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Charity says

Senior MSF officials told the BBC that Ethiopian government forces “executed” three employees of the medical charity Médecins when they performed humanitarian missions in the northern Tigray area that Ethiopia struck four years ago.

Raquel Ayora’s comments were posted in the MSF regarding the “deliberate and targeted” killings (targeted” of these three countries and two Ethiopians in the worst and worst case scenario of the now-terminated conflict in Tigray.

“They were executed,” said Ms. Ayora, chief director of MSF Spain’s MSF. “They face the attackers,” said. [and] Been hit in very close range…several times. ”

The BBC has asked the Ethiopian government to respond to the allegation.

Despite 20 face-to-face meetings in the past four years, the government is failing to provide a “reliable claim” to death and is therefore publishing its findings.

Thirty-five-year-old Spanish María Hernández Matas, along with 32-year-old Yohannes Halefom Reda and 31-year-old Tedros Gebremariam, were killed on 24 June 2021 while travelling in central Tigray to assess medical needs.

Ms Iola told the BBC: “They are very professional and enthusiastic.”

She added that the three are fully identifiable in MSF vests, whose vehicles put the charity’s flags and logos on both sides when they were shot.

“So, they [Ethiopian troops] She said they knew they were killing humanitarian aid workers.

A huge situation occurred between the regional and federal governments, with the Tigray conflict breaking out in 2020, with neighboring Eritrea launching a war on the side of the Ethiopian Defence Force (ENDF).

The conflict ended two years later after the African Union (AU). Its envoy is former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who will die in the conflict at about 600,000.

The researchers say death is caused by fighting, hunger and lack of health care.

In its report, MSF said the killings occurred as conflict intensified, and Ethiopian and Eritrea forces became increasingly hostile to aid workers in the region.

Ms Iola said Ms Matas had been working at Tigray since the pre-war and was “very much loved” by people in the area.

MSF officials added that her death was particularly devastating to the death of her mother.

Mr. Tedros was killed shortly after his wife gave birth to a baby girl. Mr. Ayora said his remains were named Maria after his Spanish colleague whose father was killed.

Despite their vehicle having a MSF flag, aid workers are targets [MSF]

The bodies of Ms. Matas and Mr. Yohannes were found 100m (300 feet) to 400m in the wreckage of the vehicle.

Ms Ayora said the body of the driver Mr Tedros was found by the vehicle.

Ms Ayora said the car was shot several times and burned down on the main road from the town of Abi Adi to Yech’illa.

She said Ms. Matas and Mr. Yohannes were walking when they were shot, adding: “We don’t know if they were asked to conduct an interrogation or decided to interact with the soldiers.”

MSF said it relies on satellite images, witnesses and public information about the Ethiopian military movement at the time of the killing to draw conclusions.

The charity added that its investigation puts Ethiopian troops at the “exact location” of the killing.

The MSF report quoted witnesses as saying that they were a police officer notifying the local commander, while the nearby white car and the commander issued an order to shoot.

A moment later, the commander was told that the soldiers were trying to shoot, but the car turned to Abi Adi and stopped, when the commander gave the “Go and grab them” and “moved them away.”

Ms Ayora told the BBC that Ethiopian Justice officials had verbal notices to Doctors Without Borders in mid-2022, and their preliminary investigations showed that government forces were not at the scene of the killing.

But officials refused to give this in writing, with charities constantly interacting with the government to end the growing number of aid workers’ lives in conflicts around the world.

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More BBC stories about Tigray conflict:

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