Ethiopia’s peace laureate Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sees a reversal of fortune as war and atrocities tarnish reputation

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The Globe & Mail | Less than a year ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strolled through a verdant garden in Addis Ababa with the world’s newest Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

As they enjoyed a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony in Unity Park, on the site of a former imperial palace, Mr. Trudeau must have seen Mr. Abiy as a wise choice for an African partner. The young leader had been praised for freeing political prisoners and lifting the ban on opposition parties, and he was a Nobel prize winner for his peace deal with his former Eritrean enemies.

In a tweet soon after, Mr. Trudeau described Unity Park as “a symbol of Prime Minister Abiy’s democratic reforms” and the “positive transformation” of the country. The site was designed to showcase Mr. Abiy’s new national narrative, in which Ethiopia’s diverse ethnicities would be woven into a single harmonious and unified people.

A year later, Mr. Abiy’s dream is in tatters. The former hero of peace and democracy is instead facing blame for a shocking list of alleged atrocities by his military and its allies in the Tigray region: massacres, sexual assaults, ethnic cleansing, the kidnapping of refugees, the destruction of refugee camps, a humanitarian blockade and the deliberate starvation of civilians.

The atrocities have heightened the spectre of escalating conflict across the entire Horn of Africa, with tensions rising between Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and Somalia.

The Western leaders who once heaped praise on Mr. Abiy are now voicing their alarm. Many are calling on the Abiy government to end its blockade of Tigray. Even the Trudeau government has expressed its concern at the “continued barriers to humanitarian access” – an implicit criticism of Mr. Abiy, whose forces control access to the region.

One of the most horrific reports was issued by Pramila Patten, the United Nations special representative on sexual violence in conflict. She described “a high number of alleged rapes” in Tigray’s capital – a city that was captured by Mr. Abiy’s military forces in late November.

“I am greatly concerned by serious allegations of sexual violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, including a high number of alleged rapes in the capital, Mekelle,” Ms. Patten said in her statement last week.

“There are also disturbing reports of individuals allegedly forced to rape members of their own family, under threats of imminent violence. Some women have also reportedly been forced by military elements to have sex in exchange for basic commodities. … In addition, there are increasing reports of sexual violence against women and girls in a number of refugee camps.”

The Ethiopian government has banned journalists from entering Tigray, making it difficult to know the full extent of the atrocities. But refugees from Tigray, arriving in Sudan, have given similar accounts of rape by Ethiopian soldiers and their military allies, according to news agency reports. The U.S. State Department, under the new Joe Biden administration, says it is “gravely concerned” by the allegations of sexual violence in Tigray.

Massacres of civilians by armed soldiers, sometimes leaving hundreds of people dead, have been reported in several places in Tigray. Refugee camps have been torched and destroyed, and crops have been burned. And now there are reports of starvation and the looming risk of famine – even as relief agencies are blocked from sending food into many parts of the region.

More than a dozen people, including three children, have died from starvation in Tigray in recent days, according to an Ethiopian news site, Addis Standard, which attributed the information to a senior official in Tigray’s interim government, Abraha Desta. He estimated that 4.5 million people in Tigray – almost the whole population – are in need of emergency food assistance.

None of this was envisioned in Mr. Abiy’s official promises at the beginning of the war. On Nov. 9, five days after sending troops into the region to subdue the rebellious Tigray government, Mr. Abiy tweeted that his military offensive was merely a “law enforcement operation” that would “wrap up soon.” Any fears of chaos were “unfounded,” he assured the world.

If there was any hope of a brief and limited conflict, it was soon destroyed by one of Mr. Abiy’s most troubling decisions: his tactical alliance with the repressive regime of neighbouring Eritrea, one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships, a government that has banned all opposition parties, outlawed all independent media, refused to hold any elections and imposed a harsh form of long-term national conscription on most of the adult population.

Officially, the Abiy government has denied Eritrea’s involvement in the war. But the presence of thousands of Eritrean troops in Tigray has been confirmed by Western governments, civilian eyewitnesses, photos and videos on social media, and even by a senior Ethiopian military commander, Major-General Belay Seyoum, who told a meeting in Tigray that the Eritrean military presence was a “painful” reality.

Eritrean troops have been at war with Tigrayan forces for most of the past 25 years, beginning with a border war in the late 1990s that killed tens of thousands of people. When the Abiy government allowed the Eritreans into Tigray to reinforce the military operation in November, they took their revenge on the people of the region.

Eritrean troops have been identified as the perpetrators of many of the worst atrocities in Tigray, including the massacre of civilians, the destruction of refugee camps and the kidnapping of Eritrean refugees, who were forced back to the country they had fled.

Human Rights Watch said this week that it is investigating “credible reports of extrajudicial executions of civilians [and] widespread looting and damage of property, including hospitals, by Eritrean forces in Tigray.”

The UN’s high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said he had received “many reliable reports” of refugees being kidnapped and forced back to Eritrea.

The Tigray conflict is not the only one where Mr. Abiy’s military forces have been accused of excesses. In the Oromo region, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has identified Ethiopian security forces as being responsible for 76 of the 123 deaths that occurred during protests last June and July. In a recent report, the human-rights commission said the security forces had been responsible for killing people who had no involvement in the protests. Some of the victims were shot in the back or the head, it said.

And while the violence and killings in Tigray are showing no sign of ending soon, Mr. Abiy is also facing criticism for conflicts with Sudan and Egypt that have grown worse under his rule. Ethiopia has been embroiled in deadly border clashes with Sudan, and it has exchanged threats with Egypt over a controversial Ethiopian hydro dam that reduces the flow of water on the Nile.

The Tigray war has also fuelled tensions with Somalia, following reports that Somali soldiers – sent to Eritrea for training – had been ordered into Tigray to fight in the war.

The new U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a glimpse of the growing international worries about the Abiy government when he spoke at his Senate confirmation hearing last week. He cited a number of “deeply, deeply concerning” actions in Ethiopia, including “atrocities” directed at Tigrayan civilians and Eritrean refugees.

Mr. Blinken then gave a much broader warning. The war in Tigray, he said, could spark a wider conflagration. “What started there has the potential to be destabilizing throughout the Horn of Africa.”

How Egypt is supporting Sudan in border conflict

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Al-Monitor — A delegation from the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, headed by Lt. Gen. Shamseldin al-Kabashi and Director of the General Intelligence Service Jamal Abdul Majeed, visited Cairo Jan. 14, where they met with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to discuss the latest developments on the border conflict with Ethiopia and the military operations led by the Sudanese army to liberate the territories from the armed Ethiopian militias.

The visit came as part of Sudan’s regional moves that are expected to include other visits to Arab countries, namely the Gulf, such as Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, to request “diplomatic and legal support,” according to a Jan. 14 statement by Sudanese Foreign Minister Omar Qamar al-Din.

However, on Jan. 25, tensions escalated on the Sudanese-Ethiopian border when violent clashes with heavy weapons and artillery broke out in the Jabal Abu al-Toyour border area.

In December 2020, the Sudanese army deployed its soldiers on the border in al-Fashqa region to liberate Sudanese lands from groups affiliated with the Ethiopian militias that have been benefiting from the cultivation of hundreds of acres of fertile land since 1995.

A diplomatic source familiar with Egyptian-Sudanese ties told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Egypt has been carefully observing the tension on the Sudanese borders since the beginning of the skirmishes because it is concerned with protecting peace and security in the African region, especially in the neighboring countries.”

He said, “Cairo has taken no recent action to support any of the conflicting parties, but Egypt welcomes Sudan’s request for support and assistance in its legal position to regain and liberate its lands.”

The source noted, “Egypt adopts policies that support peaceful solutions through dialogue and negotiation to restore peace and resolve all outstanding issues.”

He explained, “Restoring calm between Khartoum and Addis Ababa would be in Cairo’s interest — unlike what Ethiopia has been promoting in the media by throwing accusations against Egypt.”

Cairo has made no official comment on the border conflict between Khartoum and Addis Ababa since the beginning of the crisis, except in an strongly worded statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Dec. 31, 2020, in response to statements by Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti. The latter had touched on the Egyptian internal affairs by criticizing the human rights situation in Egypt. Cairo considered the statement a “blatant transgression,” accusing Ethiopia of pursuing “continuous hostile practices against its regional surroundings,” referring to the Ethiopian attacks on Sudanese territory.

Egypt and Sudan are both committed to the Treaty of Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation, under the umbrella of the Arab League, which stipulates in Article 2, “The Contracting States consider any [act of] armed aggression made against any one or more of them or their armed forces, to be directed against them all. Therefore, in accordance with the right of self-defense, individually and collectively, they undertake to go without delay to the aid of the State or States against which such an act of aggression is made, and immediately to take, individually and collectively, all steps available, including the use of armed force, to repel the aggression and restore security and peace.”

Maj. Gen. Khaled Okasha, a security expert and head of the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, “Egypt is well aware of the sensitivity of the tripartite relationship between it and Sudan and Ethiopia, and interfering in this conflict will worsen the situation without resolving it.”

He noted, “Sudan is able to recover its lands through all legal, diplomatic and military means, and it does not need Egypt’s support. Egypt realizes that these are all recurring conflicts and are not of a level that threatens Egyptian national security.”

However, Okasha added, “The escalating tension between Sudan and Ethiopia over the lands in al-Fashqa region revealed the true positions of Ethiopia, which has long claimed to be a sister country of Sudan that protects its interests in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam [GERD] issue.”

In an unprecedented military cooperation between Egypt and Sudan, units from Egypt’s air force and Saiqa (Thunderbolt) commando forces carried out joint air maneuvers with Sudan, dubbed Nile Eagles-1, on Nov. 19, 2020. The maneuvers included a number of offensive and defensive sorties on targets, while the Saiqa forces carried out drills on combat search and rescue work.

Okasha stressed, “The Egyptian military maneuvers with Sudan are not an exceptional situation, but rather a restoration of normal relations between the two countries, which had been tense throughout the period of Islamic rule in Sudan.”

In a Jan. 25 interview with Al-Arabiya channel, Sudanese Minister of Defense Lt. Gen. Yassin Ibrahim Yassin linked the border dispute with Ethiopia to the GERD negotiations, noting that “the common factor in both cases is the Ethiopian delay.”

Speaking about the possibilities of Egyptian intervention to mediate between Sudan and Ethiopia to solve the border crisis, Mona Omar, a former assistant to the Egyptian foreign minister, told Al-Monitor, “I rule out such a possibility, especially with Ethiopia’s intransigent positions with Egypt in the GERD negotiations and its lack of respect for the historical charters and agreements that define mechanisms for dealing with the Nile water.”

She said, “At the present time Egypt can offer to support Sudan by raising the [border] issue in international forums and providing legal support.”

Omar noted, “Egypt’s policy does not consist of working in secret or fueling conflict between two countries, especially since Cairo is well aware that should the Sudanese-Ethiopian tension no longer be limited to mere clashes, it would have negative effects and repercussions on security in the region.”

She added, “Despite the internal calls to resort to a military solution against Ethiopia in the GERD issue — which is a matter of life and death for Egypt — the Egyptian administration committed itself to peaceful dialogue and negotiation as a way to solve the crisis.”

Since the outbreak of the confrontations with Ethiopia on the eastern border of Sudan, Khartoum has taken more hard-line stances on the GERD issue, completely rejecting the Ethiopian positions during the negotiations rounds sponsored by the African Union (AU).

Sudanese government spokesman and Minister of Information Faisal Saleh said in a press statement Jan. 23, “Sudan will not accept the imposition of a fait accompli in the GERD [issue], and we have the means to respond to Ethiopia. AU mediation [in the GERD issue] in its old form is no longer useful.”

Egypt’s moves to support Sudan in its border conflict with Ethiopia come as part of a new era of cooperation and coordination between Cairo and Khartoum to stop any threats affecting the common interests and national security of the two countries, especially in the Nile water file.

Tigray crisis: Biden administration calls for Eritrea troops to withdraw

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BBC | The US has called for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean troops in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

“Credible reports” had emerged of their involvement in human rights abuses, including sexual violence and looting, the state department said.

This is its first statement on the conflict since the Joe Biden administration took office last week.

Both the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments deny that Eritrean forces are in Tigray, which borders Eritrea.

Eritrea is a highly militarised one-party state ruled by President Isaias Afwerki since 1993.

Thousands of people have been killed and about two million people, or one-third of Tigray’s population, have fled their homes since conflict broke out in early November.

Dialogue between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayans was “essential”, and humanitarian aid needed to be “mobilised” immediately because of “credible reports” that hundreds of thousands of people may starve to death, the US state department said.

Eritrea appeared to have launched artillery attacks from its side of the border, and had troops in Tigray, though the exact number was unclear, it said.

“The United States has made clear its position that all Eritrean troops need to leave Tigray immediately, given credible reports of looting, sexual violence, assaults in refugee camps and other human rights abuses.

“There is also evidence of Eritrean soldiers forcibly returning Eritrean refugees from Tigray to Eritrea,” it added in a statement.

Nearly 100,000 Eritreans had lived in four camps in Tigray after fleeing political persecution and military conscription over the last decade.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for restoring relations with Mr Isaias’ government, almost two decades after the two nations fought a border in Tigray that left up to 100,000 people dead.

Last month, Mr Abiy admitted that Eritrea had hosted armed Ethiopian troops who had retreated to its territory after the TPLF captured their bases in Tigray in early November.

However, he did not acknowledge that Eritrean troops had entered Tigray to bolster the fight against the TPLF.

‘Residual fighting continues’

The TPLF had been the ruling party in Tigray for almost three decades. It said it had seized the military bases in a “pre-emptive strike” following a breakdown in relations with Mr Abiy’s government.

Mr Abiy responded by ordering air strikes and a ground offensive to oust the TPLF from power. He declared the operation over after the capture of the regional capital, Mekelle, at the end of November.

He rejected calls for mediation to end the conflict, saying Ethiopia would not accept foreign interference in its affairs.

The US said “residual fighting” was still taking place, and there was the risk of “a long-running insurgency in Tigray that will destabilise northern Ethiopia and worsen ethnic tensions throughout the country”.

“That could not only put at risk US-endorsed democratic and other reforms by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed,” the statement said.

“It could also exacerbate instability in neighbouring Somalia, from where Ethiopia has already withdrawn some of its peacekeeping forces, and even in Sudan, where the transitional government is already grappling with serious problems.”

Analysts had estimated before the conflict that the TPLF had up to 250,000 fighters. It is unclear how many it had lost in the conflict.

TPLF veterans killed include former Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, while Abay Weldu, the Tigray regional government’s former president, has been captured.

Tigrayans make up around 6% of Ethiopia’s more than 110 million population.

Eritrean Soldiers in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region Accused of Murder, Looting and Sexual Assault

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Democracy Now 

In Ethiopia, jarring witness accounts are emerging of the involvement of Eritrean soldiers in the deadly conflict in the northern Tigray region. Survivors told the Associated Press that Eritrean soldiers looted homes and broke into houses searching for and killing Tigrayan men and boys. They’re also accused of targeting thousands of refugees and sexually assaulting people. Thousands of Eritrean soldiers have fought on the side of Ethiopian armed forces in the bloody conflict that started in November.

Humanitarian aid workers warned earlier this month that hundreds of thousands of people in the Tigray region could “starve to death,” as shops were depleted of food weeks ago and nearly all of the region’s population — some 4.5 million people — need emergency food aid.

Ethiopia’s privatization program threatened by security risks

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(Ecofin Agency) – Ethiopia’s initiative to privatize public companies could be hampered by security risks.

“In recent months, the conflict between Ethiopia’s central government and the leaders of the Tigray region has dominated the news. Although federal government troops have regained control of Tigray, the conflict illustrates potentially serious flaws in Ethiopia’s federal system,” the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said.

The other conflict that could be of concern to investors interested in this privatization program is that between Ethiopia and its neighbors Egypt and Sudan over the Great Renaissance Dam (GERD). This project is however one of the strong pillars of the economic transformation of the country.

Reforms undertaken by the Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, led to the decision to organize the very first democratic election slated for June 5, 2021. In Africa, this type of transition often does not go smoothly.

Beyond being a political line, the privatization of Ethiopian public enterprises has become a necessity. Already, the growth model based on public investment has begun to show limits, even before covid-19. Data from the IIF indicate that after average annual growth of 9.5% between 2011 and 2018, the Ethiopian economy grew by only 2.4% in 2019.

The other challenge facing Ethiopia’s public companies is the contingent debt they have accumulated. The debt of state-owned enterprises also affects the stability of the national financial system through the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, one of the country’s largest lenders. It has extended large loans to public enterprises at lower rates than private borrowers, the IIF says.

In such a scheme, foreign capital would help support the ongoing restructuring of the Ethiopian economy. The local government has pledged to allow minority private participation in some large public enterprises – including Ethiopian Airlines, EthioTelecom, and Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Service Enterprise – and to fully privatize others. This announcement is being closely followed by large companies and investors targeting Africa.

Parents of Somali soldiers fear sons fighting in Ethiopia

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Mogadishu (AFP) | Somalia is under growing pressure to explain the fate of soldiers whose families fear they were secretly deployed from training camps in neighbouring Eritrea to fight in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

The government has strenuously denied allegations that Somali troops were sent to battlefields in Tigray, where Ethiopian federal troops have been fighting with regional forces since November.

But some lawmakers have written to Somalia’s president appealing for information on behalf of desperate parents who say their sons in uniform have gone missing, and they have reason to believe they could be in Tigray.

Hussein Ibrahim said his son was told he was going to Qatar for training, but wound up in Eritrea.

“I last spoke with my son 22 days ago. He told me he was fine but concerned, because some of his comrades were relocated from the camp and he didn’t know to where,” he said.

“I don’t know who to ask about his fate. There are reports everywhere that those taken to Eritrea were sent to fight in Ethiopia, and that some had died.”

Information minister Osman Abukar Dubbe on January 19 said “there were no Somali troops fighting in Tigray, and no such request made by the Ethiopian government”, describing reports to the contrary as “propaganda”.

– ‘Alive or not’? –

But the whereabouts of the missing soldiers remains unclear, and the plight of their families has struck a chord in Somalia and raised difficult questions for politicians preparing for a fraught national election which had been scheduled for next month but is beset with delays.

“We need the Somali president to hear our appeal, and tell us if our children are alive or not,” said Fadumo Moalim Abdulle, who believes her son was sent to Eritrea after being told he was going to Qatar.

In a letter dated January 18, the foreign relations committee asked President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known by his nickname Farmajo, for “details about the number of soldiers in Eritrea for training, and when they are coming back to the country”.

“We also understand that many parents have not been able to contact their children for some time, only to hear they were killed fighting in Tigray with government forces,” the letter stated.

“Confirm where these soldiers are now, and put them in touch with their parents.”

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that some recruits were sent to Eritrea for training “but these reports about Somali soldiers sent to Tigray are baseless”.

But Abdisalam Guleid, a former Somali deputy spy chief, told AFP that “Somalia had indeed entered the war, and that many soldiers had died,” citing intelligence from Ethiopian counterparts.

– ‘Hush hush’ –

After three weeks of fighting, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared victory in late November against the TPLF, the ruling party in Tigray, after the army captured the regional capital Mekele.

But the TPLF leadership remains on the run and has vowed to fight on. Thousands have died so far in the conflict, according to the International Crisis Group.

The fighting has raised concerns for stability in the wider Horn of Africa, with fears that Ethiopia’s neighbours could be dragged into a regional conflict.

Ethiopia last week denied the presence of Somali troops in Tigray, and continued to dismiss witness accounts of Eritrean involvement in the conflict.

“Ethiopia has never invited any of the neighbouring countries or others to be part of this conflict. This is an internal matter; the Ethiopian army has done it by itself,” said Dina Mufti, spokesman for Ethiopia’s foreign affairs ministry.

In December, the US State Department said it was “aware of credible reports of Eritrean military involvement in Tigray” and called for their withdrawal. This month the state-affiliated Ethiopian Human Rights Commission accused Eritrean troops of looting in Tigray.

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.

Abiy also forged a three-way regional security arrangement with Eritrea and Somalia.

Analysts say it is plausible small numbers of Eritrean-trained Somalis were sent to Tigray, given Eritrea’s long history of using regional forces under its tutelage for its own strategic gain.

“What’s clear is that troops have gone to Eritrea. Some have come back. But the government has never given any details about these troops, not even their numbers or the fact there are cohorts,” said one regional security analyst, who asked not to be named.

“It’s all hush hush.”

Retired US Ambassadors to Ethiopia write an open letter to Prime Minister Abiy

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Ethiopian Reporter | Four retired US ambassadors to Ethiopia write an open letter to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) stating their concerns about recent political developments in the country.

The letter sent exclusively to The Reporter is signed by Ambassadors David Shinn, Aurelia Brazeal, Vicki Huddleston, and Patricia Haslach.

The full content of the letter is presented below.

Open Letter to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed from retired U.S. Ambassadors to Ethiopia

January 21, 2021

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

We are former ambassadors who have served in Ethiopia during various political crossroads, and each of us are forever inspired by the resilience and principles of the Ethiopian people. At present, we are deeply concerned about the stability and future of Ethiopia, and so have taken the liberty to write to you about our concerns.

We have watched the conflict in Tigray with grave unease as, according to the United Nations, nearly 60,000 refugees have fled to Sudan, 2.2 million people have been displaced, and 4.5 million people need emergency assistance, many of whom are without adequate food. We are also worried about the reported presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray, which could jeopardize Ethiopia’s territorial integrity.

We are concerned about the worsening ethnic tensions throughout the country, reflected in the proliferation of hate speech and rising ethnic and religious violence. Based on our time in your country, this growing violence seems to us to be contrary to Ethiopia’s long-standing tradition of tolerance for diverse religions and ethnicities.

It is our hope, Mr. Prime Minister, that your government will ensure the protection of civilians, the independent investigation of human rights violations, and unrestricted access for the United Nations and other relief agencies. We would like to repeat the advice we often heard during each of our tenures in your country: Ethiopia needs a national dialogue designed to bring together all sectors of society. We wish you and every Ethiopian the very best.

Sincerely,

Hon. David H. Shinn
Ambassador: July 1996-August 1999

Hon. Aurelia E. Brazeal
Ambassador: November 2002-September 2005

Hon. Vicki J. Huddleston
Chargé d’Affaires: September 2005-November 2006

Hon. Patricia M. Haslach
Ambassador: September 2013-August 2016

USA ber eritreiske soldatar forlate Tigray

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Den nye regjeringen i USA ber alle soldater fra Eritrea om umiddelbart å forlate den konfliktherjede Tigray-regionen i Etiopia.

En talsperson for USAs utenriksdepartement viser til rapporter om plyndring, seksualisert vold, angrep i flyktningleirer og andre menneskerettsbrudd i Tigray.

– Det finnes også bevis for at eritreiske soldater tvinger eritreiske flyktninger til å returnere fra Tigray til Eritrea, skriver talspersonen i en epost til nyhetsbyrået AP.

Både lokale innbyggere som har rømt fra Tigray, og en kilde i det etiopiske forsvaret, har opplyst at eritreiske styrker har deltatt i krigshandlingene i regionen. Dette er ikke bekreftet av regjeringen i Etiopia.

USAs oppfordring står i kontrast til en amerikansk uttalelse på et tidlig tidspunkt i Tigray-konflikten da Trump-regjeringen roste Eritrea for å være tilbakeholdne.

(©NTB)

US says Eritrean forces should leave Tigray immediately

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United States says all soldiers from Eritrea should leave Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region “immediately.”

A State Department spokesperson in an email to The Associated Press late Tuesday cited “credible reports of looting, sexual violence, assaults in refugee camps and other human rights abuses.”

“There is also evidence of Eritrean soldiers forcibly returning Eritrean refugees from Tigray to Eritrea,” the spokesperson said.

The statement reflects new pressure by the Biden administration on the government of Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country with 114 million people and the anchor of the Horn of Africa, and other combatants as the deadly fighting in Tigray nears the three-month mark.

The AP this week cited witnesses who fled the Tigray region as saying Eritrean soldiers were looting, going house-to-house killing young men and even acting as local authorities. The Eritreans have been fighting on the side of Ethiopian forces as they pursue the fugitive leaders of the Tigray region, though Ethiopia’s government has denied their presence.

The U.S. stance has shifted dramatically from the early days of the conflict when the Trump administration praised Eritrea for its “restraint.”

The new U.S. statement calls for an independent and transparent investigation into alleged abuses. “It remains unclear how many Eritrean soldiers are in Tigray, or precisely where,” it says.

It was not immediately clear whether the U.S. has addressed its demand directly to Eritrean officials. And the office of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed did not immediately respond to questions.

Witnesses have estimated that the Eritrean soldiers number in the thousands. Eritrean officials have not responded to questions. The information minister for Eritrea, one of the world’s most secretive countries, this week tweeted that “the rabid defamation campaign against Eritrea is on the rise again.“

The U.S. also seeks an immediate stop to the fighting in Tigray and “full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access” to the region, which remains largely cut off from the outside world, with Ethiopian forces often accompanying aid.

“We are gravely concerned by credible reports that hundreds of thousands of people may starve to death if urgent humanitarian assistance is not mobilized immediately,” the statement says.

The United Nations in its latest humanitarian update said it is receiving reports of “rising hunger” in Tigray and cited a “dire lack of access to food” since many farmers in the largely agricultural region missed the harvest because of the fighting, and as “critical staff” to scale up the humanitarian response can’t access the region. Transport, electricity, banking and other links “have yet to be restored in much of the region,” the U.N. said, and 78% of hospitals remain nonfunctional.

“Our concern is that what we don’t know could be even more disturbing,” U.N. children’s agency chief Henrietta Fore said in a statement Wednesday. “For 12 weeks, the international humanitarian community has had very limited access to conflict-affected populations across most of Tigray.”

Vaccinations have stopped across the region, Fore added.

The U.S. statement added that “dialogue is essential between the government and Tigrayans.” Ethiopia’s government has rejected dialogue with the former Tigray leaders, seeing them as illegitimate, and has appointed an interim administration.

The former Tigray leaders, in turn, objected to Ethiopia delaying a national election last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and considered Abiy’s mandate over.

‘Choose – I kill you or rape you’: abuse accusations surge in Ethiopia’s war

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 Reuters | The young coffee seller said she was split from family and friends by an Ethiopian soldier at the Tekeze river, taken down a path, and given a harrowing choice.

An Ethiopian woman who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, carries her child near the Setit river on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Hamdayet village in eastern Kassala state, Sudan, 22 November 2020. | Reuters

“He said: ‘Choose, either I kill you or rape you’,” the 25-year-old told Reuters at the Hamdayet refugee camp in Sudan where she had fled from conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

The doctor who treated her when she arrived at the camp in December, Tewadrous Tefera Limeuh, confirmed to Reuters that he provided pills to stop pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases, and guided her to a psychotherapist.

“The soldier … forced a gun on her and raped her,” Limeuh, who was volunteering with the Sudanese Red Crescent, said the woman told him. “She asked him if he had a condom and he said ‘why would I need a condom?’”

Five aid workers for international and Ethiopian aid groups said they had received multiple similar reports of abuse in Tigray. The United Nations appealed this week for an end to sexual assaults in the region.

Among a “high number” of allegations, particularly disturbing reports have emerged of people being forced to rape relatives or have sex in exchange for basic supplies, the UN Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, said in a statement on Thursday.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the military did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters about the reports of rape. On Saturday, Ethiopia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Taye Atske Selassie, told Patten that Ethiopia has a zero tolerance policy on sexual violence, according to state-affiliated braodcaster Fana TV.

Ethiopian authorities have previously denied rights abuses, pointing the finger instead at the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the region’s former ruling party whose forces they accuse of insurrection.

“I call on all parties involved in the hostilities in the Tigray region to commit to a zero-tolerance policy for crimes of sexual violence,” UN special representative Patten said in the statement.

Women and girls in refugee camps within Ethiopia appear to have been particularly targeted, and medical centres are under pressure for emergency contraception and tests for sexually-transmitted infections, the statement said.

Reuters could not independently verify the accounts of rape. Media have been largely banned from Tigray, aid agencies have struggled for access, and communications were down for weeks.

Abusers in uniform.

The 25-year-old woman who spoke with Reuters said her abuser wore an Ethiopian federal army uniform.

The five aid workers said other women described their alleged assailants as being militia fighters from Ethiopia’s Amhara region or Eritrean soldiers, both allied with Abiy’s troops. Reuters was unable to determine the identity of the woman’s assailant.

Abiy’s spokeswoman, Tigray’s interim governor, the mayor of the regional capital Mekelle, Eritrea’s foreign minister and Ethiopia’s army spokesman did not immediately reply to requests for comment on rape allegations. Reuters could not reach TPLF representatives.

“I don’t have any information about that,” Amhara regional spokesman Gizachew Muluneh told Reuters by phone.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have both denied that Eritrean troops are in Ethiopia, contradicting dozens of eyewitness interviews, diplomats and an Ethiopian general.

‘Why is a woman raped?’

At a meeting of security officials in Mekelle broadcast on Ethiopian state TV earlier this month, one soldier spoke of abuses even after the city had been captured by federal forces.

“I was angry yesterday. Why does a woman get raped in Mekelle city? It wouldn’t be shocking if it happened during the war … But women were raped yesterday and today when the local police and federal police are around,” said the soldier, who was not identified.

Local authorities did not immediately respond to efforts to seek comment on whether any soldiers might be investigated or brought to justice.

Tewadrous, the refugee camp doctor, described two other rape cases he had handled. One woman, who said she had escaped from Rawyan town in Tigray, told of three soldiers she identified as Amhara special forces knocking at her door, the doctor said. When she refused them entry, they broke in and assaulted her.

An aid worker in the town of Wukro told Reuters victims had recounted how a husband was forced to kneel and watch while his wife was raped by soldiers they identified as Eritrean.

A medical worker in Adigrat said he treated six women who had been raped by a group of soldiers and told not to seek help afterwards. They found courage to come forward days later, but there were no medicines to treat them, the medic said.

In Mekelle, one man was beaten up after begging soldiers to stop raping a 19-year-old, according to a medical worker who treated both victims. Mekelle charity Elshadai said it has prepared 50 beds for rape victims.