‘Finish Them Off’: Aid Workers, Found on Battlefield, Executed by Soldiers

The atrocities are not just in Tigray. A gruesome video that circulated recently showed Ethiopian security forces burning alive three men, believed to be ethnic Tigrayans, in the western region of Benishangul-Gumuz. The Ethiopian government pledged to bring the perpetrators to justice.

But the killing of the three Doctors Without Borders employees underscored the specific perils facing aid workers in Ethiopia, where hunger and dislocation threaten millions even as the government seems to treat aid groups as enemies rather than allies.

Since last July, when Tigray fell into rebel control, respected aid groups have been accused of running guns to rebels, senior United Nations officials have been expelled from Ethiopia, and the government imposed a punishing blockade on the region that has cut off food supplies to five million needy people, the U.N. says.

Ethiopia is the world’s deadliest country for aid workers, with 19 deaths in 2021, more than in Afghanistan, Syria or Congo, according to The Aid Worker Security Database, a compilation of data on attacks. Local employees bear the greatest risk: of the 129 aid workers who died around the world last year, only three were international staff, including Ms. Hernández.

Immediately after the Doctors Without Borders team was killed, the Ethiopian government blamed their deaths on Tigrayan rebels. The offices of Ethiopia’s prime minister, attorney general and military spokesman did not respond to questions for this article.

The mission comes first

When the team from Doctors Without Borders set out on June 24 from their base in Abiy Adiy, in central Tigray, the war had taken a dramatic turn.

Two days earlier, the Ethiopian military had abandoned Abiy Adiy in the face of a sweeping Tigrayan offensive. Huge battles were erupting across the region, with significant Ethiopian losses. Tigrayan forces were pressing toward the regional capital, Mekelle.

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