Finnish EU envoy to investigate ‘dire’ Ethiopia war

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EU Observer | The security situation in Ethiopia was “dire”, as Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto prepared to travel to the region on an EU fact-finding mission.

Finnish FM

Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto | Wikimedia Commons

“Nearly three months after the start of the conflict … the security situation in Tigray [a region of Ethiopia] remains dire, with reports of localised fighting especially in rural areas,” Haavisto told EUobserver.

“There is news circulating that hundreds of thousands of people have yet to receive [humanitarian] assistance,” he said.

But “access to the affected regions remains limited due to the challenging security environment and bureaucratic obstacles,” he added.

War broke out last year between the government of prime minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a local power which defied his rule.

The TPLF leader, Debretsion Gebremichael, said on Sunday (1 February) that the Ethiopian army was guilty of “genocide” and “massacres”.

He also said three foreign powers were fighting on Ethiopia’s side, while urging the international community to investigate “the atrocities” he spoke of.

An Ethiopian government spokeswoman told the BBC that Gebremichael’s words were “the delusions of a criminal clique” and accused the TPLF of “horrendous crimes” in return.

Ethiopia has also denied that Eritrean and Somalian forces, as well as Emirati drones, were fighting on its side.

But the US state department has confirmed that Eritrea was involved.

And Tigrayans who fled to neighbouring Sudan have told Human Rights Watch, an NGO, that Ethiopian forces were guilty of indiscriminate shelling and extrajudicial killings.

For his part, Finland’s Haavisto said: “The regional impacts of the Tigray conflict are of growing concern”.

“Reports indicate that more than 58,000 refugees have fled to Sudan and tensions in the border areas are growing dangerously,” he added.

The Nordic diplomat planned to go to “Ethiopia and its neighbouring regions” in the “next few weeks”, he said, after EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell tasked him with the mission last week.

Haavisto is to travel with Alexander Rondos, an EU special representative for the Horn of Africa.

An internal EU report, last November, said Europe feared “the unravelling of the Ethiopian state” and the creation of millions of refugees if the war got worse.

And it feared instability could spread to neighbouring Djibouti, Eritrea, and Somalia.

The Ethiopia conflict is just one of several in the EU’s southern neighbourhood, including ones in Libya, Israel, the Sahel, and Syria.

Meanwhile, Europe’s eastern flank is also becoming increasingly volatile.

Warfare recently erupted in Azerbaijan and goes on unabated in eastern Ukraine.

A political crisis in Belarus and mass-scale demonstrations in Russia have also posed questions about the future of the ruling regimes there.

Russia diplomacy
Russia, on Sunday, arrested another 4,000 people in nationwide protests calling on authorities to free opposition hero Alexei Navalny.

“Russian citizens’ right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression should be respected,” Haavisto told EUobserver.

Borrell, the EU top diplomat, is himself going to Moscow at the end of this week to urge Navalny’s release and to discuss “strategic” issues.

And Haavisto said it was important for the EU to keep up Russia diplomacy despite the deteriorating ties.

He also highlighted the need for “people-to-people contacts” between ordinary Russians and Europeans, “which have taken a big setback from the Covid pandemic”.

“We have a lot of experience on this, as Finland issues the highest number of Schengen visas in Russia,” Haavisto said, referring to Europe’s ‘Schengen’ free-travel area.

Ethiopia accused of using ethnic profiling to target Tigrayans

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Financial Times | Daughter of former PM says she was prevented from leaving country because of her heritage.

The daughter of a former Ethiopian prime minister has accused the government of preventing her from leaving the country because of her Tigrayan heritage, highlighting the ethnic divisions that continue to split the nation in the wake of brutal fighting between government and Tigray forces in the northern region.

Semhal Meles, the 32-year-old daughter of Meles Zenawi, who was Ethiopia’s prime minister for 17 years until his death in 2012, said she was prevented from boarding a US-bound flight from Addis Ababa on Tuesday despite having a valid passport, visa and ticket, in what she called a “curtailing” of her constitutional rights.

In an emailed statement to journalists, she said officials told her she did not have paperwork clearing her for travel, required by anyone who had been previously arrested. Ms Meles was briefly detained by security forces in December.

“To the best of my knowledge I haven’t been included in any wanted list, no arrest warrant has so far been issued against me nor have I appeared in court,” Ms Meles said. “I was illegally and unlawfully profiled.”

Ms Meles’s claims echo those of other Tigrayans, who say they have been prevented from travelling or dismissed from work since the government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military attack on Tigray in November last year. The government said the move was a “law enforcement operation” after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front — which effectively ran the country until 2018, when Mr Abiy took power — attacked federal troops.

Hundreds have died in the fighting and thousands of refugees have fled across the border to Sudan. There have been reports, mostly unverifiable because of a news blackout in Tigray, of atrocities by both sides. Forces loyal to the TPLF have been accused of a massacre of 600 civilians, mainly from rival region Amhara, while refugees have reported executions of civilians by pro-government Amhara militia.

Ms Meles accused Addis Ababa of “the weaponisation of rape and hunger, the targeting of dense urban populations for aerial bombardment, wanton destruction of public infrastructure and widespread looting”.

The government said on Thursday that her account was unreliable. “For three decades, the TPLF has laboured to satisfy an unbridled thirst for absolute power and self-enrichment, fanning flames of ethnic division and hatred,” an official said. “Average Ethiopians . . . have paid dearly for this.”

The government has accused the TPLF of being a “criminal clique”, sponsoring terrorism and fomenting ethnic violence. More than 100 party members have been placed on a wanted list, while senior TPLF officials such as Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia’s former foreign minister, have died in unclear circumstances during the conflict.

Mr Abiy’s government has denied targeting Tigrayans on the basis of ethnicity, saying its dispute is with the TPLF. In September last year, the TPLF went ahead with a regional poll that Addis Ababa said was illegal, after the government postponed national elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before the recent fighting, Mr Meles, who led a guerrilla war that toppled the previous Marxist Derg regime in 1991, was seen as a hero in Tigray. But his legacy remains divisive.

Under his leadership, Ethiopia was widely praised for rapid growth, but the TPLF also oversaw a repressive police state.

The former premier is seen as the father of so-called ethno-nationalism, under which power was devolved to nine ethnically defined regions, an arrangement enshrined in the 1995 constitution. An item of faith for some Ethiopians, the constitution is seen by others as sowing violent divisions.

Ethnic violence, including the burning of churches and mosques, has swelled in Ethiopia since 2016, leading to the internal displacement of 3m people. Mr Abiy has put forward a philosophy of “strength through diversity”, intending to bind Ethiopia under one national identity. But his opponents say this hides an effort to water down regional autonomy and centralise power.

Describing her arrest last year, Ms Meles said 20 federal police officers armed with machine guns arrived at the house in Mekelle, the Tigrayan capital, where she was staying. She was taken to a “makeshift prison” for 48 hours, she said, adding that she was denied access to a lawyer and never told the reason for her detention.

One officer threatened to “sever” her head, Ms Meles said, and along with the son of a former TPLF general who had also been arrested, “we were put on display for members of the federal police and army in an attempt to celebrate the capture of the junta’s children”.

“My dual crime, it seems, is being born into a political family with a Tigrayan identity,” she added.

Ms Meles said the Tigray people viewed November’s operation as an attack on their right to self-determination. “Every Tigrayan family paid a price to enshrine these rights within our constitution,” she said. “And no one here is prepared to betray the sacrifices made by their forefathers.”

Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 72 – 31 January 2021

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Europe External Programme with Africa is a Belgium-based Centre of Expertise with in-depth knowledge, publications, and networks, specialised in issues of peace building, refugee protection and resilience in the Horn of Africa. EEPA has published extensively on issues related to movement and/or human trafficking of refugees in the Horn of Africa and on the Central Mediterranean Route. It cooperates with a wide network of Universities, research organisations, civil society and experts from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and across Africa. Key in-depth publications can be accessed on the website.

Reported war situation (as confirmed per 30 January)

● Fresh reports from the battlefields in Tigray state that second campaign has started with fighting reported in Daero Hafash, Semema, Mahbere Dego, Feresemay, Nebelet, Hawzen, and Edaga Arbi.

● Reported “that Eritrean presence in the second campaign is very high.” The report reads: “The Eritrean troops are present at all the fronts. They use the following tricks: using the Ethiopian flag; changing uniforms to ENDF; sometimes hiding troops in some areas, etc.”

● Except for Hawzen in Eastern zone, fighting is concentrated in the Central Zone of Tigray.

● Report that Eritrea brought 13 trucks of troops via Edagahamus (Eastern Tigray zone) towards Hawzen and Nebelet areas.

● Sources indicated that Eritrean forces and Ethiopian National Defence Forces mobilized 163 military transport cars (‘orals’) of soldiers via Maytsebri to Endabaguna and then into Central Tigray. ● Video from Shire showing 8 big trucks passing by, loaded with Eritrean troops, posted on 29 January.

● Reported that 20 young people were killed by the allied forces in areas between Adidaero and Adi Kokeb in the North Western part of Tigray.

● A list of names of civilian people killed in Irob dated 28/01, put together by the Irob Advocacy Association, shows 52 names; 50 men and 2 women. The list is “not exhaustive”. According to the association all 52 civilians were “killed in their homes and backyards, during the late December 2020 to early January 2021” campaign. The association states that they “did not take part in combat mission.” The civilians were “peasant farmers” and included teenagers.

● The 52 civilians killed in Irob all fall under the administration of Irobland, from the villages of Gammaa Daa/Alitena, Maagauma, Awo, Aggarale, Waratle, Kafna, Addaga-Abbe, Addaga-Dululuho, Addaga-Sassaleri, Massata-Kimbiro, Assagarwa-Ado Dagga, Garabino, Assagarwa and Maytsiaa. The association is located in Kebeke 3, Adigrat, Tigray.

● Report that Eritrean refugees from Hitsats were forcibly sent back to Eritrea by Eritrean forces and these have “settled around Badme area.” The report states that the refugees have been “without enough acces of food, water and shelter” for “more than 45 days.” Among the refugees are young people, mothers and children, the report states.

● A source reports that the price of 100 kg teff is now 8000 Ethiopian Birr, equivalent to €167.00.

● In an interview with Alex de Waal, Mulugeta Gebrehiwot, advisor to the TPLF and Senior Fellow of the World Peace Foundation, states that Seyoum Mesfin, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Asmelash Woldeselassie, former Ethiopian parliament chief whip and Abay Tsehaye, Ethiopia’s former minister of Federal Affairs were killed: “They were staying in a village, and they didn’t have an army. They were just in a secluded area. They (..) killed them. It was the EPLF that killed them.” The EPLF is a reference to the Eritrean troops of Eritrean President Esayas.

● A source reports on the sadness of losing Seyoum Mesfin killed in this way: “I am not a member of any political party. We know Seyoum and it is not just about power. I sat with him, shared his life experience.” He adds: “He is our symbol of freedom and perseverance. He is a true leader and hero for many. He has sacrificed his whole lifetime for his people. People are in shock. His death is so painful for all of us.”

● In the interview, Mulugeta Gebrehiwot expresses himself clearly on the expectation that the Eritrean forces will remain in Tigray.

● Mulugeta Gebrehiwot states: “They had a meeting last week, it is some information we got from them, among the senior commanders of the army. There was a request from some of the army commanders on how long they are going to stay in Tigray. The response they gave them was, ‘Once we leave Tigray, PP [Prosperity Party] will not stay for one week in Tigray, and therefore we will leave Tigray to Weyane [TPLF] again and it will revive. And therefore, we have to remain there up until PP can pick it up which might take several months to come back.’ That is the answer that they gave them.”

● TMH reports that according to sources from Adigrat, Eritrean troops dismantled a radar which was installed in Adigrat following the Ethio-Eritrean war (1998-2000) and is transported to Eritrea.

● It is reported that soldiers kill those who saw a crime – including rape, or tried to help; this was news that came with people who travelled from Adwa and Aksum to Mekelle.

● A source reports a meeting with a doctor from Aksum who stated that on the day of the Aksum massacre he himself listed 300 bodies. The reflection is that even more than 750 people might have been killed. The community had understood that the Eritrean soldiers were intending to remove the Ark of the Covenant and the community came to protect it, including women and young people. The source states: “This was a massacre.”

● Report that soldiers take revenge on civilians. In some places the soldiers intimidate the people: “For every battle lost they kill five civilans.” In Mekelle there have been many fights. Everytime during the battles in Mekelle and nearby districts they lost, they had been intimidating the doctors and civilian patients. The soldiers intimidate by announcing that they will kill more people in revenge.”

● Reported from a source in Mekelle that young women working in the eating places, cafeterias, restaurants and bars are vulnerable to abuse, due to the curfew at 18:00 a.m., leaving the places open only for the soldiers. The girls have no one to protect them.

Reported International situation (as confirmed per 30 January)

● Qatar demands an investigation regarding the Somali men who had been offered jobs as security men in Qatar but were tricked and sent for training to Eritrea, from where they were sent to fight alongside Eritrean troops in the war in Tigray, Ethiopia.

● France says in a statement that it is “extremely concerned by the gravity of the humanitarian and food crisis in Tigray and reiterates its call to the Ethiopian government to facilitate access to the region – including the Hitsats and Shimelba refugee camps – by the UN and humanitarian organizations.”

● The statement from France reads that “Repeated and consistent allegations of serious human rights violations in the Tigray region cannot be ignored. France urges the Ethiopian authorities to facilitate independent investigations and to take the legal actions they had announced.”

● The French statement applauds the UN action and welcomes the EU efforts.

● Medecins sans Frontières reports that “around 80 or 90 percent of the health centers that we visited between Mekele and Axum were not functional”. The centers had no staff and had suffered robberies.

Disclaimer:
All information in this situation report is presented as a fluid update report, as to the best knowledge and understanding of the authors at the moment of publication. EEPA does not claim that the information is correct but verifies to the best of ability within the circumstances. Publication is weighed on the basis of interest to understand potential impacts of events (or perceptions of these) on the situation. Check all information against updates and other media. EEPA does not take responsibility for the use of the information or impact thereof. All information reported originates from third parties and the content of all reported and linked information remains the sole responsibility of these third parties. Report to info@eepa.be any additional information and corrections.

Links of interest

The People of Irob Mourns The Massacre Of Their Loved Ones – Irob Advocacy Group

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“It is with great sorrow & grief that we share here the incomplete list of Irob civilians killed by Eritrean soldiers during the mass killing campaign in about just 2 weeks of late December 2020 to early January 2021,” the Irob Advocacy Association said in a Tweet on Saturday.

“These civilians [see list of victims here & here] did not take part in combat mission. They were simply civilian farmers – primarily young male adults & teenagers,” the Association said, adding “We cry for justice!”

On January 24, 2001, the Belgian based Europe External Programme with Africa (EEPA) reported that Eritrean soldiers, controlling many districts in Irob land, killed many Tigrayan young men: “We hear Eritrean soldiers told the local elders and parents that, they have orders to kill all male youth older than 15.”

Eritrean soldiers were also seen distributing Eritrean I.D. cards to citizens in Irob, Tigray. Many people had to fled to the mountains and hide in caves, according to EEPA.

The Irob people are an ethnic minority group who are situated in the traditional Agamä Awrajja, Tigray Region, bordered with Afar region of Ethiopia to the East and  Saho of Eritrea to the North. They speak the Saho language, the same language spoken by the Saho people of Eritrea.

The Saho people of Eritrea are indigenous people in Eritrea marginalized by the Eritrean Geovernment who refuses to admit the existence of any indigenous people.

The Irob people were most affected by the outbreak of Ethiopian-Eritrean war of 1998-2000. Next to Badime, Irob became the prime target of Eritrean invasion and the consequent destructive high-tech warfare.

Since Eritrea joined the military offensive against the Tigray regional government launched by the unelected Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, Eritrean forces have been accused of summary execution, rape, looting and burning private and public properties, including refugee camps.

U.S. State Department officials told The Associated Press that they have directly “pressed senior levels” of Eritrea’s government to immediately withdraw from the embattled region. There were no details on how officials in Eritrea, one of the world’s most secretive countries, responded to the Biden administration demand.

The Ethiopia Government, however, has privately told Biden administration that the embattled Tigray region has “returned to normalcy” to which witnesses strongly disagree.

Egypt: Countries must reach binding deal on Nile dam

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MEMO | Amid regional tension over the project, countries along the Nile must reach a legally binding agreement on the filling and operations of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD), or Hidase Dam, according to Egypt’s president, Anadolu Agency reports.

Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi made the remarks late Saturday during an official visit to South Sudan’s capital Juba to meet with his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir, according to Egyptian media.

During their meeting, the leaders discussed the issue of strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the field of water resources and irrigation.

They also discussed joint efforts to maximise the utilisation of Nile River resources.

Underlining that that the Nile is the lifeblood of the peoples in the region, Sisi said the river must be a source of cooperation and development for regional countries.

Ethiopia began construction of the over $5 billion hydroelectric dam project in 2011, triggering a drawn-out diplomatic battle with Egypt, which had enjoyed thousands of years of hegemony on the Nile.

Though Ethiopia contributes 85% of the Nile’s waters, a 1959 agreement between Sudan and Egypt gave 55.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) to Egypt and 18.5 bcm annually to Sudan and nothing to Ethiopia.

Ethiopia accuses Sudan of occupying its lands, fighting by proxy for third party

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MEMO | The border area has witnessed tension between Ethiopia and Sudan that is still escalating-Getty

Ethiopia has accused its neighbour Sudan on Friday of occupying part of its territory and fighting by proxy for a “third party”.

This was reported by the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA), quoting a member of the Ethio-Sudan Joint Boundary Commission Wuhib Muluneh.

According to Muluneh, Ethiopia: “Feels that reaching a bilateral decision is the best way out of the crisis rather than inviting a third party to interfere.” In an interview with ENA, he stressed: “There are doubts that a third party was behind the Sudanese move, which refers to a proxy war.”

Muluneh added that in light of the long-standing relations between the two countries, the dispute must be resolved peacefully, confirming that reactivating the border mechanisms is the only option to end the recent border crisis between Ethiopia and Sudan.

Muluneh asserted that before the start of any negotiations, the Sudanese army must evacuate the area “occupied” earlier by its troops who attempted to displace Ethiopian farmers, as he put it.

Sudan has not yet commented on the Ethiopian accusations.

Relations between Sudan and Ethiopia have been undergoing escalating tensions for weeks, following the outbreak of armed attacks on the borders of the two countries. Khartoum asserts that the attacks were carried out by Ethiopian militias backed by army forces on Sudanese territory, while Addis Ababa denies the accusations.

Ethiopia says Tigray back to ‘normalcy;’ witnesses disagree.

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP | Cara Anna) — Ethiopia’s government has privately told Biden administration staffers its embattled Tigray region has “returned to normalcy,” but new witness accounts describe terrified Tigray residents hiding in bullet-marked homes and a vast rural area where effects of the fighting and food shortages are yet unknown.

The conflict that began in November between Ethiopian forces and those of the Tigray region who dominated the government for nearly three decades continues largely in shadow. Some communications links are severed, residents are scared to give details by phone and almost all journalists are blocked. Thousands of people have died.

Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister, Demeke Mekonnen, and colleagues briefed a private gathering hosted by the Atlantic Council think tank on Friday. They said nearly 1.5 million people in Tigray have been reached with humanitarian aid, and they expressed unease at “false and politically motivated allegations” of mistreatment of refugees from neighboring Eritrea, the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported. It said Biden administration staffers attended the meeting.

The refugees have been targeted by soldiers from Eritrea, who are fighting alongside Ethiopian troops against the Tigray forces. The Biden administration has pressed Eritrea to “immediately” withdraw them, citing credible accounts of looting, sexual assault and other abuses.

Despite Ethiopia’s latest assertions, its recently appointed administrators in Tigray have estimated that more than 4.5 million people, or close to the region’s entire population, need emergency food aid and some people have begun dying of starvation. That’s according to leaked documents from a crisis meeting of government and aid workers in early January.

And a new account by a Doctors Without Borders emergency coordinator in Tigray, Albert Vinas, says “we are very concerned about what may be happening in rural areas,” with many places inaccessible because of fighting or difficulties in obtaining permission.

“But we know, because community elders and traditional authorities have told us, that the situation in these places is very bad,” he said in the account posted online Friday.

He described Tigray residents handing his colleagues pieces of paper with phone numbers and asking for help in reaching their families, whom they hadn’t heard from for weeks.

“We saw a population locked in their homes and living in great fear,” he wrote after visiting the city of Adigrat and the towns of Axum and Adwa starting in late December.

In Adigrat, one of Tigray’s largest cities, “the situation was very tense and its hospital was in a terrible condition,” Vinas added, with “no food, no water and no money. Some patients who had been admitted with traumatic injuries were malnourished.” One woman had been in labor for a week.

Beyond hospitals, up to 90% of health centers between the Tigray capital, Mekele, and Axum to the north toward Eritrea were not functioning, he said. “There is a large population suffering, surely with fatal consequences. … There have been no vaccinations in almost three months, so we fear there will be epidemics soon.”

In a separate account posted by the World Peace Foundation on Friday, former senior Ethiopian official Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe in a phone interview from rural Tigray told director Alex de Waal that “hunger among peasantry is crippling” in areas bordering Eritrea after Eritrean forces burned or looted crops just before the harvest.

“Soon, we might see a massive humanitarian crisis,” Mulugeta said.

Eritrean officials have not responded to questions nor confirmed their soldiers’ involvement, and Ethiopia has denied their presence despite witness accounts.

The food situation in Tigray was already “extremely bad” before the fighting began because of a locust outbreak and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oxfam country director in Ethiopia, Gezahegn Kebede Gebrehana, has told The Associated Press.

“When the fighting took place, a lot of people fled into the bush. But when they came back, most found their houses destroyed or all belongings looted,” he said after an assessment in southern Tigray, by some accounts the most accessible part of the region. “Food is a very, very prominent necessity, from what we saw.”

International pressure continues on Ethiopia to allow unrestricted humanitarian access to Tigray, now a complicated patchwork of local authorities, but Gezahegn warned against suspending aid to the government as the European Union recently did.

“The donor community might think they will push the Ethiopian government, but the Ethiopian government will never surrender,” he said. He acknowledged the “good intentions” but said “it’s the people who suffer.”

Etiopiere i Norge forteller: Fedrene våre ble drept av eritreiske soldater

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©Bistandsaktuelt | I over en måned levde Sahle Semere og Hailay Berhe i uvisshet om hva som skjedde med familiemedlemmer i Tigray. Begge er etiopiere og bosatt i Norge. Familiene deres befant seg på landsbygda i regionen som havnet i krig med den etiopiske regjeringshæren og dens allierte.

Av Jan Speed 

Da regjeringsstyrker innledet invasjonen av Tigray-provinsen i begynnelsen av november i fjor ble alle nett- og telefonforbindelser kuttet. En lokal TV-stasjon i Tigray kringkastet i noen uker før det var slutt, mens noe informasjon ble sendt ut gjennom sosiale medier av personer med utenlandske mobiltelefoner.

Men fortsatt er det ingen journalister eller uavhengige menneskerettighetsgranskere som har fått reise fritt i Tigray. Av samme grunn har det vært vanskelig å kunne verifisere de mange historier som fortelles om drap og overgrep utført av partene i konflikten.

Både Sahle og Hailay hadde familier som bodde på landsbygda øst i Tigray. Statsminister og fredsprisvinner Abiy Ahmed nedtonet alvoret i krigen og kalte militæraksjonen «en politi-aksjon». Målet, ifølge Abiy, var å arrestere lederne i Tigrayfolkets frigjøringsfront (TPLF), den tidligere regionledelsen i provinsen. TPLF-styret hadde, i likhet med flere andre delstatsregjeringer i Etiopia, egne væpnede styrker, og gjorde sterk motstand.

Det ble tidlig klart at regjeringshæren allierte seg med de væpnede styrkene til Amhara-regionen. Etter hvert kom det også meldinger om at eritreiske styrker hadde rykket inn i Tigray. Dette er offisielt avvist av sentralregjeringen, men indirekte innrømmet av en etiopisk general og av andre i administrasjonen.

Da regjeringsstyrkene etter en måned erobret provinshovedstaden Mekelle ble telefonforbindelsen gjenopprettet. Tigrayere i utlandet ventet spent på nytt om familiene sine.

– Han bodde øst i landet og var 82 år gammel. De kom til huset hans, stjal kveget hans og ødela alt på gården. Etterpå ble han drept rett foran huset, bare fordi han var tigrayer, sier Sahle til Bistandsaktuelt.

Slektninger som oppsøkte gården i midten av desember fortalte at både etiopiske og eritreiske soldater hadde vært tilstede da det skjedde, men at det var eritreerne som gjorde det. De snakket tigrinja.

– De truet også med å drepe svigermoren min da hun begynte å rope høyt. Soldatene sa at ingen fikk begrave min far.

Liket ble liggende utenfor huset i to dager, ifølge det Sahle har fått vite av slektningene.

Stilte spørsmål

Hailay Berhe deltar i en demonstrasjon utenfor Utenriksdepartementet i Oslo og bærer på et bilde. Det er av faren – han ble bare 65 år gammel.

– Eritreiske soldater kom og begynte å plyndre alt han hadde. De tok kveg og solcellepanelene hans. Han spurte ‘hvorfor tar du mine eiendeler, jeg er bare en bonde’. Og derfor drepte de han, sier Hailay.

– Jeg får ikke sove. Jeg tenker stadig på dette og er redd for resten av familien som er i Tigray. Vi vet at mange sulter.

Han fikk beskjed om farens død av en slektning som klarte å komme seg til regionhovedstaden Mekelle.

Ifølge FN er situasjonen i store deler av Tigray fortsatt «ustabil og uforutsigbar». Det er aktive kamphandlinger i flere deler av provinsen.

En Facebook-video som Bistandsaktuelt har fått tilgang til viser angivelig eritreiske tropper i byen Wukro. Den er angivelig er filmet i smug med mobiltelefon og viser minst to stridsvogner, flere lastebiler og flere titalls soldater som beveger seg oppover en av hovedgatene.

Det er ingen uavhengig verifisering av filmen, og ikke opplysninger om når den ble tatt opp.

Krav fra USA

Det nye styret i USA ba onsdag om at alle soldater fra Eritrea umiddelbart måtte forlate den konfliktherjede Tigray-regionen i Etiopia, melder NTB.

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.

Chinese ambassador, Ethiopia capital mayor agree to enhance economic partnership

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ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) — Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia Zhao Zhiyuan and Mayor of Ethiopia’s capital city Adanech Abiebie agreed on Friday to enhance the economic partnership between the two countries.

In a press statement, Abiebie said she has reached an agreement with the Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia on the need to add new Chinese built projects that improve the economic and social lives of Addis Ababa city residents.

Abiebie also said her office discussed with the Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia on the need to further enhance cooperation in road projects in Ethiopia’s capital city.

Addis Ababa, a city of an estimated five million-plus population is Ethiopia’s main social, economic and political hub.

Chinese firms are engaged in various infrastructure projects in the city aimed at meeting the social and economic needs of Addis Ababa’s big population.

These include the multimillion U.S. dollars expansion infrastructure in the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and the landmark “Beautifying Sheger” project.

“Beautifying Sheger” is a personal initiative of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who envisions creating a clean, livable environment for the residents of Addis Ababa.

Striden om Nilen – spillet bak spenninga mellom Etiopia og Sudan

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Proletären | Afrikas største damkonstruksjon kaster sine skygge over grensekonfliktene mellom Etiopia og Sudan, som risikerer å føre til vannkrig i det nordøstlige Afrika, skriver Marcus Jönsson for den svenske avisa Proletären.

De senaste veckorna har flera incidenter på gränsen mellan Etiopien och Sudan ökat spänningarna i regionen betydligt, till den punkt att det finns risk för att ett krig bryter ut mellan de båda länderna. I söndags skedde den senaste skottväxlingen mellan etiopiska och sudanesiska trupper, dock utan några bekräftade döda.

Den 11 januari dödades fem kvinnor och ett barn av regeringsstödd etiopisk milis, enligt Sudans regerande övergångsråd (Transitional Sovereign Council, TSC).

Dådet skedde i den omstridda gränsregionen al-Fashqa, på den sudanesiska sidan gränsen, men där etiopiska bönder i skydd av miliser odlat mark i åratal, vilket Sudans förre president Omar al-Bashirs styre tolererade.

Men de senaste månaderna har temperaturen höjts rejält i dispyten om gränsområdet, och på det förra årets sista dag tog sudanesisk militär kontroll över en del av al-Fahsqa. Sudan anklagar den etiopiska regeringen för att stödja miliserna som tidigare kontrollerade området, vilket regeringen i Etiopiens huvudstad Addis Abeba tillbakavisar.

Presidenten för övergångsrådet, som styr Sudan sedan störtandet av al-Bashir 2019, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, är också befälhavare för den sudanesiska militären. Dagen efter attacken på kvinnorna besökte al-Burhan delstaten al-Qadarif, där al-Fashqa ligger, och talade till soldaterna som stationerats vid gränsen.

– Hur länge måste vi ha tålamod? Allt har en gräns och den här situationen har överskridit sin. Det här är vårt land och vi är alla villiga att dö för det här landet, till sista man, sa al-Burhan i en video på TSC:s Facebooksida.

Regeringen i Addis Abeba, med premiärminister Abiy Ahmed i spetsen, anklagar å sin sida övergångsrådet i Sudans huvudstad Khartoum för att inte agera självständigt. I ett tal i slutet av december sa Abiy Ahmed att det är andra aktörer som ligger bakom Sudans truppförflyttningar till gränsen.

Utan att säga det rakt ut syftade han på Egypten – som i november höll militära flygövningar med Sudan och som i december uttalade sitt fulla stöd till Sudan efter en etiopisk attack vid gränsen i al-Qadarif.

Anledningen är att Egypten är låst i en hård diplomatisk strid med Etiopien om den enorma damm som sedan tio år tillbaka byggs i landet, bara två mil från gränsen mot Sudan. Dammen, med det ståtliga namnet Stora etiopiska renässansdammen (GERD, efter sina initialer på engelska), byggs på Blå Nilen som rinner från Tanasjön i Etiopien, och vattenkraftanläggningen kommer att bli Afrikas största.

Blå Nilen står för mer än 80 procent av vattenflödet i Nilen. Den löper från Etiopien genom Sudan, flyter samman med Vita Nilen i Khartoum och rinner ut i Medelhavet vid egyptiska Alexandria.

Egypten, vars vattentillförsel till 90 procent kommer från Nilen, ser dammen som ett existentiellt hot, fruktar att den kommer att strypa landets vattenförsörjning och har under hela bygget motsatt sig att Etiopien ska kunna kontrollera vattenflödet i floden.

Sudan delar i viss mån Egyptens oro, men har tidigare under bygget haft större förståelse för Etiopiens position. Sudan vill också ta del av elektriciteten som dammen kommer generera, och som både Sudans och Etiopiens miljoner fattiga behöver. I Sudan har omkring 60 procent av de närmare 45 miljoner invånarna tillgång till el, i Etiopien mindre än 45 procent av de cirka 115 miljoner invånarna, enligt Världsbanken.

I slutet av oktober förra året fick USA:s dåvarande president Donald Trump Sudan att upprätta diplomatiska relationer med Israel, i utbyte mot att USA tog bort Sudan från listan över länder som sponsrar terrorism. I samband med det uttalade sig Trump – nära allierad med Egyptens president Sisi – om Egyptens syn på bygget.

– De kommer spränga dammen till slut. Jag sa det högt och tydligt, de kommer att spränga den där dammen. Och de måste göra någonting, sa Donald Trump.

Då hade USA en månad tidigare dragit in biståndspengar till Etiopien för att bygget inte stoppats.

Ytterligare ett år tillbaka i tiden, i september 2019, bad Sisi Trump om hjälp med att få till stånd en överenskommelse mellan länderna. Trumps finansminister Steven Mnuchin förhandlade fram ett avtal mellan Egypten, Sudan, Etiopien och Världsbanken, men som Etiopien aldrig undertecknade.

I somras fyllde Etiopien GERD:s nedersta del för första gången. Förhandlingarna om den två kilometer långa och 145 meter höga dammen har sedan dess förts i Afrikanska Unionens regi, men strandade återigen för två veckor sedan. Och förra veckan sa USA:s tillträdande utrikesminister Antony Blinken att situationen på gränsen mellan Sudan och Etiopien riskerar att ”koka över”.

USA är inte den enda stormakten med politiska och ekonomiska intressen i regionen. Kina investerar stort i alla de tre berörda länderna, inom ramen för jätteprojektet Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, ”den nya sidenvägen”). Kina är Etiopiens största handelspartner och beräknas ha bidragit med mer än en tredjedel av kostnaderna för dammbygget, som totalt uppgår till 5 miljarder dollar.

Elektriciteten från dammen ska också hjälpa till att driva den kinesiskbyggda järnväg som går från Addis Abeba till det lilla kustlandet Djibouti i norr, vars huvudstad och hamn har ett mycket strategiskt läge mellan Röda havet och Adenviken.

Även Suezkanalen i Egypten, mellan Röda havet och Medelhavet, är ett viktigt nav för Kinas BRI-planer. Kinas ambassadör i Addis Abeba har också uttryckt att Kina hoppas att meningsskiljaktigheterna mellan Etiopien och Egypten ska lösas genom dialog och fredliga förhandlingar.

Sammanstötningarna mellan Etiopien och Sudan kommer när det redan finns en växande humanitär kris i området, två månader efter att etiopiska regeringsstyrkor intog regionen Tigrays huvudstad Mekelle.

Den etiopiska centralregeringens krig mot TPLF (Tigreanska folkets befrielsefront) har lett till att fler än två miljoner människor i Tigray tvingats lämna sina hem. Enligt FN:s flyktingorgan UNHCR har fler än 60.000 tigreanska flyktingar tagit sig över gränsen till Sudan från Tigray, längst uppe i Etiopiens nordvästra hörn.

I måndags rapporterade FN:s kontor för samordning av humanitär hjälp, UNOCHA, att de har börjat flytta de tigreanska flyktingar som tagit sig till Sudan, bort från områdena vid gränsen där stridigheter skett. Samtidigt riskerar hundratusentals människor som fortfarande befinner sig inne i Tigray att svälta, enligt FN och en rad humanitära organisationer, eftersom det mesta av regionen fortfarande är avskuret från omvärlden sedan november.

Etiopiens premiärminister Abiy Ahmed fick Nobels fredspris 2019 för fredsavtalet mellan Etiopien och Eritrea. Många tigreaner som gått över gränsen till Sudan har vittnat om att soldater från Eritrea i norr också befinner sig i Tigray, där tigreanerna och TPLF är fast mellan tre antagonister: etiopiska regeringsstyrkor, eritreanska soldater och amhariska miliser. Amhara är regionen söder om Tigray i Etiopen.

Det kommer dessutom uppgifter om att även somaliska soldater, som skickats till Eritrea för militär träning, ska ha använts i Tigray.

Det finns också mängder av vittnesmål från flyktingar om etniskt motiverat våld mot tigreaner, och FN:s särskilda representant i frågor som rör sexuellt våld i konflikt, Pramila Patten, varnade förra veckan för ”seriösa anklagelser om sexuellt våld” i Tigray, inklusive rapporter om individer som under vapenhot tvingats våldta familjemedlemmar.

Enligt ett uttalande från Abiy Ahmeds regering i december dödades inga civila under offensiven i Tigray över huvud taget, men det handlar snarare om tusentals döda – inklusive amhariska migrantarbetare som mördades i en av flera massakrer som begicks i Tigray i november.

Innan Abiy Ahmed blev premiärminister 2018 styrde TPLF Etiopien i nästan tre decennier, med en federal modell baserad på etnisk tillhörighet. Abiy Ahmed förespråkar en mycket starkare centralstat och anklagas av TPLF för att ha rensat statsapparaten på tigreaner.

Med våldsamheter inte bara i Tigray och Amhara, utan även i regionen Benishangul-Gumuz söder om Amhara, där flera hundra civila dödats i olika massakrer den senaste månaden, behöver inte fredspristagaren Abiy Ahmed ytterligare ett krig – och förhoppningsvis lugnar situationen vid gränsen ner sig om länderna lyckas nå ett avtal om hur högt Etiopien får fylla sin damm.

Kina, som definitivt inte har något intresse av ett nytt krig i regionen, borde också kunna använda sitt inflytande för att nå en diplomatisk lösning mellan Etiopien, Sudan och Egypten.

Om inte det lyckas, finns det risk för att en gnista för många vid gränsen startar det första vattenkriget i klimatkrisens tid.