Report: What’s Happening in Ethiopia’s Tigray?

A few hours ago, the United States denounced shelling a village market in Ethiopia’s northern region in Tigray.

Ned Price, US Department Spokesperson said “The United States is gravely concerned by reports that dozens of civilians were killed or injured during a bombing of a village market in northern Tigray on June 22.”

”We strongly condemn this reprehensible act. There are also credible reports that security forces denied medical personnel access to the victims of this terrible attack. Denying victims urgently needed medical care is heinous and absolutely unacceptable,” added Price.

Moreover, he noted that Washington urges the Ethiopian authorities to ensure full and unhindered medical access to the victims immediately, adding “We also call for an urgent and independent investigation, as well as remedial action, to hold those responsible for this attack accountable.”

”The United States again urges an immediate ceasefire in Tigray, unhindered humanitarian access, and protection for civilians.”

As we read this condemnation from the most powerful country in the world, let’s highlight what happened in Tigray a night earlier.

According to the Associated Press, a village market was bombed on Tuesday, leaving dozens of victims; dead and injured.

Heavy fighting was reported in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, where a civil war broke out eight months ago. It appears that the Tigrayan forces, which the government considers a terrorist movement, launched an attack on the federal forces and their allies, advancing south towards the regional capital, Mekkeli, according to BBC reports.

The government of Ethiopia is facing mounting international pressure to end the fighting to avoid famine in Tigray.

In the fall of 2020, Ethiopia's Tigray region witnessed a bloody conflict with the central government in Addis Ababa. The region's crisis continues at a time when more refugees are pouring into Sudan, where the conditions in the camps where they are staying are disastrous.

Located in northern Ethiopia, Tigray is a small region, but it has had a significant political and economic influence in the history of Ethiopia. The region rich in agriculture is one of the important tourist destinations in the country. It also includes historical and religious centers classified on the World Heritage List, especially the city of Aksum, the cradle of the Ethiopian Coptic Church.

Human rights organizations say that crimes against humanity may have been committed in Tigray. That description may change later.

Some Ethiopian media have expressed ethnic hostility towards Tigrays with indiscriminately degrading language used to discredit all Tigrayans with the alleged misdeeds of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which has been in power at the federal level for more than 25 years and has been in a bitter dispute with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed After he took office in 2018, the conflict moved to its stronghold in Tigray.

Abusive words are used by Addis Ababa's media to describe the people of Tigray such as "daylight hyenas" and "unfamiliar others."

There are reports of selective purges of Tigrayans in government institutions and restrictions on their travel, work, and residency. Those violations are not in themselves as heinous as murder, rape or starvation, but they will be important to building a case for genocide.

An investigation by the BBC's "Eye of Africa" program revealed evidence of a massacre in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, which was carried out by members of the Ethiopian army.

The investigation also revealed the site of the massacre, in which at least 15 people were killed. Five videos appeared in early March, showing armed men in military uniforms leading a group of unarmed men, shooting them from close range, and then throwing their bodies over the edge of the mountain.