Images shared on social media by Tigrayan activists in July 2021 reveal the bodies of villagers who were brutally stoned to death by Ethiopian federal soldiers in Mai Haidi, southern Tigray. Witnesses report that the massacre occurred on April 10, 2021, when soldiers stopped the villagers in Mai Haidi as they were carrying a pregnant woman in labor and traveling from Kushet Sebewera (ቁሸት ሰበወራ), Tabiya Da’era’ita Ger’iga (ጣቢያ ዳዕረዒታ ገርዒጋ), to a clinic in Adi Gudem.
The delay between the atrocity and the release of the images is attributed to the communication blackout imposed by the central government, which prevented information from reaching Tigrayan activists in the diaspora until months later.
RFI correspondent Sébastien Nemeth visited Mai Haidi in July 2024, where he uncovered a chilling eyewitness account of the crime in his report titled Tigray Civil War: Stoning Crimes Allegedly Committed by Ethiopian Soldiers:
Hidden near a tree, the man witnessed the entire scene:
The civilians were carrying a pregnant woman about to give birth. An ambulance took her away, but about fifty soldiers then arrived and surrounded the villagers. The soldiers accused them of being rebels. The civilians tried to reason with them. A priest even held up his cross. But the soldiers threw stones at them. They even attacked the corpses, as if killing them a second time. It shocked me. I have never seen a crime like that. I still have nightmares about it. I am so afraid of running into soldiers that I don’t even dare to travel anymore.
እዞም ኣብዚ ስእሊ እንሪኦም ዘለና ዝሞቱ መናእሰያት፣ ብዕለት ሚያዝያ 2/2013 ዓ/ም (ቀዳም መዓልቲ) ካብ ቁሸት ሰበወራ (ጣቢያ ዳዕረዒታ ገርዒጋ)፣ ዝጠነሰት ሰበይቲ ተሸኪሞም ኣብ ዓዲ ጉደም ናብ ዝርከብ ክሊኒክ እንትኸዱ፣ ማይ ሃይዲ ተባሂሉ ኣብ ዝፅዋዕ ፍሉይ ቦታ እንትበፅሑ፣ ብሰራዊት ኣብይ ኣሕመድ ከም ተመን ብእምኒ ተቐጥቂጦም ዝተቐተሉ ተጋሩ እዮም።
