“The soldier forced my grandfather to rape me”: the terrible story of a young victim of the crisis in the Ethiopian region of Tigray

Warning: some details of this story may affect the sensitivity of some readers.

“He shot me in the right hand three times. He shot me in the leg three times. He left when he heard a shot from outside ”.

This creepy story comes from a young Ethiopian woman who told the BBC how she lost a hand defend against a soldier who tried to rape her.

The man had also wanted to force his grandfather to sleep with her.

The 18-year-old – whom we did not name to preserve her identity – was hospitalized in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia for more than two months, recovering from her ordeal.

The conflict in Tigray – which erupted in early November 2020 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched an offensive to overthrow the ruling TPLF party in the region after its fighters captured federal military bases – shattered his dreams and those of many of his classmates.

Most of them, along with other families in their village, fled to the mountains, even after Nobel Peace Prize laureate Abiy declared victory after the capture of the capital of Tigray, Mekele, by federal forces on November 29.

Indeed, the security forces launched an operation to prosecute members of the TPLF who refused to surrender, which resulted in Reports of serious human rights violations of Tigray residents. Authorities deny the charges.

“No one can save you now”

The young woman and her grandfather decided to stay at home in the town of Abiy Addi, about 60 miles west of Mekele, as it was difficult for them to travel far.

On December 3, the teenager said a soldier, dressed in an Ethiopian military uniform, entered her home to ask where the tiger fighters were located.

After searching the house and not finding anyone, he ordered them to lie down on a bed and started shooting around them.

“So forced my grandpa to sleep with me. My grandfather got angry and … they started to fight, ”he said.

The soldier threw the old man outside and shot him in the shoulders and thigh. Then he came back to her and told her he had killed her.

“No one can save you now. Take off your clothes, ”said the soldier, according to the young woman. “I begged him not to, but he hit me several times.”

Their fight continued for several minutes, although she was disoriented by the beatings and in the end he became so angry that he pointed the gun at her and shot her hand and legs at least six times.

“He left when he heard a gunshot from outside,” he said.

Fortunately, her grandfather was still alive, although unconscious, and for two days they remained injured in the house, too afraid to ask for help.

“There is no justice”

The teenager’s testimony confirms concerns about the alleged rapes in Tigray expressed by Pramila Patten, the UN envoy on sexual violence in conflict.

He said there were “disturbing reports of people allegedly forced to rape members of their own families, under threats of imminent violence.”

“It has also been reported that some women forced to have sex in exchange for commoditieswhile health centers have reported an increase in demand for emergency contraceptives and testing for sexually transmitted infections, which is often an indicator of sexual violence in conflict, ”he added.

Three opposition parties in Tigray have said that extrajudicial killings and gang rapes have become “daily practices” and also cite the case of a father forced to rape his daughter at gunpoint.

A doctor and a member of a women’s rights group – who wish to remain anonymous – informed the BBC in January that they had registered with each other. at least 200 girls under 18 in different hospitals and health centers in Mekele, which they claimed to have been raped.

Most of them said the perpetrators were wearing Ethiopian army uniforms and were subsequently warned not to see a doctor.

“They have bruises. Some are even gang raped. One was raped for a week. He doesn’t even recognize himself. Yes there is no police, therefore there is no justice»Said the doctor.

“We have also heard similar stories of rape in other parts of Tigray. But due to transportation issues, we couldn’t help them. It’s very sad, ”admitted a women’s rights activist.

Another doctor who works at a hospital in Mekele recently said that five or six women a day come to the hospital looking for anti-HIV drugs and emergency contraception linked to alleged rapes.

Weyni Abraha, who belongs to the tabby women’s rights group “Yikono” (Enough) and was in Mekele until the end of December, told the BBC that believes that rape is used as a weapon in wartime.

Many women were raped in Mekele. This is done on purpose to break people’s morale, threaten them and make them give up the fight, ”he said.

Ethiopian army chief Birhanu Jula Gelalcha has denied such allegations.

“Our defense forces do not violate. They are not criminals. They are government forces. And government forces have ethics and rules of engagement, ”he told the BBC.

Ataklti Haile Selassie, the new acting mayor of Mekele, said the figures cited by human rights groups were grossly inflated.

El gobierno envió recientemente un grupo de trabajo a Tigray para investigar más a fondo las acusaciones, incluso a miembros de los ministerios de salud y de la mujer y la oficina del fiscal general, que establecieron que se cometieron violaciones, aunque su inform completo aún no has been published.

Last week, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said 108 cases of rape had been reported in the past two months across Tigray, but admitted that “local structures such as police and health facilities where victims of sexual violence would normally go to report such crimes are no longer in service.

“I wanted to be an engineer”

The BBC has been contacted by a doctor about the case of Abiy Addi’s teenage girl after having her hand amputated.

She and her grandfather told him how, two days after the attack, they were found by Eritrean soldiers searching the area, although Ethiopia and Eritrea deny the latter’s involvement in the conflict. from Tigray.

They said the Eritreans treated their injuries and took them along with the Ethiopian troops, who in turn transferred them to Mekele because the Abiy Addi hospital was closed.

The grandfather has already recovered from his injuries, but his granddaughter still needs treatment after the amputation. Her right leg remains in a cast.

She spoke to the BBC from her hospital bed, cry for his lost dreams.

In her last school year before the war began, her goal was to go to college to study engineering and pursue a career that would allow her to take care of her grandfather, who raised her. since the death of his mother.

Her grandfather, beside her bed, reassured her, sobbing: “How is that possible?” I will not be able to become what I thought I was ”.

BBC Mundo

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