By Africa Eye
BBC World Service
An investigation by BBC Africa Eye has uncovered evidence that a massacre in northern Ethiopia was carried out by members of the Ethiopian military. It also reveals the precise location of the atrocity, in which at least 15 men were killed.
In early March, a series of five video clips surfaced on social media showing armed, uniformed men leading a group of unarmed men to the edge of a cliff, shooting some at point blank range, and pushing dead bodies over the cliff.
The BBC has confirmed that the massacre took place close to the town of Mahbere Dego in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, where the Ethiopian army is fighting the forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), previously the region’s ruling party.
The fighting began last November when the government launched a military offensive against the TPLF, which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused of attacking a government military base. The TPLF is opposed to efforts by Mr Abiy to increase the power of the federal government, and has said it is committed to “extended resistance”.
The conflict has so far displaced more than two million people, according to Tigray’s interim administration, and left more than four million people in need of aid.
Geo-locating the footage
The BBC Africa Eye investigations team, working together with analysts from the media outlets Bellingcat and Newsy, set out to establish where the massacre took place.
The first people to post the clips to social media claimed they were filmed near Mahbere Dego. Africa Eye analysed geographical features seen in the videos, including a dirt road, a plateau, and an escarpment with a distinctive profile, and compared them with satellite imagery of the area around the town.
Read entire report here: Evidence suggests Ethiopian military carried out massacre in Tigray
Source: BBC