Zobel incident
Coordinates: 12°11′51″N 39°45′09″E / 12.19752°N 39.75258°E
| Zobel incident | |
|---|---|
| Part of Tigray War | |
  Zobel Location of Zobel in Ethiopia | |
| Location | Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 665: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| Date | Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 665: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
Attack type | Battlefield killing of poorly trained militia fighters or mass killing of local civilians |
| Deaths | 600 civilians (per Amhara Regional authorities)' or militia |
| Perpetrators | Tigray Defence Forces (per Amhara Regional authorities) |
The Zobel incident was a mass killing that took place around the village of Zobel in Kobo (woreda) in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia during the Tigray War, on 9 September 2021.[1]
The Zobel villages are about 10 kilometres (6 mi) east of the town of Kobo in the North Wollo Zone of Amhara Region.
Incident[edit]
Amhara Regional authorities reported that the Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) killed 600 civilians in the villages of the Zobel mountains in the Amhara Region. The TDF were conducting Operation Sunrise with the double aim of securing their region's borders, and breaking the blockade of Tigray.[2] According to residents, the fighting on 9 September began as a battle between the TDF and local militia but turned against civilians soon thereafter as TDF soldiers went door-to-door killing in retaliation. It is unclear how many of the dead were fighters as opposed to civilians.[1]
On 15 September, the Ethiopian “Walta television” had shown and interviewed groups of light-armed militiamen in the hills at the east of Kobo, threatening the vital North-South road across the central Ethiopian highlands.[3] Residents blamed the ENDF for abandoning the village militia to defend themselves unaided.[2]
In line with historical studies of massacres, including those committed during the Armenian genocide,[4][5] a massacre can be defined as a conflict incident in which at least five unarmed civilians were killed -if verified- on the same day, at the same location. Consequently, as of 22 September 2021,[update] there is some doubt as to whether this incident should be dubbed a "massacre".[by whom?]
Perpetrators[edit]
Various authorities in Amhara Region reported the perpetrators of this alleged massacre as being soldiers belonging to the Tigray Defence Forces.[2]
Reactions[edit]
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission expressed their concern regarding the incident on Twitter:[6]
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is alarmed by disturbing reports it is receiving about allegations of deliberate attacks against civilians in Kobo town and surrounding rural towns by TPLF fighters including shelling on civilian areas, house to house search and killings, looting and destruction of civilian infrastructure.While EHRC continues with its investigation, it reiterates its repeated call on the obligation of all parties to the conflict to protect civilians at all times.
— Ethiopian Human Rights Commission
Social anthropologist Prof. Alex De Waal mentions that the Amhara regional authorities use “human wave” tactics, involving large numbers of lightly armed peasants to try and stop the Tigray Defence Forces, which results in huge numbers of casualties.[7]
Peasants, students, and urban youth, with just a few weeks’ basic training, charge TDF positions in human wave attacks. Sometimes the second wave doesn’t even have guns and have been told to take weapons from the enemy. Among them are priests and nuns with crosses and tabots (replicas of the Arc of the Covenant). This kind of war blurs the line between combatant and civilian and between combat and massacre. There are half a dozen reports of TDF killings of villagers, each case trumpeted by Ethiopian media. — Alex De Waal, The world watches as Abiy loses it — and risks losing Ethiopia, too, Responsible Statecraft, 17 September 2021[7]
Debretsion Gebremichael, president of the Tigray Regional Government, said that the Tigray Defense Forces do not target civilians and that he calls for an independent investigation.[2]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "'Then the killing started': Witnesses accuse Tigray fighters". web.archive.org. 2021-09-26. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Voice of America (Amharic), 20 September 2022: ቆቦ ውስጥ ስድስት መቶ ሰው እንደተገደለ ነዋሪዎች ተናገሩ Archived 2021-09-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Walta TV, 15 September 2021: በራያ ቆቦ የወጣቶችና ሚሊሻዎች ተጋድሎ Archived 2021-09-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Levene, Mark; Roberts, Penny (January 1, 1999). The Massacre in History. Berghahn Books. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-57181-934-5. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2021. Unknown parameter
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- ↑ Melson, Robert (July 1982). "Theoretical Inquiry into the Armenian Massacres of 1894–1896". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 24 (3): 482–3. doi:10.1017/s0010417500010100.
- ↑ "Ethiopian Human Rights Commission on Twitter: "#Amhara Region: Deliberate attacks against civilians in Kobo #Ethiopia… "". web.archive.org. 2021-09-20. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Responsible Statecraft, 17 September 2021: The world watches as Abiy loses it — and risks losing Ethiopia, too. Archived 2021-09-21 at the Wayback Machine
External links[edit]
- World Peace Foundation: Starving Tigray
- Tigray: Atlas of the humanitarian situation
- TGHAT: A compilation of the verified list of civilian victims from different sources
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