STOCKHOLM, — A man who counts the dead can see them all.
They are in handwritten names lists that were smuggled from a region cut off by war. They are in the images of people being thrown off a cliff and tortured before being pushed into a river and left to die.
Since the Tigray war broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray area, he has lived with the dead for over a year. The Tigrayans, an ethnic minority of 6 million people, were attacked by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmad, who was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. The conflict became an ethnic one when Amhara fighters, from a neighbouring region that was allied with Ethiopia’s government, entered.
Many Tigrayans joined in the fight. Desta Haileselassie, however, decided to compile a list, one by one, of Tigrayan victims in his Stockholm apartment.
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The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting provided funding for this story.
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It’s slow and difficult work. It is difficult and slow work.
Desta made pleas for help on social media. Desta made hundreds of calls and then made many more phone calls.
Desta softly admits, “There are days where I end up crying for the entire evening.” “This is all I can do for my people.”
He has now confirmed 3,080 names of the deceased, one year later. The Associated Press verified 30 of them through conversations with family members and friends.
Victim 2,171 was Gebretsadkan Teko Gebreyesus. He was killed by soldiers while he was with his two young children. Victim 1,599 was Zeray Asfaw. He was a bridegroom who was pulled from his wedding party, and then killed. Victim Number 2,915 is Amdekiros Aregawi Geobru, an ambulance driver who was driving a woman in labor from a clinic to the hospital when he was shot and killed.
Desta’s list doesn’t include ethnic Amhara. These are the latest victims of war after Tigray forces began moving towards Ethiopia’s capital.
Amhara Association of America has a team of investigators that has created its own list of Amhara who have been killed. It has 1,994.
Experts believe that the lists only represent a small fraction of the deceased.
Desta is sure that every Tigrayan lost someone. The thought of adding a name that is especially dear to Desta is too much. He is moved to tears each time she’s mentioned.
He refers to her as Amlishaway.
He considers her his mother.
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Victim Number 51: Haben Sahle
Desta’s children include 102.
Haben Sahle was 15 years old and was a top student at Zalambessa’s border town. A trio of Ethiopian Orthodox priests broke his death to his family in California, weeks after the war had begun.
It took Angesom five more months to get his sister’s details by phone. He was told by his sister that Ethiopian soldiers and their allied troops from Eritrea were killing teenager boys and men.
She tried to conceal Haben Sahle but soldiers opened fire on their home and killed him.
Angesom states, “If this isn’t genocide,” “there won’t be anything that will be called genocide.”
Desta’s list contains more than 90% names of boys and men, a reflection of their frequent killing sprees.
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Victim 70: Sibhat Berhe Desta. “Killed together with other civilians near Goda Bottle and Glass Share Company by the Eritrean troops.”
A phone connected on December 23rd. Desta’s brother from Tigray capital was connected and he was in tears.
Sibhat Berhe Desta, their uncle, and 18 of their relatives were forced to perform manual labor by Eritrean soldiers. They then died. The bodies were not allowed to be buried for more than 20 days by their relatives, an inhumane practice that was meant to insult the dead.
Desta is not yet in grief. He says that the fighting must stop first.
He worries about his mother until then.
Desta said, “She’s a very courageous woman, and she is my best friend.”
He was shocked to learn that his mother, who had no other means of communicating inside Tigray and was unable to reach him by any other means, had walked 130 km or 80 miles to Mekele to check on whether her relatives were still alive.
She hiked through mountains, sleeping in caves and participating in dangerous migrations by Tigrayans in search of their loved ones.
Desta believed she could have been murdered any second.
He finally reached his mother via phone on Jan. 4, 62 days after the war had begun.
He hit “record” every time they were back in daily conversation.
He feared that each call could be their last.
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Victim Numbers 334 and 333: Meaza Goshu, Kalayou Berhe. “Killed just a few days after their marriage.”
Victim Number 1,577: Aba Gebreselassie. “He was an Orthodox Christian monk.”
One of the most important unknowns in Ethiopia’s war is its death toll.
The Kosovo Memory Book is one of the most successful global projects for counting the dead. This is a comprehensive, well-funded list that includes the names of all those who died in a conflict lasting less than two years. It is still being updated.
According to Michael Spagat, the chair of Every Casualty Counts, it will be much more difficult to determine Ethiopia’s death rate. It’s difficult to conduct even a basic household survey when communications are cut off. Tens of thousands of fighters have been killed by the warring parties.
Spagat says that the chance of reaching a final toll is “possibly never.”
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Victim on Amhara’s side: Mekonen Girma – a farmer
The Amhara region is where most of the conflict takes place. Tewodrose Tiffe, chairman of Amhara Association of America is trying to find out how many people are being killed.
He says, “We don’t have enough bandwidth to investigate every atrocity.”
His team searches for survivors like Zewditu Tikuye who claims her husband, Mekonen Girma was killed during Tigray forces’ invasion of July. He had stayed with their cattle.
She says, “I wish he died with me.” She now has seven children.
She says that Amhara and Tigrayans lived peacefully together for many years. She doesn’t think they will be able to coexist in the future.
Tewodrose believes that as many people can document the horrors and suffering of war as possible.
His group does not include Amhara. Desta does not count Tigrayans.
Desta states, “I must prioritize my people.”
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Victim Number 3.081: Still to Come
It is impossible to not fear the worst.
Under the blockade, Tigray is experiencing starvation. Tigray troops have reached Addis Ababa, the capital. Ethiopia’s government describes it as an “existential War.”
Since June 26, 2006, when his phone stopped ringing through, Desta has not spoken to his mother.
He is alone in his apartment and he listens to the recorded phone calls from Tigray.
He presses “play.”
