Gregory's ServerEventually, I did manage to speak to eyewitnesses who described the site as a four way intersection near Gawuna. They said it was "near the village of Fela" or at the "Fela Turnabout." Problem is this is an informal name unavailable on any maps. But at least with the description, we could rule out many areas and narrow down the search even more.
|
12 comments
The electricity transmission towers seen in the footage appeared to be a match with what is seen at this location on Google Earth. The grass going green and brown at different times is simply due to the seasons. The atrocity took place in February, smack in the middle of Ethiopia's dry season. The Google Earth imagery was snapped in October, during Ethiopia's rainy season. There are noticeable differences every year that we are accustomed to seeing. Those coordinates placed the village precisely parallel to the four way intersection that we had identified earlier. For vehicles driving from west to east, the road to Fela village was literally a sharp turn right, meaning "Fela Turnabout," the description given to us, was pretty consistent with this location. Comparison of Google Earth imagery with photographs, and screengrabs from the video (considerably cropped to conceal graphic content) shows consistency, two transmission towers, dirt road leading to the village of Fela, which can be seen in the distance. This closeup of the spot at the intersection seen on Google Earth from October 3rd 2023, appears to show parked vehicles. It would be consistent with descriptions that survivors gave me of the location: as being a truck or bus stop for passengers to get off and walk to nearby villages. At this point, the evidence is overwhelming. This is where an Ethiopian air force drone cut down 30+ people on February 19th 2024. Why go to these lengths? For much of the past 8 months, victims have been told they are lying, or that their dead loved ones were armed fighters who got what was coming. That atrocity won't be erased from history. One day, when independent investigators are allowed to work freely, we can tell them where to begin their probe. Archiving atrocities today could enable justice tomorrow. This goes for Ethiopia, just as it does for Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Ukraine and elsewhere. So yeah, that's the story of the cover: Meanwhile, in unrelated news...Ethiopia was elected into the United Nations Human Rights Council this week. Once again, the impact of the proliferation of cheap drones sold by Iran, China, UAE and Turkey to authoritarian regimes with a promise of swift victory. Thank you for your time. https://www.africanews.com/2024/10/10/dr-congo-ethiopia-kenya-elected-to-human-rights-council/ |
In this corner of rural Ethiopia, there aren't that many four way intersections. So with a bit of studying of the footage and of satellite imagery...voila, found a match!
Barely a five minute drive from the Gawuna Hospital, this location on a road that cuts through rural Amhara country became the focus of our efforts.