Ethiopian forces implicated in 2021 killing of three aid workers in Tigray - MSF report
The victims, all wearing MSF vests, were reportedly shot multiple times at close range, and their bodies were later found approximately 400 meters from the vehicle.
Humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), popularly known as Doctors Without Borders, has released the findings of its internal review into the 2021 killing of three of its staff in Ethiopia's Tigray region, confirming the incident was an intentional and targeted attack.
The report, published four years after the deaths of the trio, has directly implicated Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) soldiers.
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According to the report, the three aid workers, María Hernández Matas, Tedros Gebremariam Gebremichael and Yohannes Halefom Reda, were en route to a town in Central Tigray on June 24, 2021, in a clearly marked MSF vehicle, when they were intercepted and killed.
MSF says that their vehicle was burned and riddled with bullets. The victims, all wearing MSF vests, were reportedly shot multiple times at close range, and their bodies were later found approximately 400 meters from the vehicle.
MSF maintains that the trio lost their lives while trying to save others.
"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 report also confirmed that a large ENDF convoy was retreating along the same road at the time of the killings.
Civilian witness accounts and satellite imagery corroborated their presence, according to MSF. One witness reportedly heard a radio order from an ENDF commander instructing soldiers to "shoot" at an approaching white car and "remove them."
MSF added that it has held over 20 high-level meetings with Ethiopian government officials and submitted repeated requests for a credible investigation, all of which have failed to yield answers.
"We can only assume that there is insufficient political will to share the findings of a completed investigation," Gil said.
MSF's decision to release the review stems from what it describes as a moral obligation to honour the memory of the slain workers and demand accountability for attacks on humanitarian staff, a growing global concern as violence against aid workers escalates.
"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," Gil said.
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