Articles

11 JUNE 2021

Dili — Seven highly respected leaders in conflict resolution have issued a call for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to take immediate action to bring a halt to the atrocities being committed in the Tigray region of his nation. The letter urges the Prime Minister to implement seven steps to resolve the crisis.

It was authored by José Ramos-Horta, former President of Timor-Leste and 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and five other international diplomats and peace builders, "colleagues and friends the Prime Minister knows well," including former President of Finland Tarja Halonen, former UN and Arab League Special Envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, Emeritus Bishop of Oslo and former Vice Chair of the Nobel Committee Dr. Gunnar Stalsett, former President of Slovenia and former UN Assistant Secretary General and President of the World Leadership Alliance Danilo Turk, and former UN Under Secretary General and Special Envoy for the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng.

The letter notes that "grave human rights violations and abuses are being committed against civilian Tigrayans, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, looting and destruction of property, mass executions, arbitrary arrests, rape, forced displacement of populations, hate speech and stigmatization including ethnic profiling. These attacks have caused tens of thousands of Tigrayan children and adults to flee their homes and to seek refuge in Sudan under extremely deplorable conditions."

"As a result of this conflict, according to the United Nations, approximately 4.5 million of a population of 6 million people are in immediate need of humanitarian assistance," it says. "Between two and 2.5 million people in the region will experience severe food insecurity through September. News outlets from around the globe are also increasingly writing of horrifying stories of rape, torture, and mass arrests."

It recalls Abiy's own words, from his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech two years ago, "there are those, 'who have never seen war, but glorify and romanticize it. They have not seen the fear. They have not seen the fatigue. They have not seen the destruction or heartbreak, nor have they felt the mournful emptiness of war after the carnage."

Specifically, the leaders urge Prime Minister Ahmed to:

1. Act now and swiftly to save his country and end the suffering of Ethiopians afflicted by war in Tigray.

2. Invite independent and credible investigations, in full cooperation with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, into human rights abuses and violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law by all actors in Tigray. We encourage the Prime Minister to ensure that other human rights organizations are provided access in order to independently investigate reports of human rights abuses and violations in Tigray.

3. Consider establishing a hybrid court empowered with jurisdiction to hold accountable Eritrean perpetrators of war crimes.

4. Fully cooperate with regional organizations and the international community to facilitate all-inclusive dialogue, reconciliation and healing, involving all political and civil society actors in Tigray with the goal of charting a consensual way forward for the region's future governance.

5. Lead calls for a cessation of hostilities by all parties involved and encourage other parties to commit to ending the fighting immediately. Press for the immediate and verifiable withdrawal of Eritrean and Amhara regional forces from the Tigray Region.

6. Facilitate the work of international humanitarian staff including by issuing long-duration visas, expediting the process for the importation and use of satellite communication technology by humanitarian organizations, and instructing your military and allied forces to establish a civil-military coordination cell to facilitate the work of humanitarian organizations on the ground.

7. Issue orders to protect all civilians in Tigray and throughout Ethiopia regardless of their ethnicity, including refugees and internally displaced persons, and particularly women in the light of widespread reports of sexual and gender-based violence."

"It is clear that like all wars, the political dispute that led to the Tigray crisis cannot be resolved through military means alone," it states. "The suffering inflicted on the people in the region has already been too great. For the good of Ethiopia, and the good of the region and the world, we ask the Prime Minister to work toward a political solution as soon as possible. It is only through dialogue and negotiation that lasting peace can be established, and the healing for so many can begin."

There has been no response to date from Prime Minister Abiy.

Read the original article on IPS.

Source=Ethiopia: Global Leaders to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed - Stop the Atrocities in Tigray - allAfrica.com

JUNE 11, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

United States Agency for International Development
Office of Press Relations
Press Release
June 10, 2021

Seven months into the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, human rights atrocities and the full-blown humanitarian crisis are alarming, currently pushing 400,000 innocent people to the brink of famine and loss of life. This must be addressed immediately. We do well to remember the 1980s famine in Ethiopia, which led to an estimated one million deaths, many as a result of food assistance being blocked.

Of the 6 million in Tigray, 5.2 million people are facing hunger and requiring emergency food assistance. With 90 percent of the population in extreme need of humanitarian aid, the stakes could not be higher.

We have continuously called for an end to the violence and for unfettered humanitarian access to all parts of Tigray, but we are witnessing increasing restrictions.

The restrictions on access are severely impeding the ability of humanitarian workers to assist the most vulnerable, notably in blocked rural areas, where the crisis is worst. Deliberate and repeated hindrances by the military and armed groups, the regular looting of humanitarian assistance, are driving the population towards mass starvation.

Using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war is putting at risk the lives of millions. In Resolution 2417 (2018), the UN Security Council strongly condemned the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and urged action against those responsible. The Security Council requested that the Secretary-General report swiftly to the Council when the risk of conflict-induced famine occurs.

In addition, we are seeing wide-scale human suffering that is entirely preventable. Systematic violence is being inflicted upon civilians, including widespread sexual violence, and extra-judicial and ethnically-motivated killings. The population’s essential livelihood assets and health services are being destroyed.

Such methods of warfare are grave violations of international humanitarian law. The independent investigation of human rights violations is of paramount importance.

All parties to the conflict, as well as the international community, need to act urgently to avert a large-scale famine in Tigray and the potential for this crisis to destabilize the broader Horn of Africa region.

Given this looming humanitarian catastrophe, we reaffirm our solidarity with all those affected by the conflict in Tigray and:

Urge all parties to the conflict to agree to a ceasefire immediately to facilitate humanitarian assistance to reach all people in need in Tigray regardless of where they are and to stop violence against civilians;
Recall the obligation of all the parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law and exercise their responsibility towards the protection of all civilians, including humanitarian workers. This should remain paramount and must be applied at all times, and not be conditional on a ceasefire being in place;
Call on all the parties to the conflict to allow for immediate, unimpeded and safe humanitarian access to all parts of Tigray to prevent large-scale famine and loss of life;
Call on the Ethiopian and Eritrean authorities to ensure that Eritrean armed forces withdraw from Ethiopia immediately, in line with its previous commitment.
Call upon the international community to scale up its life-saving support in the region, including through humanitarian funding, and to do everything in its power to protect the lives, dignity and livelihoods of the civilian population in Tigray.

We wish to see a democratic and peaceful Ethiopia, where all its people can build a shared vision for the country’s future and lay the foundation for sustainable and equitable economic growth and prosperity. We are committed to supporting Ethiopia and building on the partnership between us.

We call on our international partners to work with us for a peaceful, prosperous Ethiopia that is also a source of stability in the wider region.

Signed by:

USAID Administrator Samantha Power
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell Fontelles
EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič
EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen

JUNE 11, 2021 MARTIN PLAUT ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Mark Lowcock, the top humanitarian emergency official at the United Nations, told a webcast meeting of aid officials and diplomats that the number of people affected by the famine was “higher than anywhere in the world”

Source: New York Times

Famine Hits 350,000 in Ethiopia, Worst-Hit Country in a Decade

United Nations agencies said the crisis in Ethiopia’s conflict-ravaged Tigray region had plunged it into famine. “This is going to get a lot worse,” a top aid official said.

Credit…Baz Ratner/Reuters

By Rick Gladstone

June 10, 2021

Famine has afflicted at least 350,000 people in northern Ethiopia’s conflict-ravaged Tigray region, a starvation calamity bigger at the moment than anywhere else in the world, the United Nations and international aid groups said Thursday.

With their joint announcement, the humanitarian officials for the first time described the unfolding crisis in Tigray as a famine and specified the number of people suffering from it. They had warned for weeks of an impending disaster from the conflict in Ethiopia, the most populous country in the Horn of Africa.

“Alarming new data has today confirmed the magnitude of the hunger emergency gripping Tigray,” David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, the anti-hunger agency of the United Nations, said in a statement.

Mark Lowcock, the top humanitarian emergency official at the United Nations, told a webcast meeting of aid officials and diplomats that the number of people affected by the famine was “higher than anywhere in the world” and was the worst in any country since a 2011 famine gripped neighboring Somalia.

Mr. Lowcock said the data “paints a picture of a very, very extreme situation,” requiring a generous donor response and smoother humanitarian access to areas of Tigray that he said had been blocked by Ethiopian forces and allies from neighboring Eritrea.

“This is going to get a lot worse,” said Mr. Lowcock, recalling the 1980s famine in Ethiopia that caused an estimated 1 million deaths and showed the horrors of mass starvation with jarring images on television.

The new famine data was from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a system used by humanitarian aid agencies and governments to determine the scale of a hunger crisis. The system is based on a five-phase scale of food insecurity — Phase 1 is minimal and Phase 5 is famine. The data showed that of 5.5 million people facing food insecurity in Tigray and neighboring zones during May and June, 350,000 were now in Phase 5.

“This severe crisis results from the cascading effects of conflict, including population displacements, movement restrictions, limited humanitarian access, loss of harvest and livelihood assets, and dysfunctional or nonexistent markets,” a summary of the data said.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, who participated in the webcast meeting, said “the very place that woke the modern world up to the scourge of hunger” four decades ago was at risk of a repeat.

“We cannot make the same mistake twice,” she said. “We cannot let Ethiopia starve.”

The conflict in Tigray erupted last November. when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and neighboring Eritrea ordered their military forces into the region to crush Mr. Abiy’s political rivals and strengthen his control.

Credit…Baz Ratner/Reuters

Mr. Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, expressed confidence that the operation would last just a few weeks, but it has turned into a quagmire that has severely tarnished his image. Ethiopian and Eritrean troops have been accused of ethnic cleansing, massacres and other atrocities in Tigray that amount to war crimes.

Last month, in a sign of growing American frustration with Mr. Abiy’s government, the United States announced punitive restrictions on some Ethiopian officials, an unusual step that invited a rebuke from Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry.

Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, who was once a top State Department official on Africa, expressed frustration on Thursday that the United Nations Security Council had yet to hold a public meeting on the Ethiopia crisis, much less take any action. She attributed the lack of a response to “impediments placed in front of us by some Council members” — apparently a reference to positions by China and Russia that the Ethiopia crisis is a domestic affair.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council and a former top U.N. humanitarian official, who also participated in the webcast meeting, said unimpeded access to Tigray by aid workers was critical. “It’s not rocket science,” he said, as he also expressed criticism over the Security Council’s inaction.

“I would like to see the Security Council act like a Security Council,” he said.

JUNE 11, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

“What are we afraid of? What are we trying to hide? The Security Council’s failure is unacceptable. We have addressed other emergent crises with public meetings. But not with this one,” Thomas-Greenfield told a U.S. and European Union virtual event on Tigray.

By Reuters

June 10, 2021, at 9:02 a.m.

FILE PHOTO: Bags of food donations are seen at the Tsehaye primary school, which was turned into a temporary shelter for people displaced by conflict, in the town of Shire, Tigray region, Ethiopia, March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Baz RatnerREUTERS

By Michelle Nichols and Daphne Psaledakis

(Reuters) -U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Thursday pushed for the U.N. Security Council to meet publicly on Ethiopia’s conflict-torn Tigray region, where hundreds of thousands of people are suffering from famine.

“What are we afraid of? What are we trying to hide? The Security Council’s failure is unacceptable. We have addressed other emergent crises with public meetings. But not with this one,” Thomas-Greenfield told a U.S. and European Union virtual event on Tigray.

Western council members have been pitted against Russia and China, countries that diplomats say question whether the 15-member body, charged with maintaining international peace and security, should be involved in the crisis in Tigray.

“I ask those who refuse to address this issue publicly: Do African lives not matter?” she said, repeating publicly a question she had asked her council colleagues privately in April.

About 350,000 people in Tigray region are suffering “catastrophic” food shortages, according to an analysis by U.N. agencies and aid groups released on Thursday. U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said: “There is famine now in Tigray.”

The Ethiopian government disputed the analysis, saying food shortages are not severe and aid is being delivered.

Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told a news conference the government was providing food aid and help to farmers in Tigray.

“They (diplomats) are comparing it with the 1984, 1985 famine in Ethiopia,” he said. “That is not going to happen.”

The Security Council has been briefed at least five times privately since fighting began in November between Ethiopia’s federal government troops and Tigray’s former ruling party. In April it issued a public statement of concern about the humanitarian situation.

The Security Council is expected to meet on Tuesday on Tigray, at the request of Ireland, but diplomats said it was likely to again be a closed meeting.

The violence in Tigray has killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 2 million from their homes in the mountainous region. Troops from neighboring Eritrea also entered the conflict to support the Ethiopian government.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Howard Goller)

Addis Abeba — Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that Ethiopia is facing challenges from traitors from within as well as outsiders. At an inaugural ceremony of the Tana Beles Sugar factory on Sunday, the PM said 'two enemies of the country's prosperity' were identified.

He made a reference to 'traitors' during the Ethio-Italian war while talking about those he accused of betraying the nation. He also talked about outsiders who are working to inhibit Ethiopia from standing on its feet. "Ethiopians should prioritize getting rid of traitors." the PM said, explaining how getting rid of traitors would lessen attacks from outside.

Abiy called for unity in completing such projects as well as reforestation programs. He also commended the timely completion of new projects such as Tana Beles sugar factory. He spoke about the importance of the GERD, "The construction of the GERD plays an invaluable role to both Egypt and Sudan." he said, adding "They too will benefit from it when we complete it." The PM mentioned a 10 year long development plan. "We started a 10 years long journey of prosperity, planning to finish what we started and begin what we haven't started," he said.

The PM's remarks came two weeks after the United States announced visa restrictions for Ethiopian and Eritrean officials who are responsible for or complicit in, undermining resolution of the crisis in the Tigray region. It is remembered that the EU canceled the deployment of its planned electoral observation mission to Ethiopia early in May. AS

Source=Ethiopia: PM Says Local 'Traitors', 'Outsiders' Pose Threat to Nation's Prosperity - Vows to Fight Both - allAfrica.com

JUNE 5, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

“We are hearing of starvation-related deaths already,” Mark Lowcock said in a statement.“There have been deliberate, repeated, sustained attempts to prevent them getting food.”

Source: The Independent

The U.N. humanitarian chief is warning that famine is imminent in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the country’s north and there is a risk that hundreds of thousands of people or more will die

Via AP news wire

Ethiopia Tigray Caught in the Middle

The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Friday that famine is imminent in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the country’s north and there is a risk that hundreds of thousands of people or more will die.

Mark Lowcock said the economy has been destroyed along with businesses, crops and farms and there are no banking or telecommunications services.

“We are hearing of starvation-related deaths already,” he said in a statement.

“People need to wake up,” Lowcock said. “The international community needs to really step up, including through the provision of money.”

No one knows how many thousands of civilians or combatants have been killed since months of political tensions between Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed’s government and the Tigray leaders who once dominated Ethiopia’s government exploded into war last November.

Eritrea a longtime Tigray enemy, teamed up with neighboring Ethiopia in the conflict.

In late May, Lowcock painted a grim picture of Tigray since the war began, with an estimated 2 million people displaced, civilians killed and injured, rapes and other forms of “abhorrent sexual violence” widespread and systematic, and public and private infrastructure essential for civilians destroyed, including hospitals and agricultural land.

“There are now hundreds of thousands of people in Northern Ethiopia in famine conditions,” Lowcock said. “That’s the worse famine problem the world has seen for a decade, since a quarter of a million Somalis lost their lives in the famine there in 2011. This now has horrible echoes of the colossal tragedy in Ethiopia in 1984.”

In the disastrous famine of 1984-85, about 2 million Africans died of starvation or famine-related ailments, about half of them in Ethiopia.

“There is now a risk of a loss of life running into the hundreds of thousands or worse,” Lowcock said.

He said getting food and other humanitarian aid to all those in need is proving very difficult for aid agencies.

But Lowcock said there are more than a million people in places controlled by Tigrayan opposition forces and “there have been deliberate, repeated, sustained attempts to prevent them getting food.”

In addition, there are places controlled by the Eritreans and other places controlled by militia groups where it is extremely difficult to deliver aid, he said.

“The access for aid workers is not there because of what men with guns and bombs are doing and what their political masters are telling them to do,” the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said.

Lowcock said all the blockages need to be rolled back and the Eritreans, “who are responsible for a lot of this need to withdraw,” so aid can get through to those facing famine.

“Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed needs to do what he said he was going to do and force the Eritreans to leave Ethiopia,” he said.

Lowcock said leaders of the seven major industrialized nations — the United States United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy and Canada — need to put the humanitarian crisis and threat of widespread famine in northern Ethiopia on the agenda of their summit from June 11-13 in Cornwall, England.

“Everyone needs to understand that were there to be a colossal tragedy of the sort that happened in 1984 the consequences would reach far and last long,” he said.