The Bora massacre was a mass

extrajudicial killing An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution or extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, whether ...

that took place in Bora () in the

Tigray Region The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

during the Tigray War, on 8 January 2021, with aftermath killings that continued up to 10 January. Tghat, 12 March 2021
The Bora Massacre in southern Tigray by the Ethiopian army
/ref> Los Angeles Times, 19 March, 2021
In an out-of-sight war, a massacre comes to light
Annys, S., Vanden Bempt, T., Negash, E., De Sloover, L., Nyssen, J., 2021.
Tigray: Atlas of the humanitarian situation
/ref> Bora is the capital town of ''woreda'' Bora-Selewa, Southern zone of Tigray.

Massacre

A skirmish occurred between the TDF and ENDF on the morning of 8 January in the Ajale mountains, about 16 kilometres northeast of Bora. After the fighting, soldiers descended upon Bora. A

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

by the

Ethiopian National Defense Force The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) ( am, የኢፌዲሪ መከላከያ ሠራዊት, Ye’īfēdērī mekelakeya šerawīt, lit=FDRE Defense Force) is the military force of Ethiopia. Civilian control of the military is carried out t ...

(ENDF) then took place, in which the ENDF killed from 70 to 170 civilians in Bora on 8-10 January 2021. Soldiers went house to house in Bora and carried out the executions. After the killing, the soldiers stopped families from taking their dead. Burials were only permitted two days later; one person buried 26 corpses in the graveyard of the Abune Aregawi Church. The executions mostly took the form of removing a man from his house, making him kneel, and shooting him in the head. In the aftermath, the killing spree reached nearby villages Adi Shegla, Chamela and Chelena. A mother testified to the

EHRC–OHCHR Tigray investigation The EHRC–OHCHR Tigray investigation is a human rights investigation launched jointly by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in mid-2021 into human rights vio ...

that her son was executed in the 8 January massacre for being a suspected TPLF fighter.

Perpetrators

Survivors interpreted the identity of the perpetrators as Ethiopian soldiers.

Victims

The “Tigray: Atlas of the humanitarian situation” mentions 187 victims, of which 64 have been identified.TGHAT
A compilation of the verified list of civilian victims from different sources
/ref>

Reactions

The "Tigray: Atlas of the humanitarian situation", that documented this massacre received international media attention, particularly with regard to its Annex A, which includes the Bora massacre.The World radio (2 April 2021)
Counting the victims in Tigray
/ref> Mulu Nega, the chief executive of Tigray's transitional government, and

Daniel Bekele Daniel Bekele (Amharic: ዳንኤል በቀለ; 17 February 1967) is an Ethiopian lawyer and human rights activist. He was detained from November 2005 to March 2008 for his complaints about the procedures of the 2005 Ethiopian general election. ...

, head of the

Ethiopian Human Rights Commission The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ሰብዓዊ መብቶች ኮሚሽን) is a national human rights institution (NHRI) established by the Ethiopian government. The EHRC is charged with promoting human right ...

(EHRC), did not respond to LA Times' requests for comment. After months of denial by the Ethiopian authorities that massacres occurred in Tigray, the

was announced in March 2021,France24, 18 March 2021
UN rights chief agrees to joint Tigray probe
/ref> and published its report on 3 November 2021.

References

External links

World Peace Foundation: Starving Tigray
{{Tigray conflict 2021 massacres of the Tigray War January 2021 crimes in Africa