The Opacity Surrounding Detained Fighters in Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict
The Tigray conflict in northern Ethiopia, which began in November 2020, displaced about 3.6 million people and resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of people. The conflict pitted the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the governing party of the northern Ethiopian region, against federal troops and allies – fighters from the neighbouring Amhara region and Eritrea – sent in by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The conflict ended with a ceasefire agreement in November 2022, but the fate of hundreds, maybe thousands of fighters and other prisoners of war (POWs) – all of Tigrayan ethnicity – detained during the war, is shrouded in silence.
Opacity Surrounding Detained Fighters
Mebrahtu Tadesse (his real name withheld on request) was an infantryman in a band of fighters loyal to the TPLF. He was almost killed after being wounded in battle in southern Tigray by forces allied with the federal troops. He was eventually jailed in the Awash Arba prison camp in the Afar region after being shuttled around other prisons in the Amhara region. There, his wounded right leg was targeted by prison guards during beatings; some of the other POWs died in detention due to diarrhoea, medical neglect, starvation and torture, Mebrahtu said. A month after he was taken into custody, a ceasefire agreement signed in Pretoria between the TPLF rebels and Ethiopia ended the war. The beatings also reduced, he said.
Human rights organisations have little inkling of how many people are still missing. “We don’t have this sort of data at this moment,” Laetitia Bader, the Horn of Africa director at Human Rights Watch told Al Jazeera when asked whether the organisation had an estimate of the number of people detained or missing in connection with the war. Restriction of movement by the Ethiopian government during fighting has also made it difficult to estimate the overall human cost, said Kjetil Tronvoll, professor of peace and conflict studies at Oslo University and Horn of Africa researcher.
Lack of Accountability
There were several mass releases of Tigrayan forces before the truce, with the last being in October 2022. In April, Hadush Tesfa, the new head of Tigray’s Justice Bureau, told Al Jazeera that there have been releases of Tigray residents who had been accused by fighters loyal to the TPLF of aiding federal troops and thus were imprisoned before the ceasefire. Addis Ababa has also been silent on the fate of ethnic Tigrayan combatants; even the release of Mebrathu and other fighters was neither acknowledged nor reported on state media outlets. Similarly, Amhara regional forces and Eritrean forces who participated in the northern Ethiopia war have been silent on the fate of POWs.
Worse still, there have been multiple reports of mass killings, indiscriminate attacks and sexual violence on civilians in parts of Tigray. Ethnic Amhara forces who also captured western Tigray after the war began, reportedly still hold it today and have continued to expel thousands of Tigrayans from there.
Transitional justice initiatives were launched by Addis Ababa – in January 2023 – but observers of the process say no meaningful dialogue with victims, armed groups and others has commenced. Consequently, some are now sceptical about the initiative’s effectiveness. Analysts say there is also a lack of clarity in the peace agreement about accountability for the grave human rights violations – including those committed by Eritrean forces – which local media and the UN accuse of still being present in parts of Tigray.
Conclusion
The Tigray conflict in Ethiopia has resulted in the displacement of millions of people and the deaths of an unknown number of people. The fate of hundreds, maybe thousands of fighters and other prisoners of war (POWs) – all of Tigrayan ethnicity – detained during the war, is shrouded in silence. Human rights organisations have little inkling of how many people are still missing, and there is a lack of accountability for the grave human rights violations committed during the conflict. Transitional justice initiatives were launched by Addis Ababa, but observers of the process say no meaningful dialogue with victims, armed groups and others has commenced. Consequently, some are now sceptical about the initiative’s effectiveness.