About 40 top EPRP rebels were executed, buried near Tana Beles in 1991: source

January 11, 2014

ADDIS ABABA – About 40 senior EPRP rebels who were captured after their forces in Gojjam and Gondar were routed by EPRDF forces in 1991 were later summarily executed and buried in a mass grave near Tana Beles Project, an anonymous source has told Ethiomedia.

A bulldozer of the Tana Beles Project was used to dig out a mass grave, and once the executions were carried out, the man who operated on the bulldozer was also shot to death so that the information wouldn’t leak to the public, the source said.

The execution was ordered by Meles Zenawi and Sebhat Nega, but senior TPLF/EPRDF leaders were undoubtedly aware of the killings, the source said.

At about the same time, eight top EPRP leaders were summarily executed by the notorious TPLF Intelligence Unit known as “06”, and the group included EPRP leaders Tsegaye Debteraw, Hagos Berhe, Yishak Debre Tsion and others. The source couldn’t verify whether the killings took place in Tigrai, Gondar, or Gojjam area.

Attempts to get further details were left unanswered.