On the ninth of this past November, the Tigrayan genocide in Ethiopia by the hand of the federal government has reported a large number of killings of that have occured in Mai-Kadra, a town in the regions south-west.

  This event is a fulfillment of the Federal governments threat of war. Such action took place after elections were delayed this past August yet officials in Tigray held their own election in September. The government retaliated to such action and withheld funding for the TPLF (Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front). This set off a back-and-forth of disputes even involving the fight for Mekelle and other lands which eventually escalated to genocidal approach. “The highly aggressive rhetoric on both sides regarding the fight for Mekelle is dangerously provocative and risks placing already vulnerable and frightened civilians in grave danger,” Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.

  “We have confirmed the massacre of a very large number of civilians, who appear to have been day labourers in no way involved in the ongoing military offensive” Deprose Muchena recounts. This is a horrific tragedy whose true extent only time will tell as communication in Tigray remains shut down.

The Commissioner has reported that at least 600 people were killed in the western Tegra region of Mai Kadra. Airports have also shown that these victims were stabbed, strangled and hacked to death due to their ethnic background. Those who were not killed or severely injured and are receiving aid from TPLF, victims property was also loaded or destroyed according to recent reports. “The killings, bodily and mental injury, as well as the destruction that went on throughout the night . . . indicate the commission of grave human rights violations which may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes,” the Commision said.

Reports have also come in that federal forces of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed have received orders to impose air strike and ground offensives on Tigrayan leaders. Such Tigrayan leaders have accused these federal forces of killing innocent civilians and targeting churches and homes whilst also targeting men, women, and children. The federal government and its leaders have denied all accusations and condemned the attack at Mai-Kadra in a statement on Tuesday, blaming the TPLF. “The government must restore all communication to Tigray as an act of accountability and transparency for its military operations in the region, as well as ensure unfettered access to humanitarian organizations and human rights monitors. Amnesty International will regardless continue to use all means available to document and expose violations by all parties to the conflict” Deprose Muchena adds.

“The unimaginably atrocious crime committed against civilians for no reason other than their ethnicity is heartbreaking,” Commission Chief, Daniel Bekele said in a statement. This act of Genocide against the citizens of the region Tigray especially those effected by the massacre in Mai Kadra plea out to neighboring countries for refuge. Whether such acts on the citizens of Tigray are seen as an appropriate act of cultural cleansing or genocide; one cannot deny the facts which are that 600 innocent civilians were hacked and burned and that is a loss that will stay with this tribe and their history.