Kobo massacre explained
The Kobo massacre was an extrajudicial killing event perpetrated in Kobo district and Kobo town in North Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia during the Tigray War, on 9 September 2021.[1] [2]
Background
See main article: Tigray War.
Massacre
Residents told VOA News that the TDF killed 600 civilians in Kobo in the Amhara Region.[3] According to locals, TDF fighters entered villages in Kobo district on 9 September searching for weapons, but armed farmers attacked the soldiers in the villages. As TDF fighters fled from the villages to Kobo town, they indiscriminately killed men who were working their fields in retaliation.[4]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) spoke to residents of Kobo town who witnessed 23 civilians summarily executed by the TDF in that town on 9 September in retaliation for attacks by farmers earlier that day.[5]
A report by Al Jazeera described it as "the most extensive yet of one of the deadliest known killings of Amhara in the war."[6]
Amnesty International published a report in which witnesses described retaliatory summary executions of over two dozen men and one woman in the town of Kobo. Spatiotemporal satellite imagery analysis corroborated witness testimony that new graves were dug at two church compounds in the town to bury those summarily executed.[7]
The TDF has denied committing atrocities.
Reactions
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission expressed their concern regarding the incident on Twitter:[8] [9]
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: 2021-09-26. 'Then the killing started': Witnesses accuse Tigray fighters. https://web.archive.org/web/20210926011834/https://apnews.com/article/africa-kenya-nairobi-ethiopia-7a8b7aa08db4e0710105bc36a8321298. 2021-09-26. 2021-10-15. Associated Press.
- Web site: 2021-12-09. Ethiopia: Tigray Forces Summarily Execute Civilians. 2022-02-13. Human Rights Watch. en. 2022-02-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20220217041922/https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/10/ethiopia-tigray-forces-summarily-execute-civilians. live.
- Voice of America (Amharic), 20 September 2022: ቆቦ ውስጥ ስድስት መቶ ሰው እንደተገደለ ነዋሪዎች ተናገሩ
- Web site: 2021-09-25. 'Then the killing started': Witnesses accuse Tigray fighters. 2022-02-13. CTVNews. en. 2022-02-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20220213225634/https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/then-the-killing-started-witnesses-accuse-tigray-fighters-1.5600383. live.
- Web site: Martin Goillandeau. Tigrayan forces summarily executed dozens of civilians in Ethiopia's Amhara region, HRW says. 2022-02-13. CNN. 2022-02-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20220216135527/https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/10/africa/tigrayan-force-execution-ethiopia-intl/index.html. live.
- News: Witnesses accuse Tigray fighters of Kobo killings. en. 2022-02-13. 2022-02-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20220213224438/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/25/witnesses-accuse-tigray-fighters-kobo-killings. live.
- Web site: Ethiopia: Summary killings, rape and looting by Tigrayan forces in Amhara. 2022-02-17. Amnesty International. en. 2022-02-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20220217002521/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr25/5218/2022/en/. live.
- Web site: 2021-09-20. Ethiopian Human Rights Commission on Twitter: "#Amhara Region: Deliberate attacks against civilians in Kobo #Ethiopia… ". https://web.archive.org/web/20210920132851/https://twitter.com/EthioHRC/status/1439539569687506945. 2021-09-20. 2021-10-15.
- Web site: 2021-09-21. Kobo Massacre : Rights group says received reports of civilian massacre by TPLF. 2022-02-13. Borkena Ethiopian News. en-US. 2022-02-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20220213225641/https://borkena.com/2021/09/20/kobo-massacre-rights-group-says-received-reports-of-civilian-massacre-by-tplf/. live.
