Thousands are being put into 'concentration camps' and butchered in an ethnic purge in Ethiopia, reports say

Members of Ethiopian military force stand to attention for the Ethiopian national anthem during a farewell ceremony for new recruits joining the Ethiopian military force to Tigray, organised by the Mayor in Addis Ababa on July 27, 2021.

Amanuel Sileshi/Getty Images

• A conflict between the Ethiopian military and rebels in the Tigray region has been raging for 10 months.
• A report from The Telegraph said that Tigrayans are being systematically killed in an ethnic purge.
• The paper said Tigrayan men, women and children were being tortured and killed in makeshift "concentration camps."
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Thousands of ethnic Tigrayans are being put into "concentration camps," tortured and brutally killed in Ethiopia as part of an ethnic purge, a report from The Telegraph says.

The violence is the latest development in a 10-month-long conflict in east Africa between the Ethiopian military and rebels in the Tigray region of the country.

The conflict began in November when prime minister Abiy Ahmed launched an offensive against rebel forces in the region of Tigray.

He claimed that it was in response to Tigrayan forces attacking military camps, but his government had been feuding with TPLF, the main political party in Tigray, for months.

The TPLF made unexpected gains in June of this year, recapturing much of Tigray from the army, the Telegraph reported.

After that, occupying ethnic Amhara forces from the neighboring region, who still controlled the city of Humera in the region, decided to "exterminate" and "cleanse" all Tigrayans in the area, the paper said.

Amhara forces have since been going "door-to-door" to round up anyone who is ethnic Tigrayan, The Telegraph said, based on information from a dozen eyewitnesses.

The forces have taken thousands of Tigrayan men, women, and children to makeshift concentration camps, cut off prisoners' limbs, mutilated bodies, and dumped them in mass graves, the paper said.

The Telegraph spoke to a man who said he escaped one of the camps after convincing soldiers that he was not fully Tigrayan.

"We were 250 detainees. The Amhara forces take detainees every night and bring new ones. The ones they take never come back," he told the paper.

Location of Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia.

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In August, dozens of bloated and deformed bodies washed up in the Tekeze River.

The Telegraph said that after the incident gained international attention, Amhara forces started dumping the bodies elsewhere.

Since the conflict began last year, thousands have been killed on both sides, and millions have been displaced.

Internet services in the region have been restricted, making it difficult to verify the true death toll.

Reports have emerged of a man-made famine in the region, putting the lives of thousands of Tigrayans at risk.

The United Nations have warned that the already dire humanitarian crisis is likely to get worse because of "de facto humanitarian aid blockade."

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