NAIROBI, Kenya — Ethnic Amharas killed. Ethnic Tigrayans arrested, in hiding or cut off from the world. Ethiopia’s deadly conflict is spilling beyond the country’s northern Tigray region and turning identity into a mortal threat.
A report that scores, perhaps hundreds, of civilians were “hacked to death” in the streets of a single town on Monday night has sent already dangerous tensions soaring. Amnesty International confirmed the killings via images and witnesses, and the United Nations warned of possible war crimes. Most of the dead were ethnic Amharas, according to a man who helped clear the bodies away and looked at identity cards.
“The killing reflects the ongoing ethnic divisions in the country,” Amnesty researcher Fisseha Tekle said.
While the Amnesty report late Thursday said the group had not confirmed who carried out the killings, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed blames the massacre on forces loyal to the Tigray region’s government, which his administration regards as illegal after a months-long falling-out. The federal government seeks to arrest and replace its leaders.
Abiy, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, also accuses the regional government of “unceasing hate and fear propaganda.” On Friday, speaking in the Tigrinya language, he urged its forces to surrender “in the next two to three days.”
The allegations, combined with the severing of communications with the Tigray region and growing reports of targeting of ethnic Tigrayans, are raising alarm as Abiy rejects calls for dialogue and de-escalation and the United Nations says more than 14,000 “exhausted and scared” refugees have fled the Tigray region to Sudan.
The U.N. office on genocide prevention condemned reports of “targeted attacks against civilians based on their ethnicity or religion” in Ethiopia, including hate speech and incitement to violence. It warned that ethnic violence “has reached an alarming level over the past two years,” and the new rhetoric sets a “dangerous trajectory that heightens the risk of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.”
The news of Monday’s massacre of ethnic Amharas in Mai-Kadra town in the Tigray region followed federal government statements blaming the conflict that erupted Nov. 4 on the ruling “clique” of the Tigray regional government, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and counterclaims by the TPLF.
The Tigray region’s communication and transport links remain almost completely cut off, making it difficult to verify each side’s allegations. The federal government warns journalists about reporting events “properly.”
“At least two journalists have been arrested in connection to their work, including coverage of Tigray, and continue to be detained without formal charges,” Muthoki Mumo with the Committee to Protect Journalists told The Associated Press, calling the arrests “outrageous.”
Ethnic Tigrayans report being questioned and threatened. The African Union, based in Ethiopia, fired its ethnic Tigrayan head of security, according to a memo dated Wednesday and seen by the AP.