Nefas Meewcha

History

One of the earliest mentions of Nefas Mewcha is in the Royal chronicle of Emperor Susenyos, where the Emperor stopped during his campaign against the rebel Yona'el in 1620. The Scots explorer James Bruce, who visited Ethiopia in the early 1770s, described Nefas Mewcha as "in the farthest limits" of the province of Begemder at the time, with the Wollo Oromo ruling the territories "behind this". James Bruce mentioned that the area south-east of Nefas Mewcha was a natural Barrier against the Oromo expansions and prevented them from settling in Begemder. In the last years of his reign, emperor Iyoas I fought a battle against the governor of Begemder, Ya Mariam Bariaw, who had killed his uncle Birale in an earlier battle. Ya Mariam Bariaw was defeated, and severely wounded; he fled to the nearby Wollo, who handed Ya Mariam Bariaw back to the half-Oromo Emperor for punishment. By 1964, Nefas Mewcha was the administrative center of Gayint awraja. Amnesty International reported that between 12-21 August 2021, during the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) occupation of the Amharan town of Nefas Mewcha. Fighters from Tigray committed heinous crimes against humanity against women including mass rape, gang rape, physical and verbal assaults, on top of looting medical facilities and private property.