Three ENDF POWs say they were ordered to “annihilate” the Tigrayan ethnic group; “intent to destroy” central to the order

Sergent Ebsa Terefe: We were instructed to “Kill them all. Slaughter them. Burn every house.”

Initially, there was a written order from the Ministry of Defense. “Do not kill innocent civilians. You must not kill civilians”. But our commanders didn’t put into practice the written order. They told us: “Kill them all. Slaughter them. Burn every house … instead of putting them in jail, you would put them in front of their houses and shoot them.”

— Sgt Ebsa Terefe, ENDF POW

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Bante Tefera (ENDF POW): We were instructed “kill anyone and everything we come across in Tigray.”

An ENDF/Ethiopian government soldier captured by Tigrayan forces on the Dedebit front says they were ordered to “kill anyone and anything they come across” in Tigray. Bante Tefera, who is originally from Arba Minch in southern Ethiopia, also says the soldiers were explicitly ordered “not to leave anyone alive” in Tigray.

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Captain Berhanu Biramo Erbora (ENDF POW): ‘We were ordered to annihilate the Tigrayan ethnic group.’

Capt. Berhanu Biramo Erbora served as commander of the 4th Regiment of the ENDF’s 53rd Division until he was captured by Tigrayan forces. He says the Ethiopian government forces were ordered “to annihilate” the Tigrayan ethnic group. In accordance with those orders, he says, “property have been stolen, people have been killed, women have been raped, houses have been burned down and, in the name of destroying Tigray, people of all ages have been killed.”

“Even the blind and elderly people were killed in Temben [Central Tigray],” he adds. Capt. Berhanu also admits that he and other Ethiopian government soldiers were “engaged in large-scale looting” of civilian property, including televisions, mattresses, gold and money. He says homes were broken into and property—“small and large alike”—was looted in towns beginning in Hawzen.

According to Capt. Berhanu, livestock belonging to civilians were slaughtered and women were raped. He says he “witnessed it all with his own eyes and engaged in all of these crimes.”