Tigray: Eritrean abuses
In mid-2021, despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers were in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, where they were brutally gang-raping women, killing civilians, looting hospitals and blocking food and medical aid.
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A 40-year-old woman who was says she was held captive and repeatedly raped by 15 Eritrean soldiers over a period of a week in a remote village near the Eritrea border, speaks during an interview at a hospital in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on Friday, May 14, 2021. "They talked to each other. Some of them: 'We kill her.' Some of them: 'No, no. Rape is enough for her,'" she recalls. She said one of the soldiers told her: "This season is our season, not your season. This is the time for us." (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A Tigrayan girl looks out of a doorway as others sit next to a metal shack at a reception center for the internally-displaced in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on Sunday, May 9, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Farmer Teklemariam Gebremichael, 40, who said he was shot by Eritrean forces in Enticho six months ago and is still recovering, speaks to a doctor, left, at the Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on Thursday, May 6, 2021. For months, both Ethiopia and Eritrea denied the presence of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray but Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed later acknowledged in March that Eritrean troops were “causing damages to our people.” (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Tigrayan women Tarik, 60, center, and Meresaeta, left, who fled from the town of Samre, roast coffee beans over a wood stove in a classroom where they now live at the Hadnet General Secondary School which has become a makeshift home to thousands displaced by the conflict, in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Wednesday, May 5, 2021. For months, both Ethiopia and Eritrea denied the presence of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray but Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed later acknowledged in March that Eritrean troops were “causing damages to our people.” (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Medical equipment lies damaged and looted by Eritrean soldiers at a hospital which they used as a base, according to witnesses, in Hawzen, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on Friday, May 7, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A Tigrayan woman covers her face from the smoke of a wood fire as she prepares "Injera" flatbread at the Hadnet General Secondary School which has become a makeshift home to thousands displaced by the conflict, in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Wednesday, May 5, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
People walk from a rural area down a path across stony farmland towards a nearby town where a food distribution operated by the Relief Society of Tigray was taking place, near the town of Agula, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Saturday, May 8, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
An exhausted Tigrayan boy sleeps during the day at a camp for the internally-displaced in an elementary school in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Monday, May 10, 2021. For months, both Ethiopia and Eritrea denied the presence of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray but Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed later acknowledged in March that Eritrean troops were “causing damages to our people.” (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Young Tigrayan children play in a classroom where they now live at a camp for the internally-displaced in an elementary school in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Monday, May 10, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Young Tigrayans look out from the classroom where they now live at a camp for the internally-displaced in an elementary school in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Monday, May 10, 2021. For months, both Ethiopia and Eritrea denied the presence of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray but Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed later acknowledged in March that Eritrean troops were “causing damages to our people.” (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Smret Kalayu, 25, from Dengelat, Ethiopia, recounts her escape in April while Eritrean forces searched houses and "watched each other" raping women of all ages, as she plays with the daughter of a friend who lives in the same camp for the internally-displaced in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Monday, May 10, 2021. Kalayu, who had owned a coffee stall back home, said, "If there are still Eritreans there, I don't have a plan to go back home. … What can I say? They are worse than beasts. I can't say they are human beings." (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Tigrayan women gather to talk at a camp for the internally-displaced in an elementary school in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Monday, May 10, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
An ambulance said by residents to have been damaged and stripped for parts by Eritrean soldiers sits next to people as they wait to be seen at a medical clinic in Abi Adi, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Tigrayan boys play with a ball at dusk at a camp for the internally-displaced in an elementary school in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Monday, May 10, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Tsige Gebremedhin, 24, is photographed after describing how she fled to the hills from her village of Kafta Humera when fighting broke out, at a camp for the internally-displaced in Abi Adi, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Gebremedhin used to sell coffee and alcohol in her village before she fled and encountered heavy artillery shelling by Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers on her journey to safety. "We are worried about our existence here," she said of life in the camp. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A Tigrayan girl and woman in the classroom where they now live at an elementary school used as a camp for the internally-displaced in the town of Abi Adi, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Tigrayan children gather in the classroom where they now live in an elementary school used as a camp for the internally-displaced in the town of Abi Adi, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Tirhas Gebre, 45, a mother of eight, is photographed after describing artillery shelling she alleged was by Eritrean forces before she fled her home in Dengelat, Ethiopia, at a camp for the internally-displaced in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia on Monday, May 10, 2021. Gebre sold spices at a market before she came to the camp with six of her children. "No way to return home," she said. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A man crosses near a destroyed truck on a road leading to the town of Abi Adi, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Young Tigrayan children stand in a corridor at an elementary school used as a camp for the internally-displaced in the town of Abi Adi, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Despite claims by both Ethiopia and Eritrea that they were leaving, Eritrean soldiers are in fact more firmly entrenched than ever in Tigray, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Tedros Abadi, 38, originally from Samre, Ethiopia, is photographed at a reception center for the internally-displaced in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Sunday, May 9, 2021. The former shopkeeper says Eritrean troops arrived in his village as recently as April. After being ambushed by Tigrayan guerrillas, they gunned down priests walking home after service on a Sunday afternoon and burned about 20 houses, he recalls. "Nothing is left there," said Tedros, who does not know where his family is. "I left home because they were targeting all civilians, not only priests." (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)