Investigation uncovers brutal end of three selfless humanitarian staff
An investigation my An investigation by medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has revealed three of its workers were executed during a humanitarian mission in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region.
The report has evidence that the country's army was responsible for the killings four years ago.
It claims that Ethiopian troops were present at the scene of the killing of the three - a Spanish national and two Ethiopians.
Thirty-five-year-old Spaniard María Hernández Matas, along with 32-year-old Yohannes Halefom Reda and 31-year-old Tedros Gebremariam, were killed on 24 June 2021 while travelling in central Tigray to assess medical needs.
Matas had been working in Tigray since before the war. Tedros was killed soon after his wife had given birth to a baby girl.
Immediately after the incident, MSF launched an internal review – standard practice following a critical security incident. The evidence confirmed that the attack on the MSF team was intentional and targeted.
The victims — all wearing white vests clearly marked with the MSF logo and traveling in a vehicle visibly displaying the MSF logo and flag — were shot multiple times at close range, while facing their attacker. Their bodies were found up to 400 metres from their vehicle, which was burned and riddled with bullets.
“This was not the result of crossfire, nor was it a tragic mistake. Our colleagues were killed in what can only be described as a deliberate attack,” said Paula Gil, President of MSF Spain.”
The war broke out in 2020 following a fall-out between the regional and federal governments, with neighbouring Eritrea entering the war on the side of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF).
The conflict ended two years later but not before 600,000 had died.
The report says both civilian and military eyewitnesses had come forward to directly implicate Ethiopian army soldiers in the killings, including one who allegedly heard a commander order an attack on the aid workers' vehicle.
However the charity says "the level and nature" of the army's involvement in the attack "remains to be clarified".
"The review found a large body of corroborating evidence that placed a convoy of retreating ENDF troops on the road where the killings took place on the day of the incident," MSF said.
Gil added: “We can only assume that there is insufficient political will to share the findings of a completed investigation.”
“In the absence of any official account, we have a moral obligation towards our staff and the families of our late colleagues to make our own findings public – a necessary step to shed light on a brutal killing that must not be ignored or buried.”
The charity said the killing of María, Tedros, and Yohannes is an emblematic case of the dangers faced by humanitarian workers.
“If there is no investigation of such an egregious attack, it sets a dangerous precedent in Ethiopia and reinforces an alarming pattern of impunity for attacks on healthcare globally,” it added.
