A senior official from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has accused Ethiopian troops (government forces) of executing three employees while they were on a humanitarian mission in the Tigray region four years ago. According to Raquel Ayora, MSF Spain’s general director, the three aid workers were “executed” by Ethiopian troops, who shot them at close range despite knowing they were humanitarian aid workers.
The incident occurred on June 24, 2021, when 35-year-old Spaniard MarÃa Hernández Matas, 32-year-old Yohannes Halefom Reda, and 31-year-old Tedros Gebremariam were traveling in central Tigray to assess medical needs. MSF’s investigation found that the aid workers were fully identifiable in MSF vests and their vehicle had the charity’s flag and logos on either side when they were shot.
“We don’t know if they were called for interrogation or they decided to engage with the soldiers,” Ms Ayora said, referring to why two of the aid workers, Ms Matas and Mr Yohannes, had left the vehicle. The bodies of Ms Matas and Mr Yohannes were found between 100m and 400m from the wreckage of their vehicle, while the body of Mr Tedros, the driver, was found by the vehicle.
MSF’s investigation, which relied on satellite images, witnesses, and publicly available information on the Ethiopian military’s movements, placed Ethiopian troops at the “precise location” where the killings occurred. Witnesses quoted in MSF’s report alleged that an officer informed the local commander of an approaching white car, and the commander gave an order to shoot.
Ms Ayora emphasized that the aid workers were targeted despite being clearly identifiable as humanitarian workers. “So, they [Ethiopian troops] knew that they were killing humanitarian aid workers,” she said, adding that the team’s travel route had also been shared in advance with fighting groups.
The Tigray conflict broke out in 2020 following a massive fall-out between the regional and federal governments, with neighboring Eritrea entering the war on the side of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF). The conflict ended two years later following a peace deal brokered by the African Union (AU). According to former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the AU’s envoy, approximately 600,000 people died in the conflict due to fighting, starvation, and lack of healthcare.
The BBC has asked the Ethiopian government for a response to the allegation. In mid-2022, officials from Ethiopia’s Ministry of Justice verbally informed MSF that their preliminary investigation showed that government troops were not at the scene of the killing. However, the officials refused to provide this information in writing, and MSF continued to engage with the government to end “impunity” for such incidents.