Mahibere Degue (), also transliterated as Mahbere Dego is a historical town in

Tigray Region The Tigray Region (or simply Tigray; officially the Tigray National Regional State) is the northernmost Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob people, Irob and Kunama people. I ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. It is located 12.5 km south of the city of

Axum Axum, also spelled Aksum (), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire. Axum is located in the Central Zone of the Tigray Re ...

. The town is known for its

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, Enda Tsadkan ("Home of the Saints"), which is a popular

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

attraction. Residents of the town engage in trade and

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

activities in the surrounding villages. Siwa, a tasty local drink, is a favourite, and is a popular

commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic goods, good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the Market (economics), market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to w ...

The Mahbere Dego massacre

The

Ethiopian National Defense Force The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) () is the combined military force of Ethiopia. ENDF is consisted of 10 command forces which is controlled by the Chief of General Staff. Commanders of the Military Supreme Commander – Taye At ...

(ENDF) killed dozens of civilians in Mahbere Dego in January 2021.CNN, 2 April 2021
'Two bullets is enough' - Analysis of Tigray massacre video raises questions for Ethiopian Army
/ref> The massacres occurred in a similar way as so many massacres in the Tigray War. The ENDF targeted civilians, especially male, in this case merchants, farmers, often brothers or father and son. They filmed the killings, and, exceptionally, a whistleblower transmitted the videos t
Tigrai Media House

Dozens of unarmed civilian men were grouped in the wilderness outside of the town, driven to a cliff edge and executed by the Ethiopian soldiers. Thanks to the particular

geomorphology Geomorphology () is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features generated by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near Earth's surface. Geomorphologists seek to understand wh ...

of the surroundings, the imagery could be geolocated.Bellingcat, 1 April 2021
Mahbere Dego: Clues to a Clifftop Massacre in Ethiopia
/ref>Citizen Evidence Lab, 9 April 2021
How to Crack Complex Geolocation Challenges: A Case Study of the Mahibere Dego Massacre
/ref> After factchecking the footage of the massacres was published by

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

and

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

.BBC, 1 April 2021
Evidence suggests Ethiopian military carried out massacre in Tigray
/ref>
On 27 June CNN published more video material they received from Tigrai Media House, identifying one of the filming soldiers as "Fafi" and naming his brigade and division. In the extended video Fafi himself is seen taking part in the executions.

References

{{reflist Populated places in the Tigray Region Kingdom of Aksum Tigray Region