An official-looking document attributed to the Amhara Regional Police Commission directs security authorities in the Welkait-Tsegede-Setit-Humera Zone in Western Tigray to place Tigrayans and several other categories of residents under heightened surveillance, according to the Amharic text of the directive.
The document, issued under the letterhead of the Amhara Regional National Government Police Commission, Information and Monitoring Directorate, is addressed to the Welkait-Tsegede-Setit-Humera Zone Police Directorate in Humera.
Its subject line reads: "Notification to Conduct Strict Surveillance."
The directive is signed by Mengesha Awrarise Alene, identified as head of the Information and Monitoring Directorate.
Directive Targets Several Categories, Including "All Tigrayan Natives"
The commission instructs police authorities in the zone to identify and monitor people it describes as TPLF "agents" and "traitors." More significantly, the directive specifically identifies categories of people who should receive particular security attention.
A direct translation of the relevant section reads: "In particular: all persons of Tigrayan origin in your zone; those born to parents from Tigray and other ethnic groups; those who previously were TPLF leaders and supporters; and those suspected, under the current political alignment, of supporting the TPLF or acting as its agents."
The directive then orders security structures to subject these groups to "appropriate surveillance and control." It further states that when indications or evidence are found, "the necessary legal measures" should be taken against the individuals concerned.
In practice, the phrase "necessary legal measures" can be interpreted broadly by security forces, potentially extending beyond formal judicial procedures to immediate or on-the-spot actions. In contexts where extrajudicial violence has been documented, such ambiguous language raises concern that it could be invoked to justify severe abuses, including extrajudicial killings.
Regional Security Task Force Identifies Surveillance as a "Key" Priority
According to the document, the instructions resulted from an assessment conducted by the regional security task force and from directions established for subsequent action.
The police commission tells the zonal authorities to treat the matter as "one key category" of security work and says it is issuing the instruction "strictly."
The relevant passage can be translated: "In particular, appropriate surveillance and control shall be conducted by all security structures against those suspected of supporting or acting on behalf of the TPLF, and when indications are found, the necessary legal measures shall be taken against them. Based on the assessment conducted by the regional security task force and the subsequent direction it established, we strictly instruct you to treat this as one key category and work accordingly."
Explicit Reference to Tigrayan Ethnicity Raises Human Rights Questions
The directive is potentially significant because its surveillance instructions do not refer only to people accused of membership in or activity on behalf of the TPLF.
One of the categories explicitly listed is "all persons of Tigrayan origin in your zone." Another encompasses people of mixed Tigrayan and other ethnic backgrounds.
That distinction raises serious human rights concerns because it makes ethnic origin itself a criterion for enhanced security scrutiny, alongside categories based on alleged political affiliation or activity. International human rights standards prohibit discrimination based on ethnicity.
Previous Reports Document Killings and Ethnic Cleansing in Western Tigray
The wording is particularly concerning given the location to which the directive was sent. Humera, Welkait and Tsegede are in Western Tigray, where serious abuses against Tigrayan civilians have previously been documented.
In a major 2022 joint investigation, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported that Amhara regional security forces and newly appointed local authorities carried out a coordinated campaign against Tigrayan civilians beginning in November 2020. Based on more than 400 interviews as well as medical and forensic records, court documents, satellite imagery, photographs and videos, the organizations documented unlawful killings, mass arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment, sexual violence, forced displacement, pillage and denial of humanitarian assistance.
They concluded that several hundred thousand Tigrayans had been systematically expelled and that the widespread and systematic attacks amounted to crimes against humanity and war crimes, describing the campaign as ethnic cleansing.
This history gives additional significance to the directive’s instruction that "all persons of Tigrayan origin" be subjected to heightened surveillance and control. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty reported that Amhara authorities and security forces had previously used ethnically targeted intimidation, threats, detention and expulsions against Tigrayans in Western Tigray. The organizations also documented unlawful killings as part of the campaign.
Against that documented background, the directive’s reference to taking "necessary legal measures" warrants particular scrutiny. While the phrase does not itself authorize extrajudicial killing, its breadth raises serious concerns about how such an instruction could be interpreted and implemented by security forces operating in an area where unlawful killings and other grave abuses have already been documented.
A joint OHCHR-Ethiopian Human Rights Commission investigation also documented serious violations during the Tigray conflict, including killings and large-scale forced displacement that could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, although its findings and geographic coverage differed from the later Amnesty/HRW investigation. Human Rights Watch noted that the joint investigation had limited access to parts of Western Tigray and did not document the alleged ethnic-cleansing campaign to the same extent.
This context makes the new document potentially important not merely as an isolated police communication, but as possible documentary evidence that should be examined alongside previously documented patterns of ethnically targeted surveillance, detention, displacement and violence against Tigrayans in Western Tigray. Authentication of the directive and investigation of how it was implemented would therefore be essential before drawing conclusions about individual or institutional responsibility.
Calls for Authentication and Investigation
The document could be important evidence in assessing allegations of ethnic profiling in Western Tigray areas under Amhara regional security administration. But the document’s authenticity, provenance and implementation should be independently established.
Originally published on UMD Media Facebook on 2026-08-11T09:00:00-06:00. Source: https://www.facebook.com/getachew.UMDMedia