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APRIL 10, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS

Prosecutors in Italy secretly recorded hundreds of conversations between human rights lawyers and their clients in cases related to allegations that NGOs operating rescue boats that saved thousands from drowning in the Mediterranean were complicit in people smuggling.

Source: The Guardian

Italy

Italian prosecutors secretly recorded human rights lawyers

Exclusive: hundreds of conversations with clients were wiretapped in cases relating to migrant rescue boats

Mussie Zerai

The Eritrean Priest Mussie Zerai Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

The Eritrean priest Mussie Zerai was recorded in August 2017 asking his lawyer to arrange a meeting with a prosecutor. Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo

@lorenzo_tondo

Fri 9 Apr 2021 20.30 BST

Prosecutors in Italy have secretly recorded hundreds of conversations between human rights lawyers and their clients in cases related to allegations that NGOs operating rescue boats that saved thousands from drowning in the Mediterranean were complicit in people smuggling.

In a joint investigation with the Italian public broadcaster Rai News and the newspaper Domani, the Guardian has seen documents from prosecutors in Trapani, Sicily, detailing private conversations between human rights lawyers and their clients, including a priest, and with journalists in which confidential information was discussed regarding ongoing trials, private sources and legal defence strategies in upcoming hearings.

Rescuers from charities including Save the Children and Médecins Sans Frontières were last month charged by the Trapani prosecutors after a four-year investigation into claims of complicity with people smugglers in Libya, which in 2017 had led to the seizure of the Iuventa, a former fishing vessel run by the German NGO Jugend Rettet (Youth Rescue).

The investigation was heavily criticised by human rights groups but welcomed by Italy’s far-right populists, who raged against NGO rescue boats as “sea taxis”.

The most serious case appears to be that of Father Mussie Zerai, an Eritrean priest in Rome who runs the refugee rights organisation Habeshia and was in November 2016 officially placed under investigation by prosecutors in Trapani for abetting illegal immigration.

Zerai, a Nobel peace prize candidate in 2015, was acquitted of the charges, but during the investigation dozens of conversations with his lawyer discussing the case were recorded. Italian law forbids the interception of conversations under investigation and their lawyers, whose relationship is governed by attorney-client privilege.

The 30,000-page file seen by the Guardian reveals Zerai was recorded in August 2017 asking his lawyer to arrange a meeting with the lead prosecutor in Trapani to explain his innocence and saying he believed some media were attempting to discredit the work of NGOs in the Mediterranean. He was also recorded asking a senator, Luigi Marconi, for assistance in helping hundreds of Eritreans evicted from a building in Rome.

“If I was wiretapped while talking to my lawyer, it means I was also wiretapped talking with bishops, cardinals, employees of the Holy See and ambassadors,” Zerai said. “Where is the rule of law here? And this took place while people continued to drown in the sea.”

Rescue Ships

Rescuers from Save the Children transfer migrants from the Iuventa to their own ship during an operation off the Libyan coast in September 2016. Photograph: Reuters/Alamy

The Italian justice ministry this week announced it was to “urgently carry out the necessary preliminary investigations” into the Trapani prosecutors following reports that journalists covering migration in the Mediterranean had been recorded in conversation with rescuers and confidential sources.

Journalist groups described the move as one of the most serious attacks on the press in Italian history.

One of those journalists, Nancy Porsia, was recorded in conversation with her lawyer, Alessandra Ballerini, who also acts for the family of the Cambridge PhD student Giulio Regeni, who was kidnapped and murdered in Cairo in 2016.

Porsia had her telephone bugged for more than five months in 2017 by prosecutors in Trapani. The investigators also tracked her movements using her mobile phone’s geolocation data.

Her conversations with Ballerini that are transcribed in the files seen by the Guardian include the lawyer revealing confidential information about a trip to Cairo in which she feared for her safety, and Porsia telling Ballerini that she was having difficulty securing a visa for Libya due, she believed, to her investigations of the notorious alleged human trafficker and Libyan coastguard commander Abd al-Rahman Milad, known as Bija.

Porsia also expressed her fear of being under investigation after police summoned her to a meeting in Rome, but Ballerini is heard reassuring her, explaining that they would not have summoned her if that was the case. She tells her not to worry because their telephone conversation is covered under client privilege.

Investigators also secretly recorded the journalist’s conversations with two other lawyers, revealing their defence strategies in two other ongoing trials. Michele Calantropo, a lawyer for Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe, a refugee accused in a case of mistaken identity of being one of the world’s most sought-after human traffickers, Medhanie Yehdego Mered, was recorded asking Porsia to provide evidence as an expert witness on the dynamics of people smuggling in north Africa.

Documents dated 16 November 2017 show prosecutors recording a phone call between Porsia and the lawyer Serena Romano. At the time, Romano was working in a trial against alleged drivers of migrant boats, in which Porsia was called to appear as an adviser to describe the smuggling of migrants. Investigators in Trapani were listening in on the planned defence strategy between the lawyer and Porsia and filed the transcription.

“Those wiretaps had to be stopped,” Calantropo told the Guardian. “They have no relevance in their investigation, not to mention that they are totally outlawed and violate the European convention on human rights.”

Trapani’s acting head prosecutor, Maurizio Agnello, said in a statement: “In anticipation of the conclusion of investigations ordered by the general prosecutor’s office in Palermo and by the inspector general of the ministry of justice, to whom I sent a detailed report on this matter, I believe it is most opportune and responsible for me not to participate in any further discussions in this matter.”

APRIL 8, 2021 MARTIN PLAUT ETHIOPIA, NEWS

Source: Al-Monitor

The round of negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia end in Kinshasa, Congo, with no resolution in sight.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam al-Mahdi is warning Ethiopia against any unilateral measures to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Here, Mahdi talks with an AFP journalist on Jan. 3, 2016, in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, when she was in the opposition.

Ayah Aman

Water Issues

April 7, 2021

CAIRO — The round of negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam between the Egyptian, Sudanese and Ethiopian ministers of water and irrigation concluded April 6 without agreement in Kinshasa, Congo. No consensus was even reached to continue the diplomatic process to settle the unresolved disputes over the filling and operation of the dam.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez said in a press statement after the meetings ended, “The meeting has not achieved any progress and will not result in an agreement on relaunching the negotiations. Ethiopia refused the Egyptian and Sudanese proposal to form an international quartet led by the Democratic Republic of Congo as mediator between the three countries.” He also said, “Ethiopia also refused a proposition that Egypt made during the closing session and Sudan supported to resume negotiations under the wing of the Congolese president and with the participation of observers.”

He added, “The Ethiopian stance once again proves the lack of Ethiopia’s well-intentioned political willingness to negotiate. It is stalling and procrastinating, and it is clinging to a formal and ineffective negotiation mechanism.”

The round of talks was held in Congo because the country now heads the African Union Commission. The three-day talks between the ministers of water and irrigation of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia began April 4 after Ethiopia insisted on proceeding with the second stage of filling the dam reservoir during the flood season in July and retaining around 13.5 billion cubic meters of water.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed Sudan and Egypt for the failure of the talks and seeking to “undermine the AU-led process and take the matter out of the African platform,” adding that the scheduled second filling of the dam will proceed as scheduled.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi released statements that directly threatened and warned against any measures that infringe upon Egyptian interests in Nile water.

The talks aimed at determining the approach, process and timing of negotiations, in addition to mechanisms ensuring commitment to them to secure constructive negotiations and overcome the stalemate that has cast a shadow over the talks since the sponsorship of the African Union began in June 2020. The objective was to reach a comprehensive and legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam in a way that would ensure the interests of the three countries and maintain the rights of the two downstream countries, avoiding the creation of risks or damages for Egypt and Sudan when the dam stores water.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said during the first session of the Kinshasa talks April 4 that the negotiations “are the last chance to reach an agreement on the operation and filling of the dam before the next flood season.”

An Egyptian technical source who participated in the Kinshasa meetings told Al-Monitor, “The Egyptian delegation attended the Kinshasa meetings based on instructions from the political leadership to offer several alternative solutions to the remaining points of contention through serious dialogue and diplomatic means. The Egyptian suggestions were backed by Sudan and observers participating in the meetings.”

The source added on condition of anonymity, “A detailed report about the meetings and their outcomes will be presented, and the situation will be assessed, given the failure to reach an agreement and the Egyptian political leadership’s halt of negotiations. Moving forward, Egypt has several scenarios to deter any attempts to impose a fait accompli and sabotage the Nile water.”

During the talks, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam al-Mahdi had warned against unilateral measures that Ethiopia might take in filling the dam reservoir. In statements cited by the Sudan News Agency, she said Ethiopia’s first filling of the dam “unilaterally resulted in a week of thirst, and it negatively affected irrigation and the animal wealth needs. By proceeding with the second filling despite Sudan’s warnings, Ethiopia would be achieving short-term political gains.” She said, “Sudan refuses any unilateral filling of the dam because a conflict over resources would mean an unwanted future for Africa.”

Mohamed Nasreddin Allam, a former Egyptian minister of water resources, told Al-Monitor, “If Ethiopia proceeds with the second filling without Egypt and Sudan’s approval, it would be somewhat declaring war.”

Hani Raslan, an expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, “Ethiopia has made its own bed by proceeding with the second filling in any case. Egypt is unlikely to accept that another state controls the fate and lives of 100 million Egyptians. The Ethiopian leadership is responsible for dragging the region into an unjustified conflict.”

Raslan said, “There were many opportunities to reach consensual solutions to cooperate in the eastern Nile and achieve the interests of all parties by generating electricity to Ethiopia and not harming the water supplies of Egypt and Sudan, thus avoiding a conflict that would be costly for all. However, Ethiopia has dealt with the GERD issue as a zero-sum game, without caring about peaceful coexistence with its neighbors.” The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is also known by its initials, GERD.

He said any decision to launch a military attack on the dam could strengthen Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration “amid the conflicts and divisions inside Ethiopia, particularly with the nearing elections.”

With the failure of the negotiations, international law expert Musaed Abdel Aty told Al-Monitor, “Egypt and Sudan have a legal commitment to return to the Security Council, under Article 7, and brief it by giving a unified speech that includes a legal and technical narration of what happened during the negotiation rounds under African Union auspices. Their briefing must describe the current situation in the region and Ethiopia’s clear and direct threats to peace and security, and it must urge the council to fulfill its role and issue a decision to stop the second filling until a satisfactory agreement that guarantees the interests and rights of the downstream countries is reached.”

He added, “The Kinshasa talks revealed the Ethiopian recklessness and foiling of any chance at peaceful settlement of the conflict by refusing international mediation. This is a violation of the rules of international law.”

Before the meetings, Sisi had addressed the Congolese president in a letter in which he said Egypt was striving for an agreement to be reached fairly quickly, before the flood season.

Abdel Aty said, “Sisi’s discourse carried several connotations about Egypt’s respect for the African Union’s efforts and quest to solve the dispute through diplomatic and peaceful means.”

Coincidentally with the meetings of the ministers of water and irrigation in Kinshasa, the chief of staff of Egypt’s armed forces, Mohamed Hegazi, was in Sudan attending the end of air maneuvers of the Nile Eagles 2 exercise, in which top Egyptian fighter jets participated, at Merowe air base. The exercise follows the Nile Eagles 1 maneuvers held in November. Hegazi said, “Egypt stands by the Sudanese army. We are in the same boat, and we look forward to a promising and secure future.”

APRIL 7, 2021 MARTIN PLAUT ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Source: Daily Telegraph

In an exclusive investigation, witnesses tell of 182 civilians killed in cold blood as reports of human rights abuses in the region escalate

ByLucy Kassa7 April 2021 • 7:00am

Activists gather outside the United Nations to protest the Tigray conflict

In early February, the crash of shells and bullets in the remote Jawmaro mountains in northern Ethiopia seemed to have stopped.

Civilians in Abi Addi, a town in the Temben region of Central Tigray, were relieved. At last, a small measure of peace.

But on February 10, all the terrors of Ethiopia’s civil war descended on the town and at least a dozen surrounding villages.

In exclusive testimony shared with the Telegraph, 18 witnesses told how Ethiopian federal soldiers and Eritrean troops surrounded the area and went from house to house killing a total of 182 people.

“I saw dead bodies scattered, bodies half-eaten by dogs. The soldiers did not allow anyone to get close to the corpses,” said 26-year-old Tesfay Gebremedhin from the village of Semret, who fled into the mountains along with many other terrified young men.

“But later, they started to feel disturbed by the terrible smell of the dead bodies. So they covered the bodies with dust.”

One of those who survived the massacre in Wetelako village was five-year-old Merhawit Weldegebreal. She was shot in her leg. Her uncle, Abrha Zenebe, died trying to shield her from the bullets.

“The soldiers came and shouted at my uncle. They also shouted at my father. But dad ran away. The soldiers hit my uncle in his leg with their guns. And then they shot him in his belly. They also shot me in my knee,” the little girl told the Telegraph on the phone from her hospital bed in the Ayder hospital in the regional capital Mekele.

60-year-old Amdemaryam Mebrahtu, a survivor of the massacre recovers in hospital

Since the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the most powerful military in Africa into the country’s northern Tigray region to oust its ruling party in November, all hell has been unleashed on the ethnic Tigrayan people.

Mr Abiy sided with forces from Eritrea and ethnic militias from Tigray’s neighbouring Amhara region to crush forces loyal to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in a three-pronged attack.

Now a deluge of credible reports pointing towards a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing, rapeand man-made starvation are emerging.

Survivors told the Telegraph that civilians, mainly farmers, had been massacred in Abi Addi and the villages of Adi Asmiean, Bega Sheka, Adichilo, Amberswa, Wetlaqo, Semret, Guya, Zelakme, Arena, Mitsawerki, Yeqyer and Shilum Emni – villages about 60 miles from Tigray’s capital.

Four brothers in their 20s were among those killed at Adi Asmiean. Gebremedhin, Kibrom, Gueshaya and Tesfamariym Araya were at the family farm, harvesting their sorghum crop when Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers arrived.

Witnesses told the Telegraph they were shot and their bodies were dumped in a nearby crater. It took five days for their father, Araya Gebretekle, and his eldest son, Mebrahten Araya, to find the bodies of their loved ones.

“When they took my sons, I was in town with Mebrahten purchasing some goods. Returning home, I heard neighbours saying the Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers took many young men from the village. That was when I also learned my sons were among those taken,” says Mr Araya.

Mr Araya was only able to identify his sons by their clothing. “They asked me if I was sure the bodies belonged to my sons. I told them I was sure. How can I not know my sons?” he says.

In the village of Adi Asmiean near Abi Addi, parents and elders say that they begged Ethiopian soldiers to allow burials to take place.

Solomon Gebremaryam, a 32 year old civil servant and survivor of the massacre CREDIT: Lucy Kassa

“On February 15, the Ethiopian soldiers showed us the whereabouts of the dead bodies they threw into the crater. We went there with some parents of the dead. When we arrived, all villagers could not move an inch towards the bodies because of the terrible smell,” says Hadush Meruts, a local priest.

Mr Meruts and three other priests managed to retrieve just seven corpses.

“It was difficult to pull them out. Most were already eaten by wild animals. Others were half-eaten by dogs. Their bodies were torn into pieces; their faces were filled with insects. We splashed fuel on the bodies to cleanse the insects,” he says.

When asked for comment about the massacre, Eritrea’s information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, could not address the events of Abi Addi specifically.

“The government of Eritrea has zero tolerance for and never targets civilians in war. But in the past four months, we have seen a barrage of fabricated accusations mainly from TPLF remnants,” he said.

The Telegraph asked the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s office to comment but had received none at the time of going to press.

APRIL 6, 2021 MARTIN PLAUT ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

A report by the American based World Peace Foundation accuses the Ethiopian federal forces, Eritrean troops and Amhara militia of committing what they describe as “starvation crimes on a large scale,” in Tigray.

Hunger, acute malnutrition and causing deaths and the study says that 50 – 100 deaths a day “is credible.”

Although the authors admit that information is incomplete, because journalists and aid workers are unable to visit large parts of Tigray they conclude that the armed forces are “deliberately causing starvation” and that the available data is “extremely alarming”, “pointing to a massive crisis.”

They highlights the impact that the war has had on Tigray’s population. Of the 5.7 million people some 4.5 million are estimated by the United Nations to be in need.

Since March 22nd this year, aid agencies report that they have had improved access to Tigray and that some supplies have been transported into the region. But areas under the Tigray Defence Force are still all but impossible to reach. This has meant that emergency relief supplies have only reached approximately 1 million of the 4.5 million people in need.

The study points out that since the outbreak of the fighting in November 2020 the food security has deteriorated very rapidly. They quote the Famine Early Warning System’s prediction that by May 2021 large parts of Tigray will be in a Phase 4 crisis. It is just one step below a formal famine and lives will be lost.

The absence of food is not – the authors argue – a phenomenon to be seen on its own.

Families have been deprived of their means of survival by a range of measures inflicted upon them by the invading forces. These include looting, the theft of livestock and cattle and the destruction of crops.

To this list are added the damage inflicted on factories across Tigray, which have meant that families cannot supplement their incomes by wages. Banks too have been destroyed and records lost or frozen. This has left 400,000 households unable to access their savings.

In a forward to the report the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, says that the fighting must stop to allow the humanitarian agencies to reach the people in need. Presently there is little hope of this plea being answered.

The report ends: “our stark conclusion is that the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea are starving the people of Tigray.”

Full Report Below

WPF Starving Tigray report April 2021

APRIL 2, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Source: Erisat

ERISAT: News – An attack was carried out targeting Ethiopian soldiers inside Sawa Training camp

01/04/21 Eritrean Movement For Justice (EMFJ) put out a statement claiming that on 29/03/21, after detailed preparation, it undertook an attack on Eritrea’s main training base – the Sawa military training academy.

Their target was the 150 Ethiopian soldiers they say were receiving training there.

EMFJ says that 30 of the Ethiopian soldiers were killed and 36 were severely wounded as the result of the attack.

The Ethiopian soldiers were staying in “Enda Hamshay” barracks inside Sawa.

EMFJ claims that the attack was designed to serve as a warning to the Ethiopian army which, it believes, is mobilizing on Eritrean soil with impunity.