Eritrea

East Africa should prioritize Stability to facilitate Regional Integration: MoFA Director General

admin — Sun, 19 Jun 2022 09:40:01 +0000

East Africa should prioritize Stability to facilitate Regional Integration: MoFA Director General

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admin Sun, 06/19/2022 - 09:40

Thursday, June 16, 2022

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Politics – Ethiopian News Agency

Original Article

East Africa should prioritize Stability to facilitate Regional Integration: MoF…

June 16, 2022 (ENA) East African countries should prioritize peace and stability in order to accelerate regional economic integration, African Affairs Director-General Fesseha Shawel said.

The director-general at Ministry of Foreign Affairs told ENA that most of the countries in the East African region are in transition and it is important that they prioritize peace and stability before striving for regional integration.

“There is some instability in the region because it is in transition, and what has to be priorized both for Ethiopia and (the East Africa) region is effectively ensuring peace and stability.”

According to him, regional integration requires willingness of all countries to cooperate and needs effective integrating organization.

In the case of the East Africa region, there is IGAD. But the region has not ensured peace and security. This may not be true to all the countries, yet peace and stability are needed in most, Fesseha elaborated.

The director-general further said Ethiopia is undertaking confidence building measures and making peace efforts at home; and it is in a better situation when compared to last year.

Somalia has recently elected a president, Kenya will hold election in August, South Sudan is implementing peace agreement, Sudan is in transition with difference on border and GERD with Ethiopia, Eritrea has made peace with Ethiopia but peaceful consolidation should be done with other neighboring countries to facilitate regional integration.

Fesseha noted that Ethiopia has economic and financial connections with neighboring countries, including bank branches in Djibouti and South Sudan. Its road and railway projects also extend across many neighboring countries to strengthen regional economic integration.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is not only intended to supply electricity for Ethiopia, but also for neighboring countries.

Thus, the director-general concluded that many of the countries in East Africa should give priority to solving current pressing challenges, including peace and security internally and with others, as well as other obstacles to facilitate regional economic integration where people and goods can move freely across borders for a beneficial regional integration.

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# NoMore Movement Condemns HR 6600 That Calls for Hostile US Intervention in Ethiopia

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 13:40:01 +0000

# NoMore Movement Condemns HR 6600 That Calls for Hostile US Intervention in Ethiopia

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admin Thu, 02/24/2022 - 13:40

Sunday, February 13, 2022

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Politics – Ethiopian News Agency

Original Article

# NoMore Movement Condemns HR 6600 That Calls for Hostile US Intervention in Et…

Addis Ababa February 13/2022/ENA/ The No More, a global peaceful movement has denounced the Orwellian entitled “Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace and Democracy Act” (HR 6600), which calls for the imposition of harsh sanctions and violent measures against Ethiopia.

In its statement posted yesterday, the NoMore movement reaffirmed that it stands unified against HR 6600 and US aggression toward Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. The movement condemned in the strongest terms possible the bill passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee that was introduced by US representatives Tom Malinowski (D-NJ-07) and Young Kim (R-CA-39), who calls for hostile US intervention in the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia.

The statement further describes the bill : “the bill, which was co-sponsored by Ranking Member Michael McCaul (TX-10), Chair Gregory Meeks (NY-05), Brad Sherman (CA-30) and David Cicilline (D-RI-01), calls for the imposition of harsh sanctions and violent measures against the peoples, governments and diasporas of the Horn of Africa, falling within the category of a “foreign person”, who supposedly “undermine” efforts for a negotiated settlement.”

The TPLF designated a Tier III terrorist organization by the US Department of Homeland Security, started the war in Ethiopia and fired a barrage of missiles on Eritrea in November 2020, the statement indicated.

However, the Biden Administration and the sponsors of HR 6600 fail to acknowledge those historical facts.

Furthermore, the Ethiopian government’s call for a ceasefire in June 2021 was not only ignored by the terrorist TPLF but triggered the terrorist group to recruit Tigrayan child soldiers and go on offensives in the Afar and Amhara regions.

Continuing its belligerence, TPLF has caused for killings of thousands of innocent civilians, displacing hundreds of thousands more, using rape as a weapon of war and intentionally destroying infrastructure that includes over 3,000 hospitals. TPLF also emboldened the allied Oromo Liberation Army to carry out targeted mass killings of Amhara civilians in Western Ethiopia.

The US government remains silent as well as complicit in the TPLF’s ongoing war crimes against these innocent civilians, the movement revealed.

“Instead of condemning TPLF, the US has scapegoated the Eritrean government and Eritrea, which is explicitly mentioned in the bill and already the victim of vicious economic sanctions,” the statement pointed out.

No More movement has planned to mobilize US citizens to the maximum possible extent to remove from office all sponsors of HR 6600 and exercise their democratic rights, the statement revealed.

“We hope US officials involved in forwarding the recent hostile measures against the Horn of Africa will reverse course and pursue corrective measures in the interest of US and African citizens alike.,” the statement added.

The statement affirms that the #NoMore Stands Unified Against HR 6600 and US Aggression Toward Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

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NCEA denounces ill informed bill of Malinowski

admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 07:20:01 +0000

NCEA denounces ill informed bill of Malinowski admin Wed, 02/23/2022 - 07:20

Sunday, February 13, 2022

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News – Ethiopian Press Agency

Original Article

NCEA denounces ill informed bill of Malinowski

ADDIS ABABA- The National Council of Eritrean Americans (NCEA) has strongly deplored the House Foreign Affairs Committee bill introduced by Representatives Tom Malinowski and Young Kim concerning the war in Ethiopia.

As to the press release issued by the Council, the bill, instead of bringing peace and stability, will only encourage the terrorist TPLF that has been obstructing peace in the Horn of Africa for three decades to continue with its reckless and destructive adventures.

Besides, the bill rewards the TPLF, designated a terrorist group by the Ethiopian Parliament, for dragging the region into chaos, the press release stated.

When the TPLF attacked the Ethiopian Northern Command early in November 2020, Eritrea was on the receiving end of numerous missile attacks launched by the group in what was widely condemned, including the previous US administration as an act of aggression designed to internationalize the conflict.

Eritrea, according to Article 51 of the UN Charter, is within its rights to defend itself.

However, the Malinowski-Kim bill intends to deny the young African nation its fundamental right to self-defense. Hence, “we strongly condemn this unjust, malicious bill designed to harm Eritrea’s promising economy to the extent that it will compound the existing pull factors on migration, compromise Eritrea’s ability to address social and humanitarian needs of its population.

These punitive actions undermine all the efforts being made by all the peoples and nations of the Horn of Africa to ensure peace and stability in their region and beyond”, it said.

The National Council also express its profound disappointment with the House Foreign Affairs Committee for adopting a resolution pertinent to the Horn of Africa in general and the State of Eritrea in particular lacking in basic facts and on the basis of distorted ones. “As a legislative body, we expect the committee to scrutinize rather than accept blindly what the executive units have been reporting. Furthermore, we hope to see a hearing in which the views and testimonies of all stakeholders, including civic organizations such as ours, would and should be featured” it explained.

The Council calls all the members of the US House of Representatives concerned about peace and stability to reject this malicious, coercive bill pushed by the TPLF lobby and its enablers within the Biden Administration.

Instead of taking lobbyist-driven and misinformation-laden ones from Washington, it is imperative to opt for African problems for African solutions principle, it underlined.

BY EPHREM ANDARGACHEW

The Ethiopian Herald 13 February 2022

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Ethiopia Prioritize Strengthening of Relations with Neighboring Countries, Says Abiy

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 17:40:01 +0000

Ethiopia Prioritize Strengthening of Relations with Neighboring Countries, Says Abiy

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admin Fri, 12/10/2021 - 17:40

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

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Politics – Ethiopian News Agency

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Ethiopia Prioritize Strengthening of Relations with Neighboring Countries, Says…

Addis Ababa December 8/2021 /ENA/ Ethiopia will continue to prioritize the strengthening of its relations with neighboring countries, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wrote.
He twetted, “I have held extensive phone discussions today with the leaders of Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Eritrea, and South Sudan. We will continue working together on bilateral and regional issues.”

The premier added that Ethiopia continues to prioritize strengthening relations with neighboring countries.

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Regional disease control collaborating centre to be based in Nairobi unveiled

admin — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 10:50:01 +0000

Regional disease control collaborating centre to be based in Nairobi unveiled

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admin Sat, 10/09/2021 - 10:50

Friday, October 1, 2021

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Africa – Capital News

Original Article

Regional disease control collaborating centre to be based in Nairobi unveiled

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 1 – Regional health officials have officially unveiled the Eastern Africa Regional Collaborating Centre (EA-RCC) in a move aimed at stepping up the fight against emerging and re-emerging disease threats in the region.

The centre to be based in Kenya has been operating within the Africa Centers for Disease Control (CDC) framework with an objective to ensure effective preparedness and response to current public health threats in the context of COVID 19 and beyond.

Speaking in Nairobi during the event, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe expressed optimism that the centre will strengthen the capacity, capabilities and partnerships of Africa’s public health institutions to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks in the continent.

“The opportunity to collaborate in disease control is something we have been looking forward to doing and I believe the center will have a positive impact not just in the region or our continent but also the world at large,” he said.

The Health CS appealed for cooperation between member states covered by each of the centers and the centers themselves saying it would enable collaboration across the entire continent.

“As we know, challenges affecting different countries on the continent, regardless of the regions they may be in, could very well manifest themselves in other countries in the different regions, hence the need to ensure collaboration is escalated beyond a region as may be necessary,” said Kagwe.

The new center which will be based in Kenya seeks to ensure effective preparedness and response to current public health threats in the context of COVID 19 and beyond/MoH

Kagwe said that there was need for collaboration to ensure quality information and data at all levels to ensure that all public health decisions are guided by evidence-based policies and guidelines.

He further stated that he hoped Africa CDC and EA-RCC will continue to offer a platform for networking public health assets in the region and also interlinking centers of excellence to strengthen knowledge management and public health practices.

The Health CS further noted that the outbreak of coronavirus in March 2020 had resulted to the rise in health and economic challenges in the continent, adding there was need for early disease detection and prevention to avoid a repeat of the same.

“COVID-19 pandemic is indeed a stark illustration of how the undetected transmission of pathogens across borders can quickly transform a local disease outbreak into a regional health emergency or even a global crisis. The current situation underscores the importance of strengthening regional disease surveillance systems and emergency-response capabilities across the continent,” he said.

Kagwe further said that there was a growing pressure on governments and regional bodies to safeguard the health of Africa and the world adding that policies must be put in place to ensure that continental institutions can swiftly detect and effectively address disease outbreaks anywhere before they become a threat everywhere.

He added that regional laboratory that will also be established will undertake genomic sequencing to better understand diseases with multiple variants such COVID-19.

“Besides, I expect that the center will also collaborate with our other research institutions including the Kenya Medical Research Institute, The Kenya Institute of Primate Research and all other research bodies whose work will be complimentary to that of the regional collaboration center. It should also act as a reference and referral laboratory for the region. At the center of all these efforts is the ultimate goal of ensuring we approach seeking solutions to our health challenges differently, together,” he said.

African Union Commission representative Amira Elfadil who also spoke at the event lauded President Uhuru Kenyatta for the strides the country had made in the health sector.

She thanked all the stakeholders and partners in the region including IGAD, WHO and COMESA for their role in ensuring the success of the newly unveiled center and addressing health challenged in the region.

Elfadil said the RCC has supported several initiatives in the East Africa Region since its establishment including the establishment of a functioning office in Nairobi and has supported the member states in Covid-19 preparedness and response.

Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said that there was need to redesign the health security apparatus locally, regionally and globally.

He added that COVID-19 outbreak had shown the need for the region to enforce laboratory networks and commit to strengthening health systems.

EA-RCC coordinates Africa CDC partnerships and activities in the 14 Member States in the Eastern Africa Region and has been involved in strengthening surveillance and laboratory systems and public health communications in the region.

The official unveiling of EA-RCC brought together officials from Tanzania, Uganda,Djibouti, Rwanda, Madagascar, Somalia, South Sudan, Seychelles, Comoros, Mauritius, Eritrea and Ethiopia, some of whom attended the event virtually.

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Ethiopia’s Abiy: From peace laureate to wartime ruler

admin — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 10:40:01 +0000

Ethiopia’s Abiy: From peace laureate to wartime ruler

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admin Sat, 10/09/2021 - 10:40

Monday, October 4, 2021

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Africa – Capital News

Original Article

Ethiopia’s Abiy: From peace laureate to wartime ruler

Addis Ababa (AFP), Oct 4 – Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power vowing sweeping reforms that earned him a Nobel Peace Prize, before becoming mired in a brutal internal conflict that threatens to destabilise the entire Horn of Africa region.

As the 45-year-old prepares for a new term following his Prosperity Party’s landslide election win in June, his image as a modern peacemaker lies in tatters and the surge of hope that accompanied his initial appointment three years ago has faded, at least for his critics.

When the deeply ambitious Abiy picked up his Nobel in 2019 for Ethiopia’s rapprochement with neighbouring Eritrea, he declared: “War is the epitome of hell for all involved”.

But he remains defiant despite mounting international alarm over the conflict in Tigray that has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation.

“It’s hard to imagine a greater fall from grace than Abiy Ahmed’s. From the celebrated heights of a Nobel Peace Prize to a pariah in just two years,” said Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.

“This is certainly not the first time the West has been seduced by the promise of a next-generation leader. And it’s not the first time we have been let down by that leader.”

Abiy blames Tigray’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), for starting the war, and there is considerable domestic support for what his government long termed a “law enforcement operation”.

While visiting soldiers at the front during Ethiopian New Year celebrations last month, he declared that Tigrayan rebels were doomed to certain defeat.

“The current bandits are target practice for us… By practising on them, we will build a strong military,” he said.

Before the June polls he told supporters, in his trademark folksy language, that while Ethiopia might seem riven by crises, the real problem was one of perception.

He compared the country’s experience to that of a village child disoriented by riding in a car for the first time.

“When the car moves forward, the buildings and trees go backward and we become confused,” said Abiy, once a village boy himself.

– Seizing the moment –

Born in the western town of Beshasha to a Muslim father and Christian mother, Abiy has described sleeping on the floor in a house with no electricity or running water.

Fascinated with technology, he joined the military as a radio operator while still a teenager.

In his Nobel speech, he recalled his time during the 1998-2000 war with Eritrea, saying his entire unit was wiped out in an artillery attack that he survived only because he’d left a foxhole to get better antenna reception.

He rose to lieutenant-colonel before becoming the first head of Ethiopia’s cyber-espionage Information Network Security Agency.

Then came stints as a lawmaker and minister of science and technology.

The circumstances that lifted Abiy to high office can be traced to late 2015.

A government plan to expand Addis Ababa’s administrative boundaries into the surrounding Oromia region was seen as a land grab, sparking protests led by the Oromos, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, and the Amharas, the second-largest.

The TPLF-dominated ruling coalition imposed states of emergency and carried out mass arrests, but the protests continued.

When then-Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn abruptly resigned, coalition members chose Abiy to become the first Oromo prime minister in 2018.

He released dissidents from jail, apologised for state brutality and welcomed home exiled groups — part of a democratic rebirth meant to culminate in the most competitive elections in Ethiopia’s history.

– Road to war –

But Abiy encountered a host of obstacles, notably persistent ethnic violence including in his native Oromia.

All the while, Tigray was seething. The TPLF did not take kindly to his perceived attempts to sideline them.

When Abiy dissolved the ruling coalition and formed the Prosperity Party in 2019, the TPLF refused to go along and defied him by holding “illegal” regional elections last year.

In November, Abiy ordered troops into Tigray, a move he said came in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps.

He promised a swift victory, but fighting has spread into neighbouring regions and there have been many reports of atrocities including massacres and mass rape.

– ‘Lost child’ –

Abiy has been accused of focusing his attention on beautifying the capital and mediating conflicts abroad rather than the situation at home.

Critics also say he has embraced the same authoritarianism many hoped he would end, overseeing mass arrests and abuses by security forces.

Gone are the heady early days of “Abiymania” — now his opponents openly disrespect him.

“He started to behave as a lost child at a crossroads. Such a child cannot go back because he doesn’t know from where he came, and he cannot proceed because he does not know where he’s going,” Merera Gudina, an opposition leader from Oromia, told AFP earlier this year.

But his supporters remain true believers.

Early on in the Tigray war, one official even suggested that, given Abiy’s efforts to resolve the conflict, he might be deserving of “a second Nobel Prize”.

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Some global powers defying new Horn order: Scholar

admin — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 10:20:01 +0000

Some global powers defying new Horn order: Scholar admin Sun, 07/25/2021 - 10:20

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Original Publisher

News – Ethiopian Press Agency

Original Article

Some global powers defying new Horn order: Scholar

BY BILAL DERSO

ADDIS ABABA – Having realized the abolishment of the TPLF-dominated client regime in Ethiopia and the emergence of independent-minded nations in the Horn of Africa that have sought strong political and economic partnership, some Western powers discontented in the Horn’s dynamics, a renowned political scholar claimed.

In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Addis Ababa University African Studies Professor Getachew Kassa (PhD) said that the Horn’s strategic importance to international trade and security has intensified some world powers’ quest for a client state whereby TPLF had been junior partner. Home to over 100 million people and a very strong military and abundant natural resources, the pre-reform Ethiopia had remained the key instrument in serving the special interest group in the region.

The scholar further stated that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s (PhD) came to power in 2018 was a game changer that could significantly revitalize the Horn politics and transform Ethiopia’s relations with Eritrea and Somalia from hostilities to friendship and competition to cooperation.

“Apart from his noble achievement in creating a new Ethiopia that asserts itself in international arenas, Abiy’s approach has brought a peaceful relationship and brotherhood between Ethiopia and Somalia for the first time in the two countries’ modern history.” Ethiopia has played a meaningful role in brokering peace between the Mogadishu government and warring factions and the war has not been ongoing since Abiy came to power.

As to him, significant achievements have also been gained in the two economic frontier and Ethiopia has been involved in port development in the Indian Ocean and direct flights between two countries have also been resumed. Ethiopia has offered training and other capacity building programs to Somalia.

Amidst Egyptians heavy destructive attempts, Ethiopia has formed a strong relationship with the neighboring Somaliland and the acquisition of 19 percent share in Berbera Port is instrumental to its vision of enhancing access to the sea and diversifying the outlets, Getachew elaborated.

On the other hand, this regional development is also interlinked with the ideal partnership and cooperation Ethiopia and Djibouti have enjoyed over years.

Also, Ethiopia could use at least one of the ports in the Horn to the reestablished naval forces as the naval base furthering its security cooperation with numerous countries.

The truce Ethiopia has made with Eritrea is contributing to the peaceful relations between Djibouti and Eritrea as the former took the initiative to help the two countries resolve their difference through negotiations. Ethiopia has also made meaningful participation to bring Sudanese conflicting parties to the round table and reconcile Sudan and South Sudan.

Getachew highlighted that the best thing to break the Western influence Horn states sit and think about how they can cooperate in the economic field and also to stop the intervention through supporting rebel groups of one or the other. “If they can broaden cooperation, they can avoid such Western intervention and they should be careful and watchful on not dividing themselves for the sake of Western interest.”

By the same token, employing the regional block IGAD to resolve security disputes needs equal consideration as through this means African problems would get African solutions and not be referred to colonial institutions including the UN, the scholar remarked.

The Ethiopian Herald July 17/2021

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Rebel forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray launch new offensive

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:50:01 +0000

Rebel forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray launch new offensive

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admin Thu, 07/22/2021 - 03:50

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Original Publisher

Africa – Capital News

Original Article

Rebel forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray launch new offensive

Gondar (Ethiopia) (AFP), Jul 13 – Tigrayan forces claimed Tuesday to have launched a new offensive in the conflict-torn northern region of Ethiopia, two weeks after the federal government declared a unilateral ceasefire in the face of rebel advances.

A spokesman for the Tigrayan forces told AFP they had seized Alamata, the main town in southern Tigray, after launching the offensive on Monday.

Getachew Reda said fighting was also taking place in western Tigray.

The claims could not be independently confirmed because communications were largely down in the area, while an Ethiopian military spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Tigray Defence Forces last month swept across large parts of Tigray and seized the regional capital Mekele after eight months of brutal conflict with federal troops.

The fighting — marked by grisly massacres and widespread sexual violence — has killed thousands of people, while the United Nations says hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine.

Security forces and officials from the neighbouring Amhara region had moved in to both the southern and western areas of Tigray in November in support of the Ethiopian army, after Tigrayan forces cleared out during the early phase of the war.

– ‘In hot pursuit’ –

“We promised to liberate every square inch of Tigray,” Getachew said.

“Yesterday (Monday) we launched an offensive in (the southern region of) Raya and were able to absolutely rout federal defence forces and Amhara special forces divisions,” he said.

“We have been able to secure most of southern Tigray including Korem and Alamata (the main town in the area)”.

Getachew said TDF fighters were still “in hot pursuit” of pro-government fighters, adding: “We don’t want to give them a chance to regroup.”

The offensive was launched just two days after election results showed Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had won a landslide in a June election that went ahead despite the Tigray conflict that has battered his global reputation.

The TDF had described its seizure of Mekele and most of Tigray as a major victory and branded the government’s unilateral ceasefire a “joke.”

Rebel leaders later said they accepted the ceasefire “in principle” but posed strict conditions including the withdrawal from the region of Eritrean and Amhara forces.

Abiy and other officials have countered that federal forces executed a strategic pullback to focus on other threats.

Abiy — who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his efforts of rapprochement with neighbouring Eritrea — sent the army into Tigray last November to oust the region’s once-dominant ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Abiy had accused them of orchestrating attacks on Ethiopian military bases in Tigray, an important economic and industrial region in the Horn of Africa nation.

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Eritrean troops killed ‘hundreds’ in Ethiopia massacre: Amnesty

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 10:10:01 +0000

Eritrean troops killed ‘hundreds’ in Ethiopia massacre: Amnesty

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admin Fri, 02/26/2021 - 10:10

Friday, February 26, 2021

Original Publisher

Africa – Capital News

Original Article

Eritrean troops killed ‘hundreds’ in Ethiopia massacre: Amnesty

Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 26 – Eritrean soldiers fighting across the border in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region killed hundreds of people in a massacre last year in a likely crime against humanity, Amnesty International said Friday.

The rights watchdog spoke to survivors of the atrocities and used satellite images to piece together the bloody events of last November in the ancient town of Axum in a new report.

“The evidence is compelling and points to a chilling conclusion. Ethiopian and Eritrean troops carried out multiple war crimes in their offensive to take control of Axum,” said Deprose Muchena of Amnesty International.

“Above and beyond that, Eritrean troops went on a rampage and systematically killed hundreds of civilians in cold blood, which appears to constitute crimes against humanity.

“This atrocity ranks among the worst documented so far in this conflict.”

Tigray has been the theatre of fighting since early November 2020, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced military operations against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), accusing them of attacking federal army camps.

He declared victory after pro-government troops took the regional capital Mekele in late November, though the TPLF vowed to fight on, and clashes have persisted in the region.

Tigray has been without internet and difficult to access since the start of the conflict, making claims and counter-claims of violence hard to confirm.

The presence of Eritrean troops in Ethiopia is widely documented but has been denied by Addis Ababa and Asmara.

Eritrea fought a brutal border war with Ethiopia in 1998-2000, back when the TPLF dominated Ethiopia’s governing coalition.

Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 in large part for initiating a rapprochement with Eritrea, whose President Isaias Afwerki and the TPLF remain bitter enemies.

– ‘Killing randomly’ –

Amnesty said it had spoken to 41 survivors and witnesses of the violence who said that on November 19, 2020, Ethiopian and Eritrean military forces took control of Axum “in a large-scale offensive, killing and displacing civilians with indiscriminate shelling and shooting.”

“In the nine days that followed, the Eritrean military engaged in widespread looting of civilian property and extrajudicial executions.”

Witnesses said the Eritrean forces were easily identifiable, via their vehicles, language and unique ritual facial scars, while they also openly declared themselves as such.

The worst violence unfolded after a small group of pro-TPLF militiamen attacked the soldiers’ base on 28 November and they retaliated, leaving the town strewn with bodies.

“The Eritrean soldiers came into the city and started killing randomly,” said a 22-year-old man who had wanted to bring food to the militia, who he described as young and barely knowing how to fight.

Residents told Amnesty that many victims in Axum carried no weapons and were running away from the soldiers when they were shot.

“I saw a lot of people dead on the street. Even my uncle’s family. Six of his family members were killed. So many people were killed,” said a 21-year-old male resident.

The next day the soldiers allegedly shot at those trying to move the bodies, while carrying out house-to-house raids.

One man told Amnesty he saw soldiers line up six men and shoot them from behind in the street outside his house.

– Hundreds buried –

The organisation said it had collected the names of more than 240 of the victims, but could not independently verify the overall death toll. However, corroborating testimonies and evidence made it plausible that hundreds had died.

“Residents estimate that several hundred people were buried in the aftermath of the massacre, and they attended funerals at several churches where scores were buried,” said the report.

Satellite imagery showed signs of mass burials near two of the town’s churches.

“As a matter of urgency, there must be a UN-led investigation into the grave violations in Axum. Those suspected of responsibility for war crimes or crimes against humanity must be prosecuted in fair trials and victims and their families must receive full reparation,” said Muchena.

Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) chief Daniel Bekele said Amnesty’s findings should be taken “very seriously”.

The EHRC said in a statement it is also looking into the massacre and while its investigation is not complete, preliminary findings “indicate the killing of an, as yet, unknown number of civilians by Eritrean soldiers in the city of Axum.”

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Police apprehend group of criminals in Mekelle

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 10:20:01 +0000

Police apprehend group of criminals in Mekelle

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admin Thu, 02/25/2021 - 10:20

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Original Publisher

News – Ethiopian Press Agency

Original Article

Police apprehend group of criminals in Mekelle

• Deputy Administrator refutes rape allegation

BY GETAHUN LEGESSE & HAILE DEMEKE

ADDIS ABABA – Members of gang groups have been captured by the joint operation of the Federal Police Force and the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) in Mekelle, City Mayor disclosed.

The City’s Mayor Atakilti Haileselassie told the Ethiopian Press Agency that group of criminals who had been committing crimes including looting and vandalizing public and private property in various parts of the city captured by the ongoing operations.

“The groups have been executing various organized crimes taking advantages over the current situation in the city.”

Noting that the operation is part of the crime investigation which is being carried out by the Federal Police and ENDF, Atakilti stated that the investigation has uncovered scores

of crimes including killing of civilians and looting of public and private property.

He added that the operation was successful in disarming militants who have been

carrying out several crimes in different parts of Mekelle and even in police stations. Also, the ex-members of the state security force residing in the city are successfully disarmed.

The city administration has set up a peacekeeping taskforce, comprised of ten youths in each of the lower echelon of the city and tasked them to inform unusual situations to the law enforcement organs.

By the same token, peace ambassadors are being deployed in the city to educate the public on ways to form elected administration.

Atakilti highlighted that on the eve of its collapse, the now-defunct TPLF junta deliberately released all inmates detained in Mekelle prisons thereby causing lawlessness and disorder and falsefully accused of federal forces for the damage.

Meanwhile Deputy Administrator of Tigray’s North Western Zone, Mulubrhan Haile refuted rumors about the execution of sexual assaults by members of the Federal Police mentioning the outlaw group intentionally created state of lawlessness by releasing over 10,000 prisoners including those convicted of rape.

Noting that conspiracy politics is the main identity of the TPLF clique, the deputy administrator stated that some members of the criminal faction arrested whilst committing rape wearing ENDF and Eritrean Army uniforms.

The clique distributed uniforms of the ENDF and Eritrean Army for sexual offenders so as to harm the reputation of the disciplined Ethiopian Army.

Also, residents gave their testimony about inmates released by TPLF committed the rape.

“There is a testament that the ENDF is working day and night to bring back people of Tigray to their normal lives and the interim admiration has been working with the police force to crush the criminal clique and restore peace and order in the state,” he noted.

The Ethiopian Herald February 25/2021

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