The Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is aware of a distressing video that has been circulating on social media over the last few weeks showing the alleged “massacre” of civilians in Mahbere Dego, Tigray. The aforementioned video is now the centre of recent reports by international media.

The Embassy condemns, in the strongest terms, any acts of violence and human rights violations towards innocent civilians and would like to reassure Ethiopians at home and abroad, its development partners, and the wider international community that the Government of Ethiopia remains committed to thoroughly investigating any serious allegations and has made its position unequivocally clear concerning human rights violations – no person, including serving soldiers, is above the law.

In line with the Government’s obligation to uphold the rule of law and bring to account perpetrators of these crimes, special taskforces comprised of representatives from the Office of the Attorney General and the Federal Police Commission have been deployed to Tigray in recent weeks to carry out investigations on the ground aimed at establishing the facts.

Furthermore, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the UN Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights recently announced that they will conduct joint investigations into alleged serious abuses and rights violations, and will release results in due course.

The outcome of these investigations will enable the Government to bring the perpetrators to justice and comprehensively address alleged human rights violations and crimes that have occurred in Tigray.

While the contents of the video are disturbing to watch we urge both the media and the public not to speculate while the investigations of the alleged crimes are ongoing.

—ENDS—

Press Office: press@ethioembassy.org.uk | 020 7838 3883

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