A critical moment in the Tigray war

Tuesday, 20 July 2021 18:54 Written by MartinPlaut

JULY 20, 2021 MARTIN PLAUT ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

It appears that the war that began on 4 November 2020 has reached a turning point.

The Tigrayans have launched an offensive eastwards to cut the road from Addis to the sea at Djibouti.

This is confirmed by Kjetil Tronvol and Rashid Abdi.

It is a high-risk strategy, since Abiy Ahmed is throwing everything he has at the war, with militia from Sidamo, Amhara, Oromo and Somali regions being sent to the fronts.

But these ethnic militia are not disciplined, trained troops and there are some reports that they are defecting almost as soon as they reach the battlefield in Tigray.

On the offensive

Instead of going on the defensive since re-capturing Mekelle on 28 June, the Tigrayans have been on the offensive. Their first thrust was southwards, towards Amhara territory. Now they are pushing eastwards, towards Djibouti.

A defensive strategy would have meant accepting that the Tigrayan people would remain reliant on the meagre supplies allowed in by the government in Addis – far too little to stave off a famine.

As the United Nations pointed out on Monday,

“Inside Tigray, access is currently possible to areas that were previously hard to reach, with an estimated 75 per cent of people who need assistance (4 million out of 5.2 million people in need) now in zones where humanitarian operations can take place, compared with 30 per cent in May.

Humanitarian stocks, however, are rapidly depleting inside Tigray, with road access only possible through Afar Region with heavy control by regional and federal authorities.”

A gamble

The TDF’s strategy will stretch their supply lines and push them into unfamiliar territory.

However, if successful it will not only mean that the Tigray Defence Forces will have captured territory, they will also have taken supplies they badly need as they advance.

If it works then the Tigrayans will probably be in a position to dictate terms since:

1. They will have inflicted major defeats on the Eritrean and Ethiopian military

2. They will have cut Ethiopia’s main link to the outside world

3. They will have defeated the ethnic militia that Addis is now throwing at them.

Will this happen? The Ethiopians still control the skies and have an air-force that could try to cut Tigrayans lines.

We should know in the next few weeks which way this war is going.

Martin

News comment: UNHCR latest update on deteriorating situation of Eritrean refugees in Tigray

Saturday, 17 July 2021 21:52 Written by UNHCR

News and Press Release Source

UNHCR

Posted15 Jul 2021 Originally published15 Jul 2021 OriginView original

This news comment is attributable to Ann Encontre, UNHCR Representative in Ethiopia

The situation in the Mai Aini and Adi Harush Eritrean refugee camps in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has further and rapidly deteriorated with the escalation of fighting in the area over the last two days

At least one Eritrean refugee death has been confirmed, with credible reports of arrests, detentions, beatings, looting, and sporadic gunfire. Tens of thousands of refugees, fearful for their lives, are currently trapped and unable to move due to the insecurity and ongoing movement of troops in the area. UNHCR staff on the ground, as well as other humanitarian partners, are now unable to reach the camps to assist refugees.

We urgently call on both the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray Regional Government to uphold their obligations under international law including respecting the civilian character of refugee camps, and the rights of refugees and all civilians to be protected from hostilities.

Source=News comment: UNHCR latest update on deteriorating situation of Eritrean refugees in Tigray - Ethiopia | ReliefWeb

Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: Fleeing for fear of new ethnic conflict

Saturday, 17 July 2021 20:40 Written by Martin Plaut

Date: 16/07/2021Author: Martin Plaut

By Andrew Harding
BBC News, Hamdayet, Sudan

Tigray crisis

Almost every night, a handful of young men slip across the well-guarded border, swimming across a fast-flowing brown river and trudging into Sudan to escape what they say is a sudden upsurge in ethnic violence in the far western corner of Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

This fertile area, still held by soldiers and militias loyal to Ethiopia’s federal government, is now seen as a likely next target for Tigray’s rebel fighters, as they seek to strengthen their control over the region and secure a potentially crucial supply route into neighbouring Sudan.

The conflict in Tigray is now showing dangerous signs of transforming into a more widespread ethnic conflict that could suck in other parts of Ethiopia.

“They gave us two days to leave, or we would be killed,” said one 18-year-old Tigrayan, who’d just crossed the river with three school friends and asked for his identity to be hidden to protect relatives still living inside Ethiopia.

He accused soldiers from the nearby region of Amhara – who currently control the key border town of Humera – of targeting Tigrayan men of fighting age.

River Sittet, which marks the border between Ethiopia and Sudan

image captionThe River Sittet marks the border between Ethiopia and Sudan

There are many reports that Amhara conscripts and volunteers are now being rushed to reinforce the area, along with other militia forces from different parts of the country including Oromia and Sidama.

“The Amhara militia are going door to door. If they know you are a Tigrayan they kill or arrest you. We feel bad because it is our country. Anyone who can escape is fleeing,” said another teenager, speaking early one morning, in the isolated Sudanese border town of Hamdayet, just across the border from Humera.

The BBC spoke to eight people who’d left Humera in recent days and told similar stories of ethnic cleansing. But with phone lines inside Tigray cut, it has been difficult to seek independent confirmation.

The Ethiopian government has meanwhile indicated that it may end its unilateral ceasefire in Tigray, blaming “provocations” by the rebel forces, and appears to be mobilising more troops from different regions.

Warnings of imminent battle

Surrounded by muddy fields and now buffeted nightly by spectacular summer storms, Hamdayet has become a transit point for thousands of Tigrayan refugees – and almost certainly for rebel fighters too – who cross in and out of the town, sometimes slipping through nearby Eritrea.

The flow of refugees has slowed in recent months. It began last November, when the conflict in Tigray first erupted between forces loyal to the regional government and Ethiopia’s federal state.BBCWar is inevitab

BBCWar is inevitable – it is ethnic cleansing”Tewodros Tefera

Doctor

Some 50,000 refugees are currently sheltering in Sudanese camps close to the border, often in grim conditions as the rainy season sets in and their makeshift tents are repeatedly broken by fierce winds. The UN refugee agency has faced growing criticism about the humanitarian situation in the camps.

Multiple security and intelligence sources in the region told the BBC that the upsurge of ethnic violence inside Tigray – particularly in and around Humera – was a sign that a major battle could be imminent. After its spectacular recent successes further south and east, the rebel Tigray Defence Forces are widely expected to try to seize all of western Tigray before the rains cut off much access.

But the town lies in disputed territory, long-claimed by ethnic Amharas, who took control of the area soon after the Tigray conflict began. The concern is that an escalating conflict here will further enflame ethnic tensions in Ethiopia, and could also fuel instability in Sudan and Eritrea.

“It’s going to go on – the war – for sure. The Amhara and the Tigrayan people used to be as brother and sister. But we are not giving up our land so the blood[shed] is going to continue,” said a bank worker and mother of two, who recently arrived in Hamdayet and asked for her name to be withheld.

“War is inevitable. There is a new surge of mass arrests [by Amhara militia]. It is ethnic cleansing. The forceful eviction of Tigrayans from western Tigray is getting intense right now,” said Tewodros Tefera, a surgeon who fled across the border into Sudan late last year, and now runs a tiny clinic serving thousands of refugees and locals in Hamdayet.

Like many Tigrayan refugees, Dr Tewodros now appears committed to the idea of a complete break from Ethiopia – full independence for Tigray.

“Thinking of being an Ethiopian now is gone. I don’t want to be in the same category with these people that have raped my sisters, that have killed by my brothers and sisters. So, the idea of [holding] the same passport is gone,” he said.

Amnesty International: End arbitrary detentions of Tigrayans, activists and journalists in Addis Ababa and reveal whereabouts of unaccounted detainees

Saturday, 17 July 2021 20:30 Written by Eritrea Hub

JULY 16, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

16 July 2021, 02:00 UTC

Source: Amnesty International

Police in Addis Ababa have arbitrarily arrested and detained dozens of Tigrayans without due process, following the recapture of the Tigray region’s capital, Mekelle, by forces from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that also calls itself Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) on 28 June, Amnesty International said today. The arrests appear to be ethnically motivated, with former detainees, witnesses and lawyers describing how police checked identity documents before arresting people and taking them to detention centres.

“Former detainees told us that police stations are filled with people speaking Tigrinya, and that authorities had conducted sweeping mass arrests of Tigrayans”

Deprose Muchena, Director for East and Southern Africa

“Following the withdrawal of the Ethiopian National Defense Force from parts of Tigray and the announcement of a unilateral ceasefire by the Federal government on 28 June, for the last two weeks Tigrayans in Addis Ababa have been arbitrarily arrested and detained. Former detainees told us that police stations are filled with people speaking Tigrinya, and that authorities had conducted sweeping mass arrests of Tigrayans,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.

“Amnesty International urges the Ethiopian government to end this wave of arbitrary arrests, and to ensure that all detainees are either promptly charged with internationally recognized crimes and given fair trials, or immediately and unconditionally released. The government must also inform families of the whereabouts of those detained and ensure that they have access to lawyers and their relatives.”

While some people have been released on bail, approximately hundreds of others remain in detention, and their whereabouts unknown. Amnesty International is not aware of any internationally recognizable criminal charges against those still in detention who were arrested in these cases documented by the organization.

Ethiopian law requires police to present detainees in court within 48 hours of arrest to review the grounds for arrest. Promptly bringing detainees before a judicial authority is an important safeguard against torture, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance.

Beaten, harassed, arrested

Amnesty International remotely interviewed 14 people in Addis Ababa, including former detainees, eyewitnesses to arrests, and relatives and lawyers of those still in detention.

One man, who was arrested in the Merkato area on Friday 2 July, told the organization that police raided his snooker game business at around 7pm. They began to harass and beat customers and employees and demanded to see their identity documents, before taking five people, all ethnic Tigrayans, to the nearby Woreda 6 police station. Identification cards in Ethiopia identify the ethnicity of the holder. The shopkeeper, who was among those arrested, said:

“They kept us on the open air and it was raining the whole night. We also stayed there the next day on Saturday. More people of Tigrayan origin joined us during the daytime on Saturday. We were 26 Tigrayans arrested in the station that day.”

The Ethiopian government to end this wave of arbitrary arrests, and to ensure that all detainees are either promptly charged with internationally recognized crimes and given fair trials, or immediately and unconditionally released
Deprose Muchena

Nineteen people were released the next day – some after presenting a bond – but the rest were taken to Awash Arba area in Afar Region, 240 kilometers east of Addis Ababa, according to the people Amnesty International has interviewed. The shopkeeper was released on Saturday evening, only to learn that his brother was among those being held at Awash Sebat. He said:

“The next day I was told my brother is also arrested. He called us from Awash Sebat using a phone line of another person. He told us he is taken there by the police with many people. I know some of the people arrested with him.”

Tsehaye Gebre Hiwot, who works at a tyre maintenance shop near Gotera, was arrested by police together with a relative, Haile Girmay, on 3 July. A family member told Amnesty International that she had visited Tsehaye Gebre Hiwot in the nearby police station.

She said: “When I visited him, I saw many other Tigrayan broomsticks and mopper vendors [a business traditionally associated with people of Tigrayan origin] arrested there. They were all speaking in Tigrinya. I don’t know if they are released or taken with him.”

A further nine witnesses told Amnesty International that they had seen dozens of Tigrayans detained in Tekle Haimanot – 5^th Police Station, Gerji, Federal Police Remand Centre, and Merkato police stations when visiting detained friends and relatives. One man, who said five of his friends had been arrested in a raid on a dormitory hall on 2 July in Tekle Haimanot, said he saw about 50 Tigrayans in the 5th police station when he visited on 3 July.

Amnesty International also heard of similar pattern of arbitrary arrests targeting Tigrayan residents in Awash Sebat, a town in Afar Region 200 kilometres to the east of Addis Ababa. One witness told Amnesty International that five Tigrayan business owners in the town, including her husband, were arrested on 3 July. She said:

“He and many other Tigrayans in the town were arrested that day. They stayed in the police station of the Federal Police until 7 July before they were transferred to Awash Arba Prison at a place called Berta. They were taken to a court in Awash Arba on 7 July and the court remanded them until 19 July. Then the police took them to the prison. The prison is around 35 kilometers away from Awash Sebat. We visit and deliver them food and clothes in the prison.”

Activists and journalists targeted

Tsegaze’ab Kidanu is an Tigrayan living in Addis Ababa, who has been coordinating humanitarian assistance for people affected by the conflict in Tigray. He is also a volunteer managing media relations for an association called Mahbere Kidus Yared Zeorthodox Tewahido Tigray. On 1 July, a day before his association released a statement on the human rights situation in Tigray, he was arrested at his home.

Tsegaze’ab’s family and lawyer visited him at the Federal Police Remand Centre on 2 and 3 July, but when they returned on 4 July he was not there. According to Tsegaze’ab’s lawyer, they later heard from another detainee that he had been taken to Awash Arba. His lawyer was also never informed of charges brought against Tsegaze’ab.

The lawyer also shared with Amnesty International the names of 24 Tigrayans who were arrested from various neighbourhoods of Addis Ababa, including 22 Mazoria and Tekle Haimanot, between 30 June and 8 July. The lawyer told Amnesty International that one detainee, released on bail on 5 July, was charged of having ‘links with TPLF (the Tigray People’s Liberation Front)’ which is designated as a terrorist group by the Ethiopian government.

Authorities must also ensure that all detainees are protected against torture and other ill-treatment
Deprose Muchena

Journalists and media workers who have been reporting on the situation in Tigray have also been detained without due process. On 30 June, police arrested 11 journalists and media workers for Awlo Media and Ethio Forum, You Tube based media who have been covering the conflict and the human rights situation in Tigray, along with their lawyer. A lawyer and family members interviewed by Amnesty International said that they were able to visit the detainees on 1 July, but since 2 July their whereabouts are unknown and they also have no information whether the detainees have been charged with any crime or not. A relative of one detainee said:

“On Friday [2 July], the police told us that they released them early in the morning around 6 pm. But none of them came to their house or called us. When we asked them repeatedly, the police said, we[police] don’t know where they are, don’t ever come again’. We have been looking for them since then.”

“Ethiopian authorities must reveal the whereabouts of detainees to their families and lawyers. Not disclosing the fate or whereabouts of detainees is committing the crime of enforced disappearance. Authorities must also ensure that all detainees are protected against torture and other ill-treatment.” said Deprose Muchena.

Ethiopia conflict heats up as Amhara region vows to attack Tigray forces

Saturday, 17 July 2021 14:39 Written by Eritrea Hub

JULY 15, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Source: Reuters

Tigrayan militia took about 19 refugees from Adi Harush on Wednesday to an unknown location and one refugee – a Muslim man – was killed after they told him to carry some weapons and he refused, another refugee told Reuters.

Ethiopia conflict heats up as Amhara region vows to attack Tigray forces

Dawit Endeshaw

Members of Amhara Special Forces stand guard along a street in Humera town, Ethiopia July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

ADDIS ABABA, July 14 (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s war in the northern region of Tigray looked set to intensify on Wednesday as the prime minister signalled the end of a government ceasefire and the neighbouring Amhara region said it would go on the offensive against Tigrayan forces.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has recaptured most of its home region in the past three weeks after an abrupt reversal in an eight-month war, has vowed to retake western Tigray, an expanse of fertile territory controlled by Amhara forces who seized it during the conflict.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed abruptly pulled central government troops out of most of Tigray last month, citing a unilateral ceasefire that the TPLF mocked as “a joke” designed to justify his forces’ retreat. Wednesday’s statement marked a shift in rhetoric, as Abiy said the ceasefire had failed to deliver.

A spokesman for the Amhara regional government also said the authorities there were rallying their own forces for a counter-attack against Tigrayan forces.

“The regional government has now transitioned from defensive to offensive,” Amhara spokesperson Gizachew Muluneh was quoted as saying by the region’s state-run Amhara Media Corporation. “Amhara militia and special forces have been systematically trying to defend but now our patience has run out and as of today we have opened an offensive attack.”

He did not respond to requests for further comment. On Tuesday the National Movement of Amhara, a major regional political party, called on irregular volunteer militia – known as Fano – to mobilise.

Western Tigray has long been home to large populations of both Tigrayans and Amhara, and renewed fighting between two of Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic groups over the territory could drive another wave of refugees from a conflict that has already forced 2 million from their homes.

When Abiy sent troops to fight the TPLF last year, Amhara militia fought on the central government’s side, using the opportunity to take control of a swathe of territory administered by Tigrayans for decades.

Since Abiy’s abrupt withdrawal on June 28, the TPLF has pushed steadily outwards, recapturing most of Tigray. Its forces retook Alamata, the main town in the south, on Monday and pushed across the deep ravine of the Tekeze River to take Mai Tsebri from Amhara control on Tuesday. read more

But a tougher fight could loom for western Tigray, which the Amhara consider a reclaimed part of their own historic homeland and have vowed to keep under their control.

ABIY STEPS BACK FROM CEASEFIRE

Abiy’s more forceful remarks in a statement on Wednesday suggested his government was abandoning its three-week-old emphasis on its ceasefire declaration, proclaimed as government troops abandoned regional capital Mekelle to the advancing TPLF.

“The ceasefire could not bear the desired fruits,” he said. “The TPLF…poses a great danger to the sovereignty of the country. The federal government, through mobilising the people of Ethiopia, is determined to curb this threat.”

He blamed the TPLF for choosing to fight rather than allow in aid or observe the ceasefire, and accused them of recruiting, drugging and deploying child soldiers.

TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda dismissed the claim.

“We don’t have child soldiers because mature soldiers are never in short supply,” he told Reuters via satellite phone.

Getachew also repeated that the TPLF welcomes aid, and would not observe a ceasefire while parts of Tigray remained under control of the central government or its allies.

REFUGEES STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

Caught in the middle of the fighting are 23,000 Eritrean refugees sheltering in two camps near the town of Mai Tsebri. Many have already fled the Tigrayan war once when two other refugee camps were destroyed, and told Reuters they had seen refugees kidnapped and killed during previous fighting.

One refugee from Adi Harush camp told Reuters Tigrayan militia were searching refugees’ homes and confiscating cell phones.

“There is still shooting all around the camp,” he said.

Tigrayan militia took about 19 refugees from Adi Harush on Wednesday to an unknown location and one refugee – a Muslim man – was killed after they told him to carry some weapons and he refused, another refugee told Reuters.

“Our forces are not after Eritrean refugees. We will make sure refugees are protected and we are more than ready to investigate any claims,” TPLF’s Getachew said, adding refugees would be permitted to leave the area if they wished.

Tesfahun Gobezay, head of Ethiopia’s refugee agency, said they wanted to relocate the refugees away from fighting as fast as possible.

“We will bring refugees into the high schools as we try to build shelters,” he said.

How Prime Minister Abiy encourages rape in his public statements

Saturday, 17 July 2021 14:28 Written by Eritrea Hub

JULY 15, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

From Apologies to Atrocities: How to make sense of leadership statements in Ethiopia

by WORLD PEACE FOUNDATION on JUNE 19, 2021

By Jan Nyssen and several colleagues that co-authored but preferred to remain anonymous.

In a speech to assembled Ethiopian ambassadors in January 2019, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed would make a prescient remark regarding Tigray. Alluding to the role of soldiers during the battle of Adua in 1896 and later, during the Eritrean war, Abiy said: “This hasn’t been researched, but it’s obvious. From the battle of Adwa during the time of Menelik, to the later wars, many people from central Ethiopia – Oromos, Amharas – have been going to Tigray to fight. They were there for the war with Eritrea, and there’s been a military presence in Tigray for the 30 years since. So, if you’re wondering what the proportion of Oromo in Tigray is, leave it for DNA to find out. [Hilarity in the audience] It’s probably wrong to say this, but: those who went to Adwa, to fight, didn’t just go and come back. Each of them had about 10 kids.” [Loud laughter of the audience and applause]. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0-RF8E4ov0)

On March 21 2020, during a parliamentary session in which he was questioned on sexual violence in Tigray, Abiy replied: “The women in Tigray? These women have only been penetrated by men, whereas our soldiers were penetrated by a knife”. (https://twitter.com/womenoftigray/status1374723950786318336?s=20 , video includes English subtitles).

Earlier that year, after the first reports of the deliberate targeting of women had begun to emerge, an Ethiopian general is filmed addressing a group of officers. Berating his cohorts, he says: “why are women being raped in Tigray, at this time? We might expect this during war time and it is not manageable but why is it happening now in the presence of federal police, in the presence of an official administration?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX-GmMwEF10)

The rest of the video has been cut by the Ethiopian Broadcast Commission which first broadcast it, but it would appear to be an admission of what had been going on. An admission later echoed by the Ethiopian Minister for Women’s Affairs and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. (Addis Standard reports)

What are we to make of these statements? How are we to interpret words which, from the Prime Minister himself, seem an open acknowledgement, even an endorsement, of military tactics and strategy that holds, as its central pillar, the use of rape in war? How can the world reconcile these kinds of statements? How will the people of Tigray – and in particular the women – live with what has been said, and what has been admitted; and above all, if Abiy wins the election in June 21, how will the the rest of Ethiopia live with a Prime Minister who has endorsed a culture of rape?

PM Abiy Ahmed with military commanders, Office of the Prime Minister, Ethiopia, February 14, 2019, (Public domain)

Abiy Ahmed was appointed Prime Minster of Ethiopia on April 2 2018. He arrived on the scene talking hope, reconciliation, reform and much anticipated change. He seemed to embody everything Ethiopians hoped for. He was half Oromo half Amhara; a Christian, though Protestant, but he acknowledged his Islamic ancestors. He seemed to be the new ‘unity in diversity’ figurehead incarnate. A new Ethiopia in the making. Who could object? He embarked on a series of tours around the country to explain himself then to the diaspora, to neighbours, and to the world. He moved fast, making changes addressing all the grievances over corruption and the past ‘misdeeds’ of the former government. He released prisoners, called back banned political parties and enjoined Ethiopians to address their past and atone with one another over historical events, and then move on.

The man with a PhD in Peace and Conflict studies it seems was putting in place the main steps for future reconciliation and state rebuilding. The world held its breath; he ‘made peace’ with Eritrea, he talked of Rwanda, he reminded the world of the evils of genocide and the need not to demonize and to transcend all differences. He appointed several women into his cabinet, a first for Ethiopia. He was applauded at home and abroad he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

It was a moment of pride for the country for him. Much was written: articles, blogs, Twitter, Facebook all were euphoric. Ethiopia reasserting her honor, her history of internationalism and defender of universal values. A founding member of the United Nations a great contributer to Peace-Keeping operations since 1950. Abiy, the ex military man now statesman was bringing back this honor to Ethiopia, to the Ethiopian army, to its people.

As the war unfolded in Tigray, the reports of atrocities and their specific intentions seemed to follow the textbook example of all that has been written and researched on the use of rape in war, and on violations of international protocols and treaties governing conflict. AP Africa correspondent Cara Anna described the horrors of sexual violence in Tigray on CBS News. Aljazeera and Reuters detailed the sexual slavery in Tigray. Helen Clark and Rachel Kyte called the world to action: “The world knows enough to say that war crimes are happening in Tigray. We should not need to wait until we are able to conduct full and thorough investigations before we act to stop rape as a weapon of war. We should not have to count the graves of children before we act to stop starvation crimes.” The Red Cross also condemned this horrific sexual violence in the strongest terms.

With each report and social outrage, there was denial and counter accusations of ‘fake news’ and ‘alleged’ rapes and claims of a ‘western’ smear campaign against the integrity of Ethiopia. The cries of pain and testaments of Tigrayan women, now scorned and dismissed as propaganda.

As activists and human rights lawyers examine the evidence from Tigray and other places where women continue to suffer the onslaught of violence and ethnic cleansing, the academics remind us: governments don’t outsource violence to militias; they model it.

On June 19^th the world will be commemorating International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. A day agreed on by all member states of the UN to condemn and call for the end of conflict-related sexual violence, including rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy and enforced sterilization; and to honour victims, survivors and those fighting to end these most terrorizing and destructive of crimes.

As activists and human rights lawyers examine the evidence from Tigray and other places where women continue to suffer the onslaught of violence and ethnic cleansing, the academics remind us: governments don’t outsource violence to militias; they model it. Data on government and militia attacks against civilians in civil wars from 1989 to 2010 show that when governments target civilians — whether through massacres, ethnic cleansing or deliberate bombing and shelling — they generally do so through both their regular military forces and militia forces. And when states decide not to target civilians, militias generally hold back as well. They may influence militia behavior through training or through more informal diffusion — or both. Studies show that when governments train militias, militias are more likely to target civilians both with sexual violence and other kinds of violence.”

On June 17 The African Union announced the opening of the official Commission of inquiry into Tigray. As they begin to collect the statements from Tigrayan refugees and victims of sexual violence, they would be wise to also consider the various speeches and statements of Abiy Ahmed himself.

“Against all odds” – Dan Connell’s seminal book on the Eritrean revolution, now updated and reappraised

Saturday, 17 July 2021 14:22 Written by Eritrea Hub

“Against all odds” – Dan Connell’s seminal book on the Eritrean revolution, now updated and reappraised

JULY 15, 2021 MARTIN PLAUT NEWS, TIGRAY

Against All Odds This book – as relevant today as it was in 1993 when it was first written – is by one of the few outsiders who can claim to really know those who fought for Eritrea’s freedom.

That long struggle, which began in 1961 and ended 30 years later with the ecstatic capture of Asmara, was known to very few who were not Eritreans. Dan Connell was one of them.

It is with great pain and sadness that he therefore writes an update and reappraisal of these events. Today Eritrea is possibly the worst dictatorship in the world and many of Dan’s contacts and friends languish in its dungeons.

He sums up this dilemma in his preface to the new edition.

The liberation front’s remarkable discipline and organisation and its fierce commitment to self-reliance help explain its success against extraordinary odds. But the same qualities made for problems when it can to state-building in a less easily controlled political environment. Perhaps, then, it was was inevitable that the front would revert to what it knew best: a permanent war-footing with its nation-building project under strict military command, albeit in civilian clothing, as if it were still a guerilla army defending its besieged base area from existential threats on all sides. Was there ever really another way? The question is an idle one, though it preoccupies many in the diaspora.”

Dan considers why Eritreans have behaved with such utter disregard for their enemies and for civilians in the current war in Tigray.

This he puts down to the problem of “cult-formation” with conscripts indoctrinated into believing that their country is facing an overwhelming threat, which only a inspired leader can save the nation. The young men and women are isolated from the rest of the world and have absolute obedience enforced upon them.

Little surprise then that they have slaughtered men and abused and killed women without humanity. “Once initiated in the fever of killing, plunder, rape and destruction, there was no turning back; they had been turned into monsters.”

How right Dan is. Eritreans have been transformed and deformed by decades of dictatorship.

Changing the country into the humane democracy that the EPLF fought for over so many years will take years of healing and re-education.

You can buy the book directly from Africa World Press

BREAKING: Turkish drones reportedly being constructed in Addis

Friday, 16 July 2021 00:25 Written by Martin Plaut

JULY 14, 2021 MARTIN PLAUT ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

According to Tigrayan sources ten drones supplied by Turkey are being built in Addis Ababa with the support of Turkish technicians.

The weapons, which are said to be for both surveillance and tactical use, are being built at a training and intelligence centre of the Information Network Security Agency or INSA.

The director-general of INSA – Temesgen Tiruneh – is reportedly in overall charge of the programme, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is said to visit the site frequently.

The agency is said to be building a runway from which the drones can be launched, about ten kilometres from the centre of Addis.

Drones in the Tigray war

There have been previous reports that drones were being used in the Tigray war, being flown from UAE bases in Eritrea.

This was discounted by the independent investigators, Bellingcat.

Bellingcat concluded in November 2020 that: “In sum, the claims made by the Tigray forces are not impossible, but so far they seem improbable.

Satellite imagery confirms the presence of Chinese-produced drones at the UAE’s military base in Assab, but that is all it confirms. There is currently no further evidence that these same drones have been involved in operations in support of the Ethiopian airforce, though there have been confirmed sightings of Ethiopian jet fighters in the conflict zone.”

But the current report is different – quoting first hand accounts by people who have seen the drones currently under construction.

Ethiopia: UN Appeals for Faster Passage for Aid Convoys to Ethiopia's Tigray

Wednesday, 14 July 2021 22:43 Written by UN News Service

World Food Programme

Humanitarian aid being delivered to the Tigray region of Ethiopia by a convoy of 50 trucks .

13 JULY 2021

UN humanitarians appealed on Tuesday for far quicker access to Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region, after the first aid trucks in days to reach the local capital, Mekelle, encountered multiple checks delaying their arrival.

Unobstructed aid deliveries are crucial in the northern Ethiopian region where the World Food Programme (WFP) says that four million people need emergency food assistance, after more than eight months of conflict between regional and central government forces.

In a related development, the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning the violence committed by all parties to the conflict since it began on 4 November 2020.

According to the WFP, the convoy of 50 trucks that arrived in the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle on Monday delivered 900 tonnes of food, along with other emergency supplies.

"It was the first humanitarian convoy to reach Tigray since WFP re-started operations in the northwest on 2 July", said WFP spokesperson Tomson Phiri. "Of the 50 trucks, 29 truckloads transported food commodities comprising wheat, split peas and vegetable oil, enough to cover the most pressing urgent food needs of 200,000 people for a week. It is not enough."

Inspection routine

The WFP official underlined how damaging the delays to the convoy's arrival had been.

"What is important here is to note is that these convoys are going through rigorous checks", Mr. Phiri said. "It should not be like that. We need to send these convoys every day from now on so that we are able to meet demand. We therefore appeal for quicker and smoother passage into the region as soon as possible."

The aid convoy took four days to travel from Semera in the northeast to Mekelle, a distance of 445 kilometres. Drivers had to stop at 10 checkpoints where "at each and every stop, the humanitarian cargo was rigorously checked", Mr. Phiri said.

Some 100 aid trucks "need to be moving on any given day" and they need to for half the time if we are to reverse the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the region" he continued, before noting that WFP needs $176 million to continue to scale up its response in Tigray to save lives and livelihoods to the end of the year.

Healthcare destruction

Latest reports from Tigray on Tuesday also appear to confirm that healthcare provision is damaged beyond repair in many areas, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

"Most health facilities are not functioning at the moment and first-hand accounts that we just received this morning tell us that medical equipment and supplies were removed or destroyed in almost all health facilities in the region," said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier.

Despite the challenges of access, the UN agency has allocated $1.9 million for malaria, cholera and nutrition treatments. "But this is only a fraction of what's needed; (it) will be critical for local authorities and partners to deliver assistance," Mr. Lindmeier insisted.

In June, the WHO warned that conflict between Ethiopian Government troops and those loyal to the dominant regional force, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), had left hospitals "barely functioning", people displaced and famine "looming".

The agency also underlined the serious danger of communicable and vaccine-preventable diseases spreading owing to a lack of food, clean water, safe shelter and access to health care.

Rights action call

In Geneva, in a call for action on the situation in Tigray at the Human Rights Council, Member States expressed grave concern at the reports of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international refugee law, that have been allegedly committed by all sides.

Those supporting the resolution proposed by the European Union backed its call for the swift and verifiable withdrawal of Eritrean troops from the region, as well as the need for accountability for human rights violations and abuses.

The text was adopted by a vote of 20 in favour, 14 against and 13 abstentions, after Member States rejected all 16 amendments to the draft resolution.

The adopted resolution also contained a request to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to present an oral update to the forum at its next session in September.

Read the original article on UN News.

Source=Ethiopia: UN Appeals for Faster Passage for Aid Convoys to Ethiopia's Tigray - allAfrica.com