The search for clarity on the killings of three MSF staff in Ethiopia: Executive summary

Today, MSF released a report outlining findings from an internal review aiming for clarity on what happened to our colleagues. This review began in the days immediately following the incident and was carried out over more than a year, as is standard practice at MSF following critical incidents. We wanted to understand who conducted the attack, how it took place, and the attackers' motives, as well as to provide facts to inform our future engagement with parties to the conflict about what happened that day. The internal review was deeply important for the families our colleagues to bring to light the circumstances in which their loved ones lost their lives. 

For the past four years, MSF has relentlessly tried to understand the full circumstances in which María, Tedros, and Yohannes lost their lives and obtain an acknowledgement of responsibility for their deaths. We have tirelessly attempted to engage with both the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)—whose forces were both present in the area where the killings took place—and asked specific questions regarding the presence of their respective armed forces and their potential involvement in the incident.  

This review found that an Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) convoy was present on the road at the time of the attack, prompting MSF to ask the FDRE to fulfill its obligation to carry out a thorough investigation of the killings and to clarify its understanding of the events and the potential involvement of its armed forces. Given our findings, we invested heavily in bilateral engagement with the FDRE, who repeatedly assured us that an official investigation was underway. MSF also requested that the TPLF carry out its own investigation of the incident. 

Despite repeated assurances from the Ministry of Justice that the FDRE was conducting a credible and impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killing of our colleagues, to date, neither MSF nor the victims’ families have received any official communication or substantiated answers from the Ethiopian authorities about what happened that day.

In the absence of receiving the outcome of any credible and transparent investigation from the FDRE, MSF is making public the findings of this internal review in order to share what we were able to establish about what happened to our colleagues, including the potential involvement of the ENDF. We feel a moral obligation to make these findings public out of respect for our colleagues, whose lives were taken while they were assisting people in need. 

The events on June 24-25, 2021

The conflict in northern Ethiopia started in Tigray region in November 2020, with fighting between the ENDF, its allies, and Tigrayan fighters affiliated with the political party, the TPLF (referred to in this report as the Tigrayan Forces [TF]).

On June 24, 2021, María Hernández Matas, Tedros Gebremariam Gebremichael, and Yohannes Halefom Reda drove south from the town of Abi Adi in central Tigray to assess medical needs in the surrounding area. 

That afternoon, the MSF base in Abi Adi lost contact with the team. This was reported to the Tigrayan Forces in Abi Adi and, in the absence of any ENDF presence in Abi Adi town, MSF’s team in Mekelle informed the head of security for the Interim Government. An MSF search team was sent from Abi Adi town but was unable to locate our colleagues and had to turn back due to the tense security situation in the area and the evening curfew for Abi Adi and the surrounding area, which prohibited the movement of vehicles.

Later that evening, the GPS coordinates from the car’s tracking device were retrieved. The following day, an MSF search team was able to locate the MSF vehicle and our three colleagues, who had been killed. The killings took place on the main road south of Abi Adi toward Yech’illa, just south of Gerebgiba bridge.

Key findings  

The information gathered in the course of this internal review allowed MSF to piece together crucial elements of what happened on June 24, 2021. The main findings include the following:

In the weeks leading up to the killings, there was increasing hostility from ENDF and allied forces toward aid workers.

The review clearly found that in the weeks prior to the incident, not only was the conflict intensifying, but the attitudes of ENDF and Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) personnel were becoming increasingly hostile toward humanitarian workers operating in the Tigray region, including in Abi Adi. MSF teams experienced increasing harassment by ENDF and EDF soldiers, including frequent searches, accusations of non-neutrality, and physical violence. It also came at a time when the FDRE’s public rhetoric toward humanitarian organizations was becoming increasingly aggressive. MSF believes that this contributed to a climate of mistrust toward the few international humanitarian organizations working in Tigray.

The killings occurred at a time when the conflict in Tigray was shifting dramatically.

In the days preceding June 24, 2021, the TF was making significant military gains and the ENDF and its allies were retreating from the Tigray region. Between June 18 and 21, 2021, there was heavy fighting in Abi Adi and Yech’illa towns. The TF took control of Yech’illa on June 20 and Abi Adi town on June 22. Following these military losses, ENDF troops retreated from the Abi Adi area. On June 21 and 22, the MSF team in Abi Adi saw a large contingent of ENDF personnel leave and move out of town in a convoy of hundreds of vehicles carrying soldiers and weaponry, after which there was no further presence of ENDF in the town.

The attack was an intentional and targeted killing of three clearly identified humanitarian aid workers.

The review clearly established that the attack on María, Tedros, and Yohannes was an intentional and targeted killing of three clearly identified humanitarian aid workers. The bodies of María, Tedros, and Yohannes were found at distances of about 100 to 400 yards from the MSF car, each with multiple gunshot wounds. They were shot at close range, facing the direction of their attackers, and were all found wearing white vests clearly marked with the MSF logo, making them clearly identifiable and recognizable as humanitarian workers and civilians at the time of their deaths. The car in which they were driving was also marked with the MSF logo and flag; it had been shot at multiple times and extensively burned.

ENDF was present on the road where the killings took place on the day of the incident.

MSF found a large body of corroborating evidence that placed a convoy of retreating ENDF troops on the road where the killings took place on the day of the incident. The information gathered in the review indicated that on June 24, 2021, military presence was divided along the road where María, Tedros, and Yohannes were killed. Since June 23, the TF had been in control of Abi Adi town and its perimeter. While the TF was likely present in the wider area, MSF could find no evidence that the group was present on the stretch of road where María, Tedros, and Yohannes were killed.

When the ENDF convoy retreated from Adi Abi on June 21 and 22, they left in a large slow-moving convoy comprising hundreds of vehicles. Multiple public sources confirm that the ENDF convoy was ambushed by the TF just north of Yech’illa on June 26, two days after the killing of our colleagues and four days after the convoy left Abi Adi. There are no other accessible roads in this area linking Abi Adi to Yech’illa, clearly indicating that between June 22 and 26, the convoy was present on the road where the MSF team was killed.

Additionally, civilian sources MSF spoke with at the scene of the incident reported that ENDF soldiers traveling at the end of the convoy had occupied houses next to where our colleagues’ bodies were found and had not moved south toward Yech’illa until late on June 24 or early on the morning of June 25. This information would place ENDF at the precise location where MSF’s staff were killed on the day of the attack.

Beyond the confirmed presence of the ENDF in the area, what remains to be clarified is the level and nature of their involvement in the attack.

MSF received some concerning witness reports that directly implicated ENDF soldiers in the incident. Several eyewitnesses separately approached MSF to provide accounts; these included civilian witnesses who had been part of the withdrawing ENDF convoy in different capacities. All of the witnesses proactively approached MSF to present their accounts and were under no pressure to provide a statement.

One witness reported overhearing a conversation on a military radio between an ENDF commander standing near one of the vehicles in the main convoy and a soldier from another ENDF unit—likely to be a spotter team of soldiers stationed at the very end of the convoy (and therefore closest to the location where the three MSF staff were found). The witness overheard the soldier informing the ENDF commander that a white car was approaching. The ENDF commander gave an order to shoot. The next incoming message on the radio from the soldier informed the ENDF commander that the unit had tried to shoot, but the car had turned back toward Abi Adi and stopped, at which point the ENDF commander reportedly gave the order to “go and catch them” and “remove them.” 

Our search for answers

Over the past four years, MSF has extensively engaged in bilateral high-level meetings with both the FDRE and the TPLF. MSF held over 20 face-to-face meetings with FDRE officials and sent numerous written communications, repeatedly urging the FDRE to provide a credible account of what happened to our colleagues. A comprehensive overview of our engagement over the past four years is included at the end of the report, in Annex I.

Throughout this four-year engagement, MSF received conflicting information from the FDRE about whether an investigation was underway. After initial reassurances that an impartial, civilian-led inquiry was being conducted by the Ministry of Justice, on July 11, 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs orally shared several preliminary conclusions from the FDRE investigation with MSF, which MSF considered to be insufficient and unsubstantiated. This included the FDRE’s conclusion that the ENDF was not present in the area at the time of the incident and the FDRE’s presumption that the TPLF was responsible. The MFA advised MSF that while the case remained open, the findings could be shared with the bereaved families as the official account, and that that no further meetings would be held to discuss the case. However, in June 2023—following the second anniversary of the killings—MSF was told the case was still under investigation. In support of this process, MSF submitted a full written copy of our internal review, along with supporting materials, to the Ministry of Justice on October 23, 2023.

Despite MSF’s repeated follow-up, as of June 2025, there has been no further communication from the Ministry of Justice. All indications point to the fact that the promised investigation has stalled. In the absence of receiving the outcomes of a credible investigation after four years, MSF deems it time to publicly release our internal review of the killing of María, Tedros, and Yohannes.

Today, humanitarian workers are being killed in growing numbers while carrying out lifesaving work, and these attacks continue with impunity. Across the board, States are failing to properly investigate incidents or hold perpetrators to account for gross violations of international law. We hope that by pursuing the truth of what happened to our colleagues in Tigray, we can contribute to building a safer environment for humanitarians—not only in Ethiopia, but in conflict zones around the world.