Commission of Inquiry on Tigray Genocide, Tigray, Mekelle (2026)

01/04/2026

The war that left nothing standing: destruction that denies even animals a chance to live

The war in Tigray, where most people rely on agriculture, has devastated livestock and the veterinary systems that sustain them. Clinics have been destroyed, and critical medical supplies lost, leaving communities unable to protect animal health or maintain their livelihoods.

According to the CITG report, 4,425 households lost around 3.6 million veterinary items, with total damage estimated at over US$93 million. This figure reflects not just financial loss, but the collapse of essential animal healthcare services.

The pattern of damage tells a deeper story. Nearly half of the losses (about US$44 million) came from outright destruction, while looting and theft together accounted for almost as much (around US$43 million). This balance suggests a combination of deliberate destruction and systematic removal of resources, rather than incidental wartime damage.

What is most alarming is the severity: over 96% of the damage was complete, meaning the vast majority of equipment and supplies were entirely destroyed and left unusable. Only a very small share remained partially recoverable. In practical terms, this has left veterinary services almost nonfunctional across affected areas.

Responsibility is also highly concentrated. The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) accounts for about 56% of the damage, followed by the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) at roughly 40%. Together, they represent more than 96% of total losses, while other groups contributed only marginally.

Overall, the findings reveal a large-scale, systematic dismantling of Tigray’s veterinary infrastructure. Beyond the numbers, the impact is clear: weakened livestock systems, reduced agricultural productivity, and growing risks to food security and rural survival.

For the details, see the full report, from page 65:https://citghub.org/report-on-tigrays-productive-sector-and-livelihood-effects-and-impacts-of-the-war-siege-and-blockade-volume-1/

21/03/2026

Living in a Blackout: Telecommunications Shutdown as a Tool of War

The two-year war on Tigray inflicted unprecedented destruction on the telecommunications infrastructure, dismantling a critical foundation for communication, governance, and socio-economic development.

The telecommunications facility located in Hawzen town was not spared from this pattern of attacks. Silencing the voice of the people, preventing communities from communicating with one another, and isolating them from the outside world were components of the systematic campaign of violence by the perpetrators.

A resident in the town stated that on December 12, 2020, at around 3:00 a.m., the telecom site was deliberately torched. A dog’s continuous barking alerted its owner to the movement of a double-cabin pickup truck around the compound. From his window, he observed the pickup’s movement. Shortly thereafter, flames erupted from the site. The resident immediately alerted neighbors using the community’s signaling method.

The Hawzen Ethio-Telecom site housed multiple layers of critical infrastructure. It included a Main Distribution Frame (MDF), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), and a power house, all of which were central to the provision of telecom services. The site also hosts a fully equipped sales shop for Ethio-Telecom devices such as mobile phones, SIM cards, and routers, as well as customer support services.

“Two armed men were moving inside the compound. One of them was overheard urging the other in Tigrigna, saying, ‘Marks keltif’ means “Marks, hurry up”- urging him to leave the area swiftly. Shortly afterward, the two men fled the compound in the pickup truck, leaving the telecommunication site fully ablaze,” the witness said.

This facility was not only a telecommunications hub but also a lifeline for the surrounding community, serving both the town of Hawzen and nearby rural areas. Its destruction reflects the deliberate targeting of critical infrastructure, with far-reaching consequences for communication, social life, and economic resilience, ultimately aggravating the humanitarian crisis in the Tigray region.

For the details, see the full report, from page 116:https://citghub.org/targeted-destruction-damage-and-loss-assessment-on-tigrays-public-infrastructure-sector/

16/03/2026

The Systematic Dismantling of Social Welfare and Community Support Systems

The war, siege, and blockades profoundly disrupted social welfare organizations in Tigray, including Equb, Eddir, and other community-based initiatives that historically supported mutual aid, conflict resolution, and development. These disruptions resulted in financial losses exceeding USD 278.07 million, contributing to economic collapse, rising poverty, reduced access to essential services, weakened social cohesion, and large-scale displacement, collectively undermining long-term recovery and development.

One of the most severe impacts has been the erosion of community cohesion. Institutions that traditionally fostered inclusion and cooperation were severely weakened, deepening social divisions. A household survey of 658,776 respondents reported widespread damage to social and cultural values, including broken family bonds, fractured social ties, erosion of social norms, declining cooperation, reduced trust, diminished optimism for peace, and weakened self-sufficiency. Consequently, community participation in local institutions declined sharply due to economic, social, and psychological barriers.

The humanitarian consequences further overwhelmed social welfare organizations. Massive loss of life, widespread sexual violence, and large-scale displacement strained already limited resources and reduced the ability of these institutions to deliver essential services. The war also eroded public trust in both formal and informal welfare structures, leaving loss of legitimacy and diminished community engagement.

For the details, see the full report, from page 266: https://citghub.org/the-systematic-undoing-of-society-war-damage-and-loss-in-the-social-sector-of-tigray/

06/03/2026

The Calculated Weapon: Miliete’s Case and the Genocidal Intent of Sexual Violence endured during the war on Tigray

Behind every survivor of violence stands a family often struggling to stay upright. The comprehensive report on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) across Tigray released by Commission of Inquiry on Tigray Genocide (CITG) indicate that nearly half (45.6%) of the sexual violence survivors who managed to share the trauma experienced by their family, see their own trauma reflected in the deteriorating health of their loved ones, a rate significantly higher than that was found in SGBV cases in general. This “secondary traumatization” is more than a statistic; it is a physical and emotional burden that can shatter a family’s health and well-being. Miliete’s case, shared below, highlights the heavy toll this shared trauma takes on the family unit as a whole.

Miliete, a 32-year-old married woman, lives in a certain town in Tigray. She used to run a shop for a living. As the war got closer to the town where she was residing, on November 17, 2020, she started to escape the town carrying her 5-year-old daughter on her back. Unfortunately, she was stopped by three ENDF perpetrators on her way to her parents’ house. Then the soldiers commanded her to let her daughter down. Miliete recalls her daughter whispering in her ear ‘Will they kill us?’ Though she pleaded to leave her, one of the soldiers shot her daughter twice to death while she was on her back, where her body had been split into pieces. The bullets also managed to wound Miliete around her chest and left hand. Though she was bleeding and her daughter’s body was dispersed here and there, they mercilessly started ra**ng her, and when she tried to struggle, one of them stabbed her with a knife in her thigh. They repeatedly gang r***d her and eventually rendered her unconscious. Persons who manage to escape have picked her up and taken her to a cave, collected the splintered body of her daughter, and buried the same. After three days without medical treatment, Miliete was taken to a nearby Hospital.

As a result of the gang r**e, Miliete has sustained serious bodily and mental harm, which includes permanent injury on her left hand, abnormal vaginal discharge, blood pressure, menstrual cycle disorder, and epilepsy, which has subjected her to regular medication. Moreover, she has lost her marriage due to the incident. Her husband always blames and humiliates her as being the cause for the daughter’s death. Her mother has also developed psychological problems after she learnt about the incident her daughter Miliete suffered, and the reason for the death of her granddaughter, too. Just like Miliete, her mother has also been confirmed positive for epilepsy and has started taking pills regularly.

Ultimately, Miliete’s experience reflects a dark reality of the victims and survivors of the Tigray Genocide. As established in the landmark Akayesu case at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, sexual violence is a means of inflicting “serious bodily or mental harm” with the specific intent to destroy a protected group. By targeting the reproductive health and social cohesion of a community, perpetrators seek to ensure that a group cannot recover or grow. Recognizing this war-related sexual violence as a genocidal act rather than a secondary war crime is the only way to ensure that the justice served is as profound as the harm inflicted.

For the details, see the full report, from page 74: https://citghub.org/war-induced-genocidal-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-in-tigray-ethiopia-vol-1/

Human Rights Watch United Nations UNICEF International Committee of the Red Cross International Committee of the Red Cross UN Women

20/02/2026

Impact of the Genocidal War on General Education Institutions

The war on Tigray has severely disrupted the general education system, rendering the majority of institutions unable to provide normal educational services. An assessment of 1,758 public general education institutions, including schools, education bureaus, and woreda education offices, reveals widespread functional breakdown across the sector.

A significant proportion of institutions are severely non-functional, with 18.11% completely unable to operate due to destruction, looting, or the total displacement of staff and learners. An additional 47.32% are moderately non-functional, struggling to deliver education services as a result of damaged infrastructure, shortages of teachers, and the loss of learning materials.

Meanwhile, according to CITG`s survey in 2022, 34.57% of institutions remain partially functional, continuing limited educational activities under unsafe and highly constrained conditions, often with damaged facilities and scarce resources.

Overall, 85.92% of all assessed institutions are either severely, moderately, or partially non-functional. As a result, only a very small number of institutions can be considered fully functional, underscoring the profound impact of the war on the education system.

For the details, see the full report, from page 52: https://citghub.org/the-systematic-undoing-of-society-war-damage-and-loss-in-the-social-sector-of-tigray/

Alliance for Education Human Rights Watch International Crisis Group Education Week

16/02/2026

Power Blackout and Institutional Fragility as a Weapon of War

As Ethiopia’s first and largest wind farm, Ashegoda was a flagship renewable energy project designed to support the national grid. It is located approximately 24km southeast of Mekelle. The facility combines thirty 1MW Vergnet turbines and fifty-four 1.67MW Alstom turbines.

The Ashegoda Wind Farm, once a symbol of renewable energy progress not only in Ethiopia but also known as the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa, has become a blunt example of how civilian infrastructure can be systematically destroyed during war.

As part of a wider pattern, Ashegoda’s energy infrastructure was deliberately targeted during the Tigray war. The shutdown of the Ashegoda Wind Farm was the direct result of three interrelated wartime factors: first, targeted physical destruction of critical components, including damage to the T1 steel tower of an ECO-74 turbine, which severely undermined the facility’s power generation capacity; second, the complete disconnection of Tigray from the national grid in 2020, which isolated the plant and rendered any remaining electricity production unusable; and third, the comprehensive blockade imposed on the Tigray region, which blocked access to spare parts, specialized maintenance equipment, and fuel, making repairs and continued operation impossible and accelerating the facility’s deterioration.

The most devastating impacts occurred during the 2020 – 2021 wartime period. The wind farm’s performance shows a clear and disturbing trajectory: initial success and meeting of generation targets between 2014 and 2016 were followed by a sharp deterioration in 2017-2018, ultimately leading to operational collapse by 2021. This pattern makes clear that pre-existing technical and maintenance constraints were dramatically exacerbated by the Tigray war.

The bulk of the destruction was inflicted by the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), whose attacks focused on high-value civilian energy assets. This strategy has driven the Ashegoda Wind Farm into collapse, with energy production falling from 221.8 GWh in 2016 to only 0.97 GWh in 2021, reducing 99.6% of its operational capacity and deliberately depriving civilians of a critical power source, and keeping them in darkness.

The destruction of the Ashegoda Wind Farm is a clear case of how pre-existing wartime tactics weaponized institutional fragility to ensure the complete and lasting collapse of critical civilian energy infrastructure.

For the details, see the full report, from page 80: https://citghub.org/targeted-destruction-damage-and-loss-assessment-on-tigrays-public-infrastructure-sector/

Human Rights Watch United Nations

10/02/2026

“I Would Not Wish These Nights Upon My Enemy”: Helen’s Testimony

Helen (not her real name) is a 38-year-old woman originally from Tabya Wuhdet in Qafta Humera. Her life changed forever in November 2020 when the Tigray war forced her family to flee. She describes the harrowing night they left:

The Amhara soldiers came in, and we had to leave. It was night, and we didn’t even have time to take our belongings. They told us they were there, and we never looked back. I left behind my jewelry and my crops. I fled with my husband, our five children, and my two disabled siblings.”

The family initially sought refuge with Helen’s in-laws in a rural area, but the violence followed them. After her mother-in-law was killed inside her own home by Fano militias, the family fled again to May-Tsebri. With her husband away serving in the TDF, Helen found herself alone and destitute. For a year, she and her children stayed with distant relatives, but when they began demanding rent that she could not afford, she was forced to move to Endabaguna. In Endabaguna, the struggle for survival became even more desperate. Helen began collecting and selling firewood to feed her children, often facing hostility from local residents who accused the displaced of ruining the land and frequently confiscated her wood.

Nobody would take pity on us. I would collect firewood to survive, but now my knees are injured. The burden has fallen on my eldest daughter; she carries the weight of feeding us all by begging everywhere. I even had to ask my disabled siblings to go out and live on their own because I could not support them. I cannot send my children away, but I feel such misery.

The family was eventually relocated to May-Dmu, but the humanitarian aid they were promised has been inconsistent and exclusionary. Although NGOs took their fingerprints in Endabaguna, they were later told they were ineligible for aid because they lived outside the formal IDP camp. While they received 9,000 Birr for three months starting in October, all payments have since ceased. Helen is now five months pregnant and living in a shelter made of a single plastic sheet. Her husband, having returned from the war with a severe back injury, is unable to perform physical labor or even carry water.

You can see my shelter; I sleep on a bed I have made from mud and stones, barely covered by a mosquito net. My husband is in constant pain, and I am sick often. During the day, the sun burns us through the plastic. My children are registered for school, but they refuse to go, asking how they can study when they have nothing to eat.

Back in Qafta Humera, Helen’s family were successful farmers, harvesting sesame and barley. Today, she faces the prospect of giving birth in a state of extreme malnutrition and mental stress. “I am scared for my life. I need food and bedding. My hips hurt from sleeping on the ground. When I think of giving birth, I know I need nutrition that I simply do not have. I am living through hope alone, but we need help immediately.”

For the details, see the full report: https://citghub.org/the-plight-of-internally-displaced-persons-in-tigray-a-special-assessment-report/

Human Rights Watch IOM - UN Migration United Nations UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency International Rescue Committee International Committee of the Red Cross

07/02/2026

Factories as Frontlines: Coordinated Destruction of Semayata Dimension Stone Factory

This case study of the Semayata Dimension Stone Factory illustrates the severe human and economic costs of a coordinated campaign of destruction during the genocidal war in Tigray. Witnesses report that factory guards attempting to protect heavy civilian machinery were killed by armed Eritrean forces, effectively eliminating organized resistance. While isolated attempts were later made by local workers to intervene, these acts underscored their awareness that the looting was deliberate and strategic, despite the extreme danger involved.

Eyewitness testimony indicates that the destruction of industrial infrastructure was part of a broader strategy to punish Tigrayans and facilitating their permanent displacement from the region. Statements attributed to EDF personnel reveal that dismantling Tigray’s economic base was viewed as the most efficient means of compelling evacuation. By removing or destroying machinery, perpetrators eliminated livelihoods and rendered communities economically unviable, ensuring long-term displacement.

Visual evidence further supports the systematic nature of the operation, including military uniforms left at looted and burned facilities, indicating direct armed involvement. The operation combined military force with technically skilled civilians who dismantled valuable equipment while ensuring the remaining infrastructure was rendered unusable. This dual approach strategic looting paired with targeted destruction amounted to a form of economic warfare.

Overall, the coordinated actions of armed forces and civilian technicians resulted in the near-total collapse of key industrial facilities, widespread loss of employment, and lasting damage to the region’s economic stability. The events reflect a calculated strategy designed to achieve both immediate control and enduring economic devastation.

For the full report: https://citghub.org/report-on-tigrays-productive-sector-and-livelihood-effects-and-impacts-of-the-war-siege-and-blockade-volume-1/

Human Rights Watch United Nations UNICEF

04/02/2026

The Weaponization of Sexual Violence in Tigray

Across towns and villages in Tigray, Ethiopia, survivors recount patterns that reveal perpetration intent rather than randomness. Gang r**e emerged as the most frequent form of assault. 70% of the survivors who were able to report the number of perpetrators, endured gang r**e. These crimes unfolded in homes, military camps, schools, health facilities, religious places, and detention center spaces that should have offered safety, but were transformed into sites of profound harm. Survivors were also often assaulted in front of their families. Nearly 24.51% of the r**e survivors who shared their experience have reported that family members were forced to witness the r**e. In 15.23% of cases, relatives were forced into participating in the assault. This was not only violence against a body; it was violence against relationships, values, and dignity. Families were fractured. Trust was shattered. The psychological wounds reached far beyond the individual survivor.

The methods used to inflict harm were designed to dehumanize women and girls in Tigray. 25.27% of the survivors of r**e who provided feedback concerning the insertion of foreign materials indicated that they experienced the insertion of foreign objects into their reproductive organs.. Such foreign objects include razors, bayonets, sand, stones, metal objects, snake and other materials. These acts caused catastrophic reproductive injuries, chronic pain, and long-term medical complications. They were calculated to leave permanent scars, physically and emotionally.

For women and girls in Tigray, the war continues in their bodies, in their memories, and in the way the world looks at them afterward. Sexual violence was not an incidental; it was systematic. It was used to terrorize communities, to break families, and to erase dignity.

This article reflects only a fragment of the evidence and lived realities documented through extensive research and survivor testimony. Readers who wish to understand the full scope, methodology, legal analysis, and recommendations can access the complete findings in War-Induced Genocidal Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Tigray available on the CITG website.

For the full report: https://citghub.org/war-induced-genocidal-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-in-tigray-ethiopia-vol-1/

Human Rights Watch United Nations UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies World Health Organization (WHO) UN Women Plan International UNFPA

28/01/2026

From Global Gold Awards to Local Extinction: devastating war damage to wildlife conservation in Tigray

For thirty years, the people of Tigray transformed marginal lands into thriving habitats for various wildlife species, a labor of achievements that enabled the people and government of Tigray to earn, beyond the local milestones that have been recorded, the 2017 Global Gold Award for land restoration. In many places of Tigray wildlife species like leopard and African grassland elephants in Kafta Sheraro National Park (KSNP) once roamed freely. But in November 2020, this legacy was shattered by a devastating war.

The regional scouts, who had spent decades protecting these lands, watched as conservation institutions collapsed. The damage was not merely a byproduct of battle; it was characterized by a “third pathway” of ethnic labeled destruction. Respondents noted that perpetrators from the Eritrean Defense Force (92%), Ethiopian National Defense Forces (73.9%), and Amhara forces (27.7%) deliberately targeted wildlife and their habitats as the property of the Tigrayan people.

The tragedy was partly measurable. The total estimated damage of local extinctions to both medium and large mammals, as well as conservation concern bird a staggering US$4.44 billion. The damage estimated to medium and large mammals accounting was about US$3.26 billion, and conservation-concern birds over US$1.18 billion.

As forests fell to shellfire and habitat destruction, the delicate balance between man and nature broke. With wild prey locally extinct, human-wildlife conflict escalated. In a chilling behavioral shift, carnivores like hyenas and leopards, having scavenged on battlefield casualties and civilians died during the war, began attacking the living. War and siege induced denial electricity power have induced significant damage to the wildlife habitats. Meanwhile, 2.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) without an electricity supply have been forced to harvest firewood for survival, further fragmenting vital wildlife corridors.

The once-vibrant ecotourism potential of the landscapes, mammals, rare flora, and endemic birds was decimated, with 73% of respondents noting its demise due to instability and physical destruction. Today, major wildlife habitats of KSNP, Hirmi, Wujig Mahgo Waren, Dessa, Tsaedat, Asimba, and Waldba stand scarred.

The war in Tigray has caused a profound and dangerous behavioral adaptation in hyena populations due to their frequent scavenging on human remains. Under normal circumstances, hyenas are relatively less likely to attack humans; however, the prevalence of human casualties on battlefields has altered this dynamic.

To conclude, the war impact is devastating to wildlife conservation; without urgent restoration of conservation institutions and habitats, Tigray’s diverse and unique wildlife may face permanent extinction in the regional state.

To read the full report, visit the Commission’s Website on: https://citghub.org/reversed-decades-war-and-siege-damage-and-loss-of-tigrays-natural-resources-and-environment-volume-1/

United Nations UN Climate Change

21/01/2026

Darkness by Design: The Deliberate Destruction of Tekeze Hydropower

Tekeze Hydropower is a critical energy infrastructure project in Ethiopia, located on the Tekeze River in the Tigray region. It features a 188-meter double-curvature arch dam—one of the tallest in Africa, with a reservoir capacity of 9.3 billion cubic meters and a total installed capacity of 300 MW, generated through four 75 MW turbines. Before the war on Tigray disrupted operations, only one unit was functional, producing 60 MW of electricity, far below its potential annual output of 981 GWh. The power generated is integrated into Ethiopia’s national grid through the Lachi substation in Mekelle, with additional high-voltage lines supplying Axum and Shire Endasillasie. As Tigray’s largest hydropower plant, Tekeze plays a vital role in regional and national energy supply, supporting economic growth and infrastructure development.

The Tekeze hydropower substation, a critical node in the national grid, was systematically targeted in a series of aerial attacks by the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) between 2020 and 2021. The facility was destroyed by warplanes and drone attacks, an act that turned public infrastructure into a military target. The drone assault by the Ethiopian National Defense Force caused catastrophic damage to the plant's core components. The attacks deliberately targeted and destroyed high-value assets, including 25MW power transformers, transmission lines, and control systems, leading to a permanent power disconnection.

The systematic destruction of Tigray's energy infrastructure by the Ethiopian National Defense Force during the two-year war did more than disable power lines and substations; it triggered a catastrophic collapse of the region's entire socio-economic and environmental system. The failure of the electrical grid acted as a primary shock, from which cascading failures radiated outwards, paralyzing every pillar of modern society.

This profound and often disproportionate consequences of this engineered darkness, examining how the loss of power weaponized public health, dismantled education and industry, the heightened vulnerability of women and children, and the acceleration of environmental degradation, forced communities to rely entirely on firewood, triggering severe deforestation as trees were cut down for cooking, heating, and lighting. The shift to wood-burning stoves and open fires accelerated forest loss and degraded ecosystems.

For the details, see the full report, from page 80: https://citghub.org/targeted-destruction-damage-and-loss-assessment-on-tigrays-public-infrastructure-sector/

Human Rights Watch United Nations

13/01/2026

How the War on Tigray Crippled Fresemaetat (Hawzien) Primary Hospital

Fresemaetat Primary Hospital is located in Hawzien, Eastern Tigray. The hospital served as a vital healthcare facility for an estimated 1-1.5 million people from surrounding rural and semi-urban communities. Before November 2020, the hospital was providing emergency care, maternal and newborn services, inpatient treatment, surgical services, and referral support, and was often the only accessible medical institution within its catchment area.

Following the outbreak of the war on Tigray, the hospital was severely damaged. Corridors were left strewn with medical waste, blood-stained linens, patient records, broken glass, and scattered pharmaceuticals. Doors were smashed and windows destroyed, indicating the breakdown of routine healthcare services and safety within the facility. Inpatient wards that had once been spaces for recovery stood empty and abandoned, with displaced beds and damaged furnishings. The absence of patients reflected forced displacement and the complete halt of essential inpatient services.

Operating theaters—areas designed to save lives—were damaged, with surgical dr**es, tubing, and medical supplies strewn across the floor, and sterile environments destroyed, rendering surgery impossible. Even where heavy equipment physically remained, functionality had been eliminated; operating tables, lights, and machines stood idle amid debris, indicating systematic damage rather than incidental destruction. Scattered medicines, patient records, and clinical supplies further illustrated the long-term disruption of healthcare delivery and the loss of medical continuity.

Fresemaetat Primary Hospital stands as a witness to the genocide and the destruction of the health sector. Its destruction signifies more than broken walls and stolen beds; it represents preventable deaths, interrupted childbirths, untreated injuries, and lost futures. The condition of the hospital demonstrates that healthcare was deliberately targeted.

For the full report: https://citghub.org/the-systematic-undoing-of-society-war-damage-and-loss-in-the-social-sector-of-tigray/

World Health Organization (WHO) Human Rights Watch International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency Health+ Health

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