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List of massacres committed during the Eritrean War of Independence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Eritrean War of Independence was fought as a guerilla campaign by the two main liberation fronts, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), against the Ethiopian Army, controlled for most of the period by the democidal Marxist Derg. This asymmetrical campaign against Ethiopian control left the Army at a disadvantage and so it embarked on a policy of destroying Eritrean villages.[citation needed] It was hoped that this would prevent the Liberation Fronts from continuing their campaign. Listed below are some of the major civilian massacres.
| Date | Deaths | Location | Description of event |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967-07-24 | 172 | Hazemo | Several villages wiped out and the throats of men slit in front of their wives and children.[1][2] |
| 1970-01-17 | 60 | Elabared | The village elders were rounded up for supporting the Eritrean Liberation Front and killed.[3] |
| 1970-11-30 | 120 | Basik Dera | The entire village was rounded up into the local mosque and the mosque's doors were locked, the building was then razed and survivors were shot.[4][2] |
| 1970-12-01 | 625 | Ona | Ethiopian Army units surrounded the village killing civilians and burning down the village.[5] |
| 1974-07-10 | 170+[2] | Om Hajer | |
| 1975-02-02 | 80[2]-103[3] | Woki Duba | During an engagement with the EPLF and ELF the Ethiopian Army attacked the church where villagers had taken refuge. |
| 1975-03-09 | 208[3] | Agordat | After several ELF attacks on the town the Ethiopian Army retaliated on the local population. |
| 1975-04-17 | 235[2]-470[6] | Hirgigo | |
| August 1975 | ~250 | Om Hajer | The villagers were machine gunned in front of a river to prevent escape.[3] |
| 1985-10-19 | 39[2] | Mogoraib | |
| 1988-05-04 | unknown | Shebah[2] | |
| 1988-12-05 | 400+[7] | She'eb | The dead were mostly women and children as the men had moved to the town's to eek out a living for their impoverished village.[3] |
[edit] References
- ^ 40th anniversary of Hazemo Massacre commemorated. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g Eritrean Martyrs’ Day. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
- ^ a b c d e Killion, Tom (1998). Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3437-5.
- ^ Louise Latt. "Eritrea Re-photographed: Landscape Changes in the Eritrean Highlands 1890-2004" (PDF). Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
- ^ Dates in Eritrean History. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
- ^ 32nd Anniversary of Hirgigo Massacre marked. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
- ^ National Union of Eritrean Women. Lives Shaped By War. Press release.
