose husbands were killed during the occupation of the municipality by the Tygrens rebels in November and December 2021. On the left, Aisha Ali at home. On the right, Zeiba Getaneh with two of his children, in front of their house; She also lost a 14 year old son. Eduardo Sideras for “Le Monde”

To seize the locality, the Tigerian insurgents, supported by their allies of the oromo liberation army, had to deal with the resistance of This community of farmers. Like other farmers in TERAF, Mohammed Siraj Ibrahim, 31, became militia at the time of the arrival of the rebels, early November. “We tried to stop them, but they were too numerous, and we quickly missed ammunition, he remembers. Finally, we fled.”

Permanent suspicion then hovered over the young men remained on site. Mohammed Ahmed, 30, was thus discussed by a Tiginian patrol, at the end of November, while he was leaving in search of his wife and two children, hidden in a surrounding forest when the rebels arrived. “They asked him his identity card and told him,” We know you, you are part of the militia “”, says Aisha Ali, now his widow. Mohammed Ahmed was killed in the street, by bullet.

Repali

Of the deans of this village to the scattered dwellings want to believe in the identity dimension of these crimes. “We are targeted because we are Amhara, that’s for sure!”, Muhammed Siraj Ibrahim. TERAF is a commodity majority Amhara located in the Oromo Special Zone, a majority district Oromo, the greatest Ethiopian ethnicity. Land and territorial conflicts are frequent.

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/Media reports.