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Simon Marks
@MarksSimon
Reporter at Large @BloombergAfrica | Previously @nytimes + @Politico | [email protected] | Follow me on bsky.app/profile/markss…
Kenya
bloomberg.com/authors/AU8TVL…
Joined April 2011
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Oct 17, 2025
    For years, the Malaysian oil giant Petronas has known its S Sudan oil wells may be causing congenital disease. Mercedes-Benz, partner in its F1 team, arranged meetings to press for answers. Over a decade later, children are still being born deformed.
    Severe Birth Defects Plague South Sudan’s Oil Fields
    From bloomberg.com
    4.5K
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    May 20, 2021
    The Ethiopian govt on Thursday expelled me after nearly two years in the country where I reported on the dizzying hopes from the moment @AbiyAhmedAli won his Peace prize to the horrors of the war in Tigray. 1/5
    nytimes.com
    Ethiopia Expels New York Times Reporter (Published 2021)
    The government gave no explanation for the expulsion of the reporter, Simon Marks, who had extensively reported about the war and human rights abuses in the Tigray region.
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Sep 7, 2020
    At Bole Airport this morning in Addis Ababa, three local reporters, myself, and other members of the public boarding a flight to Mekele were prevented from traveling by National Intelligence and Security Service. Phones and laptops confiscated, social media accounts scrutinized.
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Oct 14, 2022
    Today around lunch, an airstrike hit Shire in Tigray. Two civilians died, two staff members working for @RESCUEorg and four civilians were injured, according to people aware of the strike.
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Apr 2, 2021
    It’s been one week since Ethiopia announced Eritrean troops would leave Tigray. Yet multiple credible sources have confirmed sitings of Eritrean soldiers in Abiy Addi, Idaga Hamus and Adigrat.
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Jun 8, 2021
    Interesting snippet from the upcoming UN rights report on Eritrea. The UN rapporteur says he received information that Somali troops were indeed moved from military camps in Eritrea to Tigray and were present around Axum city.
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Oct 24, 2021
    Ethiopia has confirmed two more airstrikes today in the Tigray region, one in Mai Tsebri and another in Adwa.
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Dec 15, 2021
    Before fighting erupted, Abiy moved troops toward Tigray and sent military planes to Eritrea. His advisers and generals debated the merits of a conflict. Those who disagreed were fired, interrogated at gunpoint or forced to leave. Via ⁦@declanwalsh⁩
    Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia drew early acclaim for his promise to unify his country.
    The Nobel Peace Prize That Paved the Way for War (Published 2021)
    From nytimes.com
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Oct 18, 2022
    “This is a man who is profoundly comfortable with taking extraordinary risks." Eritrea goes for broke in Ethiopian civil war to crush old foe with a massive forced conscription campaign underway and continuous shelling of towns and villages across Tigray.
    Eritrea Goes for Broke in Ethiopian Civil War to Crush Old Foe
    From bloomberg.com
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Sep 5, 2022
    The harrowing tale of one human rights investigator’s effort to expose the truth.
    I exposed the Axum massacre, and faced the consequences - Ethiopia Insight
    From ethiopia-insight.com
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Dec 3, 2021
    Fresh armed raids in Ethiopia’s northwest are filling camps. Thousands of males, aged 15 to 50, are held in makeshift detention centers in western Tigray, while trucks carrying Tigrayans, mostly women, children and the elderly, continue to be deported.
    bloomberg.com
    Armed Raids in Northwest Ethiopia Fill Camps With Displaced
    A conflict between two of Ethiopia’s northern states has intensified, with thousands of people in the western Tigray region forced to flee their homes or detained.
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Mar 17, 2022
    1: In June, 2021 @MSF_EastAfrica denounced the killings of three of its employees as a “brutal murder,” but did not identify any culprit. Now, one is coming into view. Read our months-long investigation with @declanwalsh
    The car that carried María Hernández, Yohannes Halefom and Tedros Gebremariam, before they were killed in the Tigray region, sat on a country road outside Sheweate Hugum, Ethiopia, on Aug. 12, 2021.
    ‘Finish Them Off’: Aid Workers, Found on Battlefield, Executed by Soldiers (Published 2022)
    From nytimes.com
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Mar 28, 2022
    1: Hundreds of Ethiopian troops have converged on Kobo town near the border of the northern Tigray province, days after the gov and rebels from the region agreed on a humanitarian truce, Addisu Wedajo, the town’s mayor, said.
    Ethiopia Troops Seen Moving Toward Tigray After Truce Agreed
    From bloomberg.com
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    Simon Marks
    @MarksSimon
    Oct 19, 2021
    In a call with U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday, PM Abiy said Ethiopia wouldn’t ease up humanitarian access for the U.N unless the TPLF withdrew forces that crossed Tigray’s borders into neighboring states.
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    Bloomberg Africa
    Bloomberg
    @BloombergAfrica
    Oct 19, 2021
    Ethiopia conducted airstrikes on Mekelle, the capital of the dissident Tigray region, on Monday as federal forces continue their attempt to take back ground lost to rebel fighters trib.al/5Fg5MF8