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Wednesday, 30 December 2020 23:23

Sudan and Ethiopia engaging in “large-scale fighting” on their border

Written by
DECEMBER 30, 2020  ETHIOPIA, NEWS

Source: Economist

Evidence mounts that Eritrean forces are in Ethiopia

Their presence will make it harder to bring peace to Tigray

Middle East & AfricaDec 30th 2020 edition

ADDIS ABABA

First come muffled sobs, gradually growing louder with each new voice that joins the chorus. A woman in a black shawl begins to wail, her body rocking towards the portrait of a smiling young man in the middle of the room. Abraham was 35 years old when he was shot, says an older brother who is hosting mourning relatives on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Last month armed men arrived at the family home in Adwa, a town in the northern region of Tigray. By then many of the town’s residents had fled, but not Abraham, who had a young child and a sick, ageing father. When the gunmen tried to steal two of the family’s trucks, Abraham resisted. He was shot dead on the spot, in front of his father.

According to his family, Abraham’s killers were from Eritrea, a neighbouring country whose troops have been fighting alongside Ethiopian government forces against the recently-ousted rulers of Tigray. There is little reason to doubt their claim. Although phone lines to Adwa have been cut since the fighting started in early November, they know what happened to Abraham from a family friend who met his father, as well as neighbours who escaped to Mekelle, the regional capital.

Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, has consistently denied enlisting the help of soldiers from Eritrea, the gulag state next door. But Abiy’s denials ring hollow in the face of a growing number of claims like those of Abraham’s family, as well as by foreign diplomats and governments. In December America said reports of Eritrea’s involvement were “credible” and urged it to withdraw. Belgian journalists who made a rare trip into Tigray found video footage apparently showing an Eritrean tank loaded with plunder.

Exposing Eritrea’s involvement matters because both governments have gone to such lengths to deny it. Abiy told António Guterres, the secretary-general of the un, that no Eritrean soldiers had entered Ethiopia. His government says Tigray’s now-renegade ruling party, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (tplf), made fake Eritrean uniforms to spread misinformation. Eritrea’s foreign minister told Reuters that Eritrea was not a party to the conflict.

Others say that Eritrea’s involvement is not only real but highly significant. It won independence from Ethiopia in 1993. The two countries fought a bloody border war in the late 1990s followed by two decades of low-level conflict that ended with a peace deal in 2018 (for which Abiy won the Nobel peace prize in 2019). Much of the fighting was along Tigray’s border, leading to bitter enmity between Eritreans and the tplf.

This bitterness may explain the destruction that Eritrean forces have left in their wake. They are accused of killing civilians, looting, laying waste to farmland and abducting some of the 100,000 Eritrean refugees who had fled their own totalitarian government and sought safety in camps in Tigray.

Using foreign troops to fight a war on his own soil besmirches Abiy’s reputation and will complicate efforts to pacify Tigray. “The government will never admit it,” says an Ethiopian analyst. “Because they know they could never justify it to the Tigrayans.”

Awet Tewelde Weldemichael, an Eritrean academic at Queen’s University in Canada, says that in recent weeks there seems to have been a phased withdrawal of Eritrean troops. If true, it might suggest Abiy has had enough of them. Or it might mean that Issaias Afwerki, Eritrea’s dictator, is confident that his old foes in the tplf have been routed. Although fighting is reported to be continuing in several parts of Tigray, the tplf leadership—thought to be holed up somewhere in the mountains—has been mostly silent for weeks. On December 18th the Ethiopian government offered a reward worth the equivalent of $260,000 for information on their whereabouts.

It is not just Eritrea that has a stake in Ethiopia’s civil war. Clashes between Sudanese forces and militias from Amhara, a region to the south of Tigray, have turned deadly in recent weeks. They are fighting over a large slice of fertile farmland that is within Sudan’s borders but long occupied by Amhara farmers. Shortly after the war began in Tigray, Sudanese troops moved into positions that had previously been held by the Ethiopian army. Since then each side has accused the other of upping the ante. On December 22nd Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister accused Sudanese forces of looting. Sudan’s information minister countered by accusing the Ethiopian army of taking part in border attacks. Talks and a visit to Addis Ababa in December by Abdalla Hamdok, Sudan’s prime minister, have failed to resolve the matter.

These tensions are unlikely to blow up into a full-scale war between the two states. But if the border conflict is not resolved, Sudan could prolong the fighting in Tigray by, for instance, turning a blind eye to arms and other supplies crossing the border. That would be a headache for Abiy, whose forces are already overstretched trying to locate the tplf’s guerrilla forces while also battling armed insurgents and quelling inter-ethnic fighting elsewhere in the country.

On December 23rd more than 200 civilians, mostly Amharas, were massacred by heavily armed ethnic militiamen in the western region of Benishangul-Gumuz. Similar incidents have been reported in western Oromia in recent weeks. Ethnic Somalis and Afars in the country’s east are also trading deadly blows. Ethiopia, already a tinder box, risks igniting a wider conflagration across the Horn of Africa. ■

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “The widening war”

Wednesday, 30 December 2020 23:20

Sudan and Ethiopia engaging in “large-scale fighting” on their border

Written by

DECEMBER 30, 2020  ETHIOPIA, NEWS

Rashid Abdi – one of the most shrewd commentators on the Horn of Africa has posted these Tweets – which have been slightly revised to make them easily to read. The background is not by Rashid, and has been added.

“Sudan says it is asserting sovereignty over the al-Fashaga triangle. And it is right. Region is internationally recognised as Sudanese. Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi who was more astute sought modus vivendi with Sudan rather than challenge its sovereignty. This allowed Ethiopian farmers to lease land, not own land.

“A large-scale and prolonged war between Sudan and Ethiopia will be catastrophic. It almost certainly will draw in Egypt. That will be a nightmare scenario. Makes sense for PM Abiy to negotiate with Sudan rather than use military means to challenge Khartoum’s seizure of al Fashaga.

“PM Abiy is sadly in a bind and terrible fix. His only support base now is hardline Amhara imperio-nationalists. They drove him to war with Tigray, now pushing him to another even bigger war with Sudan. When he fails to deliver, they will depose him.

“Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki always wanted supremacy, dominance in the Horn. The turmoil in the Horn is his chance. Tigray was existential & immediate threat. A weak & conflicted Ethiopia suits him fine. An Ethiopia at war with Sudan even better. That way he gets to kill two birds with one stone.”

How this conflict escalated

The  dispute over the al Fashaga triangle  goes back to treaties signed by Britain, Italy and Ethiopia in 1900, 1901 and 1902. The triangle is very fertile and well watered land, which has been cultivated by Amhara farmers from neighbouring Ethiopia. But the land is generally regarded as Sudanese.

The background to this complex problem can be read here.

As  ,  argued in an article in Foreign Policy:

“Fashqa is an approximately 100-square-mile territory of prime agricultural land along its border with Ethiopia’s Amhara state, which Sudan claims by virtue of an agreement signed in 1902 between the United Kingdom and Ethiopia under Emperor Menelik II and subsequently reinforced by various Ethiopian leaders, including the TPLF.  The dispute over Fashqa remains a major grievance for Ethiopia’s ethnic Amhara farmers near the border, who seek to till the land, and is an obstacle in negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).”

Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir largely turned a blind eye to incursions into his country by Ethiopia. However, Sudan’s transitional government, which took power after popular protests that ousted  al-Bashir, took steps to get the Ethiopian farmers to leave al-Fashaga.

When the war in Tigray erupted on 4 November, the Ethiopians withdrew their army from the al Fashaga – to join the fighting in Tigray. The Sudanese seized their opportunity – and took large parts of the disputed area.

Failed attempting to resolve the conflict

On Sunday 13 December Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok visited Ethiopia with an offer to broker a ceasefire in its northern Tigray region, a proposal Ethiopia said was unnecessary because fighting had stopped.

As the AFP report put it: “Hamdok, who was accompanied by Sudanese security officials, planned to present his concerns about threats to Sudan’s security along its border with Tigray during the visit, the officials said. However, Hamdok returned within a few hours from what Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had earlier described as a two-day trip.”

PM Hamdok – who had hoped to resolve the al-Fashaga problem during the visit, had been snubbed by Ethiopia’s PM Abiy. He returned to Khartoum bruised by the encounter. No useful discussions were held to end the Ethiopia-Sudanese crisis during the regional summit in Djibouti of IGAD. Rather, the crisis escalated.

Reuters reported on 16 December the Sudanese armed forces as saying that a number of its officers had been ambushed by “Ethiopian forces and militias” during a security patrol of the border region. “During the return of our forces from combing the area around Jabal Abutiour inside our territory, they were ambushed by Ethiopian forces and militias inside Sudanese territory, as a result of which lives and equipment were lost,” the army said, adding the attack took place on Tuesday. The Sudanese army did not specify how many officers were killed. Local residents said that reinforcements were being sent to the area, which is part of the Fashaqa locality where some Ethiopian refugees have been crossing into Sudan.

Sudan responded by reinforcing its troops in the disputed areas.  Egypt – Sudan’s traditional ally – said it would back Khartoum. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Ethiopian cross-border attack on Sudanese military troops near Sudan’s border with Ethiopia. The ministry termed the attack as an “unjustified assault.” “Egypt reiterates its full solidarity with brotherly Sudan and affirms its support to the country’s right to protect its security and sovereignty over its territory,” the ministry said in a statement. The statement continued, “Egypt is following these dangerous field developments with great concern … and underlines the need to take all possible measures to guarantee that such incidents against Sudan will not be repeated in the future.”

On 29 December Ethiopia warned Sudan that it would mount a counter-offensive to take re-assert its control of the al-Fashaga triangle. “If Sudan does not stop expanding into Ethiopian territories, Ethiopia will be forced to launch a counter-offensive,” Ethio FM 107.8 quoting Foreign Ministry spokesman Ambassador Dina Mufti as saying.

Now that conflict appears to have erupted into full scale fighting.

Consequences of a Sudan-Ethiopia conflict

It is too early to be certain how this will develop. Much depends on how far Sudan and Ethiopia will push this conflict. The reactions of Egypt and Eritrea will also be important – while regional actors like the African Union could be important.

As Rashid Abdi said in the Tweet quoted at the start of this article, “A large-scale and prolonged war between Sudan and Ethiopia will be catastrophic. It almost certainly will draw in Egypt…Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki always wanted supremacy, dominance in the Horn. The turmoil in the Horn is his chance. Tigray was existential & immediate threat. A weak & conflicted Ethiopia suits him fine. An Ethiopia at war with Sudan even better. That way he gets to kill two birds with one stone.”

The conclusions by Nizmar Makek and Mohamed Omar in Foreign Policy is also useful.

Sudan has a long history of involvement in Ethiopian and Eritrean affairs. Even before the TPLF and Isaias came to power in the 1990s, Sudan clandestinely supported both the TPLF and the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) in allowing the passage of military and humanitarian logistics through its borders. (Isaias later split from the ELF, which has since formed a series of splinter groups). At the time, Sudan’s involvement was crucial to their success, but it would be difficult for Sudan to resort to the same tactics again.

If Khartoum does so, it has much to lose. Abiy could retaliate by supporting Sudanese rebel groups following unstable peace accords they signed with Sudan’s transitional government in October—for example, in Sudan’s Blue Nile state, which borders Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz state, the site of the GERD. Isaias could also support subgroups of the Beja—a group of tribes living between the Red Sea and the Nile—in a tactical alliance with him against the Beni Amer ethnic group in eastern Sudan and Eritrea traditionally aligned with the ELF, as well as seek to enlist discontented Sudanese opposition figures who were previously based in Eritrea from the mid-1990s to 2006. Since the fall of Bashir, tensions have erupted in eastern Sudan—including in Kassala, Gadaref, and Port Sudan—between groups aligned with Eritrea’s government and those opposed to it.

Meanwhile, Eritrea is getting involved; it is hosting the ENDF on its territory although it remains unclear if Eritrea’s own forces are involved in fighting. On Tigray state television, Tigray’s regional president Debretsion Gebremichael said forces aligned with Isaias bombed Humera—a strategic Tigrayan town on the triple frontier between Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan on Nov. 9 with heavy artillery, that Eritrean and Tigrayan forces are fighting on the border, and that ENDF forces have otherwise been restricted in their movements. While Abiy’s government earlier claimed it had captured territory from Humera to Shire, about 160 miles east in Tigray, it quickly retracted that claim.

Despite initial successes, the TPLF may not have the backing of Sudan to keep going, especially if Abiy and Isaias can make compromises to enlist Sudan’s support. Although everyone from Sudan’s Hamdok and the African Union to Pope Francis and the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee is calling for a cease-fire and negotiations, Abiy will only call for talks if the ENDF and other security forces continue to fragment to a point of no return and fail on the battlefield. Without Sudan, a cornered TPLF—which is no stranger to ruthless and violent tactics—might attempt to overthrow Abiy’s government or seek to assassinate him with the support of his many other enemies.

Wednesday, 30 December 2020 20:41

2020 ኣፋኒና፡ 2021 እንክንርከብ

Written by
2020 ኣፋኒና፡ 2021 እንክንርከብ

ርእሰ-ዓንቀጽ-ሰዲህኤ

መዓልቲ ብመዓልቲ፡ ሰሙን ብሰሙን፡ ወርሒ ብወርሒ ከምኡ እውን ዓመት ብዓመት ክተኻኽኡ፡ ማንም ዘይቅይሮ ንቡር መስርሕ እዩ። እነሆ ከኣ በዚ ዝኾነ ኣካል ጠማዚዙ ከቐልጥፎ ወይ ከደንጉዮ ዘይክእል መስርሕ 2020ን 2021ን ሓላፍነት ኣብ ዝረኻኸባሉ እዋን ኮይንና “እንኳዕ ካብ ኣረጊት ዓመት ናብ ሓድሽ ዓመት ኣብጸሓኩም ኣብጸሓና” ኣብ እንበሃሃለሉ ንርከብ። በዚ ኣጋጣሚ ንመላእ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኣብ ውሽጥን ወጻእን እንኳዕ ናብ ሓድሽ ዓመት 2021 ኣብጸሓካ፡ ሓድሽ ዓመት ናይ ሰላም፡ ቅሳነትን ዕቤትን ዝያዳ ከኣ  ካብ ወጽዓ ናብ ራህዋ መሰጋገሪት ዓመት ትኹነልካ” ንብሎ።

ኣይኮነንዶ ካብ ዓመት ናብ  ዓመት ነዊሕ ጉዕዞ ክትሰግር እንከለኻ፡ ሓጺር ተጓዒዝካ ናብቲ ዝተጸበኻዮ ክትበጽሕ እንከለኻ ምሕጓስን ምምስጋንን ልሙድ እዩ። በቲ ዝሓለፈ ምሕጓስ ጥራይ ዘይኮነ፡ መጻኢኻ ዝሓሸ ምእንቲ ክኾነልካ ሰሰናዩ ምትምናይ እውን ናይ ግድን ስለ ዝኾነ፡ ናይ ኤርትራን ህዝባን መጻኢ ብሩህ ክኸውን ናይ ኩልና ባህጊ እዩ። እንተኾነ ባህጊ ብግብራዊ ስራሕን ጽንዓትን እምበር ብትምኒትን ትጽቢትን ዝረጋገጽ ስለ ዘይኮነ፡ ኩልና እቶም ጸጽቡቑ በሃግቲ፡ ኣብ ዘዘለናዮ እሞ ከኣ ሓቢርና በበቲ እንኽእሎ፡ ክንሳተፍን ከነበርክትን በዚ ኣጋጣሚ ድልዉነትና ከነሕድስ ይግበኣና።

ቃልሲ ካብቲ ዘለኻዮ ዝሓሸ ኩነታት ንምፍጣር ዝግበር ናይ ሓባር ጻዕሪ እምበር፡ ውሱናት ወገናት ብዘይ ዝጭበጥ ምኽንያት ንጹሃት ሰባት  ዝድህኽሉ ኣይኮነን። ብዛዕባ መጻኢ ምሕሳብ ማለት ዝሓሸ ምጽባይን ምምዕዳውን ማለት እዩ። ንሕና ኤርትራውያን እውን ኣብ ምፍናው 2020 ኮይና፡ እንምነዮን እንጽበዮን ዝሓሸት ዓመተ-2021 እዩ። እዛ ንቕበላ ዘለና ዓመት ከምተን ቅድሚኣ ዝነበራ ኮነ ድሕሪኣ ዝመጻ ብማዕረ ዝተዋህበትና ናጻ ህያብ እያ። ዝሓሸት እንገብራ ከኣ ንሕና ኢና። ነዛ ነፋንዋ ዘለና ዓመት “ደሓን ኩኒ” ክንብላ እንከለና፡ ብጥሪኡ ዘይኮነ፡ ከመይ ከም ዝነበረት ሓደሓደ ነጥብታት ምጥቃስ፡ ኣብ ቀጻሊት ዓመት እንታይ ከም ዝጽበየና ንምምልኻት ጠቓሚ እዩ።

2020 ብመንጽር ዓለም ምዝርዛርን ምድህሳስን ንኸይገፍሓና ብሓጺሩ “ኣሻቓሊት  ከም ዝነበረት ርዱእ’ዩ”  ኢልካያ ምሕላፍ ተመራጺ እዩ። ብደረጃ ሃገርና ኤርትራ ከኣ እቲ ንዓመታት ዝተነድቀ ወጽዓ ህግዲፍ ኣብ ልዕሊ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ መሊሱ ዝበኣሰላ እምበር ጩራ ራህዋን ለውጥን ዝተራእየላ ኣይነበረትን። እኳ ደኣ ህግዲፍ ተላባዒ ሕማም ኮቪድ-19  መዝሚዙ፡ ቀረብን ካልእ ምድላውን ኣብ ዘየብሉ ኩነታት ብዝፈጠሮ ወጥርን ዕጽዋን ህዝብና ዝያዳ ዝሓለፋ ዓመታት ዝተሻቐለላን ሕሰም ዝረኣየላን ዓመት ኮይና እያ ትሓልፍ ዘላ። እቲ ዕርቃን፡ ጥሜት፡ ስደት፡ ማእሰርትን ቅትለትን ብኩራት ኩሉ መሰረታዊ  ሰብኣውን ዲሞክራስያውን መሰላትን ዝያዳ ዝሓለፋ ዓመታት ዝተራእየላ ዓመት ኮይና እያ ትገድፈና ዘላ።

እዛ ዝሓለፈት ዓመት ንኤርትራዊ ጉዳይና እውን ዝለከመ ኣብ ኢትዮጵያ ክልል ትግራይ ዘሕዝን ኣዕናዊ ውግእ ዝተጋህደላ እያ። እዚ ውግእ ዞባዊ መልክዕ ሒዙ ብምምጽኡ እዛ እንኣትዋ ዘሎና ዓመት 2021’ውን ናይዚ ግዳይ ተረካቢት ኮይና እናተሓመሰት ከይትሓልፍ ዘሰክፍ እዩ። እቲ ኣዝዩ ዘተሓሳስብ ከኣ ጉጅለ ህግደፍ፡ ንኤርትራውያን ዝምልከት ኣብ ሃገርና ዝዓሞ ዋኒን ከም ዝሰኣነ፡ መራሒኡ ዲክታቶር ኢሳያስ ኣፈወርቂ  ብዝሃንደሶ፡ ረብሓ ኮነ ፈቓድ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኣብ ዘየብሉ፡ ሓይልታት ምክልኻል ኤርትራ ኣብቲ ኣብ ትግራይ ዝካየድ ዘሎ ውግእ ብገዚፍ ዓቕሚ ምስታፉ እዩ።  2021 ካብ 2020 ትርከቦ ካብ ዘላ ብደሆታት ኣብ ርእሲቲ ኤርትራዊ ዘቤታዊ ዋኒናት እዚ ዝኸበደ እዩ። ጉጅለ ህግዲፍ ነዚ ኣብ ኢትዮጵያ ንክእጐድ ዘበርከተሉ ውግእ መዝሚዙን ንዓለም ለኻዊ ሰብኣዊ ሕግታትን ቻርተራትን ጥሒሱን ኣብ ልዕሊ ኣብ ትግራይ ዝነበሩ ኤርትራውያን ስደተኛታት ዝፈጸሞ በደል እውን ካብ ኣሉታዊ ምዕባለታት ዓመተ-2020 እዩ።

በቲ ካልእ መዳይ ንሕና ሓይልታት ለውጢ ኤርትራውያን፡ ኣብ ዝሓለፈ ዓመት ብዘመዝገብናዮ ኣውንታ  ክንሕበን ይግባኣና። ምኽንያቱ ንወሳኒ ዓወትና ሰረት ክኾኑ ዝኽእሉ ስራሓት ኣበጋጊስና ስለ ዘለና። ንእሽቶ ከይሓዝካ ናብ ዓብይ ውሑድ ከይሓዝካ ከኣ ናብ ብዙሕ ምስጋር ኣይከኣልን ኢዩ። ካብዚ ብዘይፍለ ከኣ በቲ ዘምከናዮ ዕድላት ክንሓስብን ክንጠዓስን ናይ ግድን እዩ። ብፍላይ ከኣ ሎሚኸ በቲ ኣብ ኢድና ዘሎ ዓቕሚ፡ በሪኽና ምእንቲ ክንርአ “እንታይ  ንግበር?” ንዝብል መሰረታዊ  ሕቶ ቅልጡፍ መልሲ ክንረኽበሉ ግድን እዩ።

ኣብ 2020 ካብቲ ኣብ ደንበ ተቓወምቲ ሓይልታት ህጹጽ ተደላይነት ዝነበሮ ሓድነት ሓይልታት ተቓውሞ ኣብ ዝምልከት ከምቲ ንጽበዮኳ እንተዘይኮነ፡ ብኣዝዩ ዘገምታዊ ቅልጣፈ እናተጐዓዝና፡ ዝተወሰነ ርሕቀት ኬድና ኣለና። ኣብ ትሕቲ ኣወሃሃዲ ኣካል ምጥርናፍ ፖለቲካዊ ሓይልታት ኤርትራ (ፖሓኤ) ዝተፈላለያ ሓይልታት ዕማም ኣብ ምምስራት ምብጻሕና ሓደ ተስፋ ዝህብ ስጉምቲ እዩ። እዘን ሓይልታት ዕማም ዝያዳ ኣድማዕቲ ከም ዝኾና ምግባር ከኣ ኣብ 2021 እውን ኣገዳሲ ዕማምና ኮይኑ ዝቕጽል እዩ። እዚ ናይ ውሱናት ዕማም ዘይኮነ፡ ንኹልና ዝምልከት ስለ ዝኾነ፡ ኤርትራዊ ህዝባዊ ምልዕዓላትን ምንቅስቓሳትን እውን ንዓመተ-2021 ብመንጽርዚ ክቕበልዋ ተስፋና ልዑል እዩ።

ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኣብ ዓዲ ይሃሉ ኣብ ወጻኢ፡ እዛ ንኣትዋ ዘለና ዓመት  ንጉጅለ ህግዲፍ ኣወጊድካ ዓወት ዝረጋገጸላ ክትከውን ብትስፉው መንፈስን ሕራነን ክቕበላ ይግበኦ። ሒዝናዮ ዘለና ናይ ለውጢ ጉዕዞ፡ ካብ ጸልማት ናብ ብርሃን እምበር፡ ካብ ብርሃን ናብ ጸልማት ኣይኮነን። ስለዚ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኣብዛ ንርከባ ዘለና ዓመት እቲ ብርሑቕ ነማዕድዎ ዘለና ብርሃን መሊኡ ምእንቲ ክበርህ ንኹሉ ክኢሉ ቃልሱ ዘሕይለላ ክትከውን ኣብዚ ኣጋጣሚ ንጽወዖ።

መላእ ኣባላት ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ (ሰዲህኤ)፡ ኣብዛ ነፋንዋ ዘለና ዓመት ብመሰረት ናይ ሰልፎም ፖለቲካዊ መደብ ዕዮን ቅዋምን ዝነኣድ ጽንዓትን ተወፋይነት ኣርእዮም እዮም። ኣብ ሰልፋዊ  ግቡእን ሓላፍነትን ጥራይ ከይተሓጽሩ ከኣ ኣብ ኩሉ ኤርትራዊ ናይ ለውጢ መድረኻት ብምሉእ ዓቕሞም ከበርክቱ ጸኒሖም። ኣብዛ እንርከባ ዘለና ዓመት 2021 እውን ነዚ ዝጸንሐ ኣበርክተኦም ከም ዘዛይድዎ እምነትና ልዑል እዩ።

Published in EPDP Editorial
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Wednesday, 30 December 2020 13:13

The wonderful work by Hotline for Refugees and Migrants in Israel

Written by

DECEMBER 29, 2020  NEWS

For those who don’t live in Israel, Hotline for Refugees and Migrants has for years been a critical source of support for refugees. Their work has helped countless Ethiopian, Eritrean and Sudanese who fled to Israel, hoping for asylum. Sadly, the Israeli state regards them as “infiltrators” and only a handful are granted full refugee status.

Hotline for Refugees and Migrants fights for their rights.
Dear friends,
If there were more hours in a day and more days in a week, I would be happy to serve in additional positions in the Hotline, and in other human rights organizations as well. In light of the unfortunate reality that time is finite, I have to make do with what I have by prioritizing. In recent years, I have devoted an increasing amount of my time to researching and writing reports. But why bother writing research reports when the average Israeli only reads headlines?

After all these years, I have learned that there is great value in documenting the data, testimonies, and information pertaining to the many injustices faced by migrants and asylum seekers in Israel. I have seen first-hand that the accumulation of information in a systematic manner has value. For example, it is possible that four instances of violence against migrants at the hands of immigration inspectors in a single year horrifies only my colleagues and me. But when they are part of a long pattern of violence that takes place each year, I can prove that they are not just four one-off events, but a pattern of conduct that must be eradicated and monitored so that it never happens again.

When we initiate a news article about a migrant that we were able to release after a decade of administrative detention, which he was subject to solely because the State failed to deport him, some readers do feel passionately, and agree that we’ve righted a long injustice. But when we publish reports year after year recounting the large number of migrants in administrative detention, held for years without trial and without the prospect of deportation, we make progress towards the day  when decision-makers will also come to understand that this is a serious violation of human rights.
Our research reports are displayed at the entrance to our office.
While our Crisis Intervention Center (CIC)’s activity is often a sprint – to immediately prevent illegal and life-threatening deportations, for example – work on our research reports is a long-distance run lasting all year round. First, we think together with the CIC and legal staff about the main injustices suffered by migrants and asylum seekers, which we most want to share with the Israeli public. Subsequently, we collect information from those clients who experienced the relevant injustice, as well as Hotline staff and volunteers who worked on this issue. Then begins the work of writing, editing, designing, printing, publishing in the media and sending the report to relevant decision-makers.

This year we published three reports: Immigration Detention in Israel, Annual Monitoring Report – 2019; Trapped in Limbo: Israel’s Policy of Avoiding Making Decisions on Well-Founded Asylum Claims; and A Means To An End: Violation of Labor Rights by Foreign Contracting Companies in Israel, written together with our friends from Kav LaOved.

After publishing our reports, we initiate media attention on issues plaguing the community and use the information in policy advancement meetings with decision-makers. Many other actors use our reports, including students writing academic papers, lawyers writing petitions, and even judges crafting judgements in favor of migrants’ rights.
Help us disseminate knowledge that advances migrants’ rights
This year, we were assisted by a dedicated group of “Geeks for Human Rights” hi-tech volunteers: Amitai Netzer Tzernik, Amir Livneh Bar-On, Gilad Keinan, Rotem Lamfrom, Hagar Shilo, and Shai Efrati. These “Geeks” spent many hours designing and building an innovative tool for us, which allows us to process data from thousands of transcripts from hearings in the Detention Review Tribunal. Thanks to their work, we were able to extract significant and extensive information that contributed enormously to our annual detention monitoring report.

So, even if we do not succeed in getting the average Israeli to read 66 pages about the conditions in Israeli immigration detention, decision-makers who read the report, or see the headlines, or hear about court judgements will surely understand the intensity of the authorities’ failures and may even work to resolve them. Help us continue to explore and illuminate injustices as we enter 2021.
Yours,
Sigal Rozen
Public Policy Director
The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants
Tuesday, 29 December 2020 12:22

Refugees Come Under Fire as Old Foes Fight in Concert in Ethiopia

Written by

DECEMBER 28, 2020  ETHIOPIA, NEWS

“Forces from neighboring Eritrea have joined the war in northern Ethiopia, and have rampaged through refugee camps committing human rights violations, officials and witnesses say.”

Source: New York Times

Forces from neighboring Eritrea have joined the war in northern Ethiopia, and have rampaged through refugee camps committing human rights violations, officials and witnesses say.

Credit…Eduardo Soteras/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Declan Walsh and Simon Marks

  • Dec. 28, 2020, 3:00 a.m. ET

NAIROBI, Kenya — As fighting raged across the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia last month, a group of soldiers arrived one day at Hitsats, a small hamlet ringed by scrubby hills that was home to a sprawling refugee camp of 25,000 people.

The refugees had come from Eritrea, whose border lies 30 miles away, part of a vast exodus in recent years led by desperate youth fleeing the tyrannical rule of their leader, one of Africa’s longest-ruling autocrats. In Ethiopia, Eritrea’s longtime adversary, they believed they were safe.

But the soldiers who burst into the camp on Nov. 19 were also Eritrean, witnesses said. Mayhem quickly followed — days of plunder, punishment and bloodshed that ended with dozens of refugees being singled out and forced back across the border into Eritrea.

For weeks, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia has denied that soldiers from Eritrea — a country that Ethiopia once fought in an exceptionally brutal war — had entered Tigray, where Mr. Abiy has been fighting since early November to oust rebellious local leaders.

In fact, according to interviews with two dozen aid workers, refugees, United Nations officials and diplomats — including a senior American official — Eritrean soldiers are fighting in Tigray, apparently in coordination with Mr. Abiy’s forces, and face credible accusations of atrocities against civilians. Among their targets were refugees who had fled Eritrea and its harsh leader, President Isaias Afwerki.

The deployment of Eritreans to Tigray is the newest element in a melee that has greatly tarnished Mr. Abiy’s once-glowing reputation. Only last year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with Mr. Isaias. Now it looks like the much-lauded peace deal between the former enemies in fact laid the groundwork for them to make war against Tigray, their mutual adversary.
Credit…Eduardo Soteras/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“Abiy has invited a foreign country to fight against his own people,” said Awol Allo, a former Abiy supporter turned outspoken critic who lectures in law at Keele University in Britain. “The implications are huge.”

Mr. Abiy insists he was forced to move his army quickly in Tigray after the region’s leaders, who had dominated Ethiopia for 27 years until Mr. Abiy took over in 2018, mutinied against his government. But in the early weeks of the fight, Ethiopian forces were aided by artillery fired by Eritrean forces from their side of the border, an American official said.

Since then, Mr. Abiy’s campaign has been led by a hodgepodge of forces, including federal troops, ethnic militias and, evidently, soldiers from Eritrea.

At Hitsats, Eritrean soldiers initially clashed with local Tigrayan militiamen in battles that rolled across the camp. Scores of people were killed, including four Ethiopians employed by the International Rescue Committee and the Danish Refugee Council, aid workers said.

The chaos deepened in the days that followed, when Eritrean soldiers looted aid supplies, stole vehicles and set fire to fields filled with crops and a nearby forested area used by refugees to collect wood, aid workers said. The camp’s main water tank was riddled with gunfire and emptied.

Their accounts are supported by satellite images, obtained and analyzed by The New York Times, that show large patches of newly scorched earth in and around the Hitsats camp after the Eritrean forces swept through.

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CreditCredit…By Christiaan Triebert, Dmitriy Khavin, Christoph Koettl and David Botti

Later, soldiers singled out several refugees — camp leaders, by some accounts — bundled them into vehicles and sent them back across the border to Eritrea.

“She’s crying, crying,” said Berhan Okbasenbet, an Eritrean now in Sweden whose sister was driven from Hitsats to Keren, the second-largest city in Eritrea, alongside a son who was shot in the fighting. “It’s not safe for them in Eritrea. It’s not a free country.”

Ms. Berhan asked not to publish their names, fearing reprisals, but provided identifying details that The New York Times verified with an Ethiopian government database of refugees.

Mr. Abiy’s spokeswoman did not respond to questions for this article. However, a few weeks ago the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, bluntly asked Mr. Abiy if Eritrean troops were fighting in his war. “He guaranteed to me that they have not entered Tigrayan territory,” Mr. Guterres told reporters on Dec. 9.

Those denials have been met with incredulity from Western and United Nations officials.

The Trump administration has demanded that all Eritrean troops immediately leave Tigray, a United States official said, citing reports of widespread looting, killings and other potential war crimes.

It remains unclear how many Eritreans are in Tigray, or precisely where, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss delicate diplomacy. A communications blackout over Tigray since Nov. 4 has effectively shielded the war from outside view.

But that veil has slowly lifted in recent weeks, as witnesses fleeing Tigray or reaching telephones have begun to give accounts of the fighting, the toll on civilians and pervasive presence of Eritrean soldiers.

In interviews, some described fighters with Eritrean accents and wearing Ethiopian uniforms. Others said they witnessed televisions and refrigerators being looted from homes and businesses. A European official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential findings, said some of those stolen goods were being openly sold in the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

Three sources, including a different Western official, said they had received reports of an Eritrean attack on a church in Dinglet, in eastern Tigray, on Nov. 30. By one account, 35 people whose names were provided were killed.

The reports of Eritrean soldiers sweeping through Tigray are especially jarring to many Ethiopians.

Ethiopia and Eritrea were once the best of enemies, fighting a devastating border war in the late 1990s that cost 100,000 lives. Although the two countries are now officially at peace, many Ethiopians are shocked that the old enemy is roaming freely inside their borders.

“How did we let a state that is hostile to our country come in, cross the border and brutalize our own people?” said Tsedale Lemma, editor in chief of the Addis Standard newspaper. “This is an epic humiliation for Ethiopia’s pride as a sovereign state.”

Credit…Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Mr. Abiy has already declared victory in Tigray and claimed, implausibly, that no civilians have died. But last week his government offered a $260,000 reward for help in capturing fugitive leaders from the regional governing party, the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front — a tacit admission that Mr. Abiy has failed to achieve a major stated goal of his campaign.

In fact, the biggest winner so far may be his Eritrean ally, Mr. Isaias.

Since coming to power in 1993, Mr. Isaias has won a reputation as a ruthless and dictatorial figure who rules with steely determination at home and who meddles abroad to exert his influence.

For a time he supported the Islamist extremists of the Shabab in Somalia, drawing U.N. sanctions on Eritrea, before switching his loyalties to the oil-rich — and Islamist-hating — United Arab Emirates.

Inside Eritrea, Mr. Isaias enforced a harsh system of endless military service that fueled a tidal wave of migration that has driven over 500,000 Eritreans — perhaps one-tenth of the population — into exile.

The peace pact signed by the two leaders initially raised hopes for a new era of stability in the region. Ultimately, it amounted to little. By this summer, borders that opened briefly had closed again.

But Mr. Abiy and Mr. Isaias remained close, bonded by their shared hostility toward the rulers of Tigray.

Credit…Tiksa Negeri/Reuters

They had different reasons to distrust the Tigrayans. For Mr. Abiy the Tigray People’s Liberation Front was a dangerous political rival — a party that had once led Ethiopia and, once he became prime minister, began to flout his authority openly.

For Mr. Isaias, though, it was a deeply personal feud — a story of grievances, bad blood and ideological disputes that stretched back to the 1970s, when Eritrea was fighting for independence from Ethiopia, and Mr. Isaias joined with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front to fight an Ethiopian Marxist dictator.

Those differences widened after 1991, when Eritrea became independent and the Tigrayans had come to power in Ethiopia, culminating in a devastating border war.

As tensions rose between Mr. Abiy and the T.P.L.F., Mr. Isaias saw an opportunity to settle old scores and to reassert himself in the region, said Martin Plaut, author of “Understanding Eritrea” and a senior research fellow at the University of London.

“It’s typical Isaias,” said Mr. Plaut. “He seeks to project power in ways that are completely unimaginable for the leader of such a small country.”

Aid groups warn that, without immediate access, Tigray will soon face a humanitarian disaster. The war erupted just as villagers were preparing to harvest their crops, in a region already grappling with swarms of locusts and recurring drought.

Refugees are especially vulnerable. According to the United Nations, 96,000 Eritrean refugees were in Tigray at the start of the fight, although some camps have since emptied. An internal U.N. report from Dec. 12, seen by The Times, described the situation at Hitsats as “extremely dire,” with no food or water.

Farther north at Shimelba camp, Eritrean soldiers beat refugees, tied their hands and left them under the sun all day, said Efrem, a resident who later fled to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

“They poured milk on their bodies so they would be swarmed with flies,” he said.

Later, Efrem said, the soldiers rounded up 40 refugees and forced them to travel back across the border, to Eritrea.

Declan Walsh reported from Nairobi, Kenya, and Simon Marks from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. contributed reporting from Washington, an Christiaan Triebert from New York

Tuesday, 29 December 2020 12:21

A call to stop the killings and looting in Tigray by Eritrean Forces

Written by

DECEMBER 28, 2020  ETHIOPIA, NEWS

A call to stop the killings and looting in Tigray by Eritrean Forces

Gradually, as the two-month-old war in Ethiopia unfolded, the evidence of the involvement of Eritrean Forces in the Tigray conflict has mounted. Despite attempts by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Government to restrict access to the war zone, news has filtered out. On Sunday, 20 December 2020 and for the first time, an independent Belgian news outlet confirmed in gruesome detail the atrocities committed by Eritrean Forces.  We now have first-hand reports of what is taking place. These reports are supported by parties in Tigray like the Assimba Democratic Party, that opposes the ruling Prosperity party. Eritrean Forces are deep inside Ethiopia and fighting alongside Federal Forces and Amhara Militia. This war has become an international conflict with catastrophic ramification across the whole region and beyond.

We, the undersigned, acknowledge with heavy hearts and great sadness the evidence that Eritrean Forces have undertaken and participated in what can only be described as war crimes. Atrocities, including the killing of civilians and rape of women, have been perpetrated. This has been accompanied by widespread looting, including centuries-old religious artifacts, by organised groups that are coordinated from Eritrea. We hear of lorries being sent to accompany Eritrean units whose specific mission is to remove anything of value that they can lay their hands on. This loot has been taken to Eritrea, most of it stockpiled with some appearing in local markets.

These are illegal acts. They are a stain on the great values and tradition of the Eritrean people who fought with such courage for so many years for our independence. They bring shame to the memory of our martyrs who laid down their lives for our nation. They will also put a further strain on the relationship between Eritreans and Tigryeans that is yet to fully heal from the 1998-2000 bloody border war. We commend our people for refraining from purchasing this loot. We support the Catholic Church’s and other community leaders’ call on people not to buy stolen goods.

These vile and despicable acts are coordinated and conducted on behalf of President Isaias Afwerki and those around him. Those that carried out these crimes must be held to account. We encourage Eritreans to come forward with the names of people involved and the specific types of crimes they committed.

These crimes go against Eritrean core values of decency, respect for fellow human beings, honesty and integrity. Theft and looting are frowned upon and thieves treated as ‘outcasts’ in our society. These values are ingrained in Eritrean society and make us who we are. The abuses, looting and killings that are now being perpetrated in Tigray are a clear manifestation of the atrocities our people endured in the hands of President Isaias over the last three decades. They are cowardly, disgusting, abhorrent and shameful acts.

We call on Prime Minster Abiy, who started this war in the name of “law enforcement” to protect his own people from abuses, looting and killings by a foreign power. If the Prime Minister is unwilling or incapable of protecting his own people, we ask the international community to head the call by the UN Human Rights Commission for an international investigation into these heinous crimes. We plead with the international community to intervene before it is too late.

As Eritreans, we say this unequivocally: the people of Tigray, like all the people of Ethiopia, are our brothers and sisters. We are determined to build an Eritrea that is at peace with itself and its neighbours.

May 2021 bring peace and prosperity for the long-suffering people of the Horn of Africa.

Eritrea Focus

www.eritrea-focus.org

Global Initiative to Empower Eritrean Grassroots Movement

www.change.org/p/global-initiative-to-empower-eritrean-grassroots-movement-gieegm-an-urgent-call-to-all-eritreans-worldwide

Human Rights Concern Eritrea

WWW.HRC – Eritrea – Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (hrc-eritrea.org)

Release Eritrea

www.release-eritrea.org

Yiakl (Bayto – UK)

Yiakl Home

————————– ENDS ————————

Monday, 28 December 2020 20:23

ሽማግለ ዞባ ኤውሮጳ ስሩዕ ኣኼባኡ ኣካይዱ

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ሽማግለ ዞባ ኤውሮጳ ስሩዕ ኣኼባኡ ኣካይዱ

ብዕለት 18 ታሕሳስ 2020 ሽማግለ ዞባ ኤውሮጳ ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ስሩዕ ኣኼባኡ ኣካይዱ። እዚ ኣኼባዚ ኩለንተና ዓመታዊ ገምጋም ምንቅስቓስ ጨናፍር ዞባ ኤውሮጳ ሰዲህኤ ዝዓለመ ምንባሩ ተፈሊጡ። ነዚ ኣብ ምስልሳል ካብ ኩሎም ምምሕዳራት ጨናፍር ሰልፊ ብሓፈሻ መስኖታቱ ሓልዩ ዝቐረበ ጸብጻባት ኣተናቒቁን ተቐቢሉን።

ነዚ መሰረት ብምግባር፡ ሽማግለ ዞባ ኤውሮጳ፡ ኻብ ኹለን ጨናፍር ናይቲ ዞባ ዝቐረበ ጸብጻባት ሓደ ብሓደ ብምምልካት መዚኖም። ንትሕዝቶ ጸብጻባት ጨናፍር፡ ብጽፈቱን ኣገባብ ኣቐራርቡኡን፡ ሕድሕድ ስጥመት ኣባላት ምምሕዳራትን፡ ተወፋይነቶምን ኣድኒቆምን ኣመስጊኖምን።

ካብ ትሕዝቶ ጸብጻባት ጨናፍር ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዞባ ኤውሮጳ፡

ሃገራዊ ዕማማት

ሰልፋዊ ዕማማት

ኢድ ኣእታውነት ህግዲፍ ኣብ ውግእ መንግስቲ ኢትዮጵያን ክልል ትግራይን ዝብሉ ካብቶም ቀንድን እዋናውያንን ትሕዝቶ ናይቲ ዝቐረበ ጸብጻባት ምንባሮም ድማ ተራእዩ።

ኣባለት ሽማግለ ዞባ ኤውሮጳ ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኣብዝቀረበ ጸብጻባትን ናይዚ ኣብዚ ሒዝናዮ ዘለና ሰሙን  ዝፋኖ ዓመት 2020 ዝተሰላሰለ ስራሕቶም ብደቂቕ ድሕሪ ምግምጋም፡ ንዝጸንሐ ሕጽረታት ብምምላእ፡ ነቲ ሓያል ጎኒ ናይቲ ዞባ ብምዕቃብ ናይ ዝመጽእ ዓመት 2021 ክፍጸሙ ዘለዎም መደባት ሓንጺጾም። 

ንህልዊ ኩነታት ህዝብን ሃገርን ኤርትራ ኣብ ግምት ብምእታው፣ ነቲ ክሳብ ሎሚ ዝተሰኣሰለ ሓባራዊ ዕዮን፣ ኣብ መስርሕ ዘሎ ናይ ምውህሃድ መደባትን ብምዕቃብን ኣብ ሸትኡ ንምብጻሕን፣ ኣባላት ሰልፊ ምስ ኹሎም ንስለ ህዝብን ሃገርን ዝቓለሱ ኣባላት ኤርትራውያን ሰልፍታትን ውድባትን ስቪካውያን ማሕበራትን ኮታስ ምስ ተቓወምቲ ሓይሊታት ደለይቲ ፍትሒን ለውጥን ሓቢሮም ክሰርሑን ጻዕርታቶም ከሓድሱን ኣገዳሲ ከምዝኮነ ኣመልኪቶም።

ሽማግለ ዞባ ነቲ ብኣቢዪ  ኣሕመድ ዝመራሕ ስርዓት ብልጽግና ኢትዮጱያ፡ ኣብ ልዕሊ ተጋሩ ደቂ ሃገር ዘውርዶ ዘሎ ንሕዝያ ዘይብሉ ሃስያ ኲናት ኣጥቢቁ ብምኩናን፣ ከምኡ’ውን ነቲ ኢሳያስ ኣፈወርቂ  ኣብ ልዕሊ ኤርትራውያን ጥራሕ ከይተወሰነ ምስ ኣቢይ ኣሕመድ ናይ ዕንወት ቃልኪዳን ኣሲሩ ኣብ ልዕሊ ተጋሩ ዝፍጽሞ ዘሎ ኣረሜናዊ ጨፍጫፍን  ቕትለትን፡  የዕናዊ ተግባራትን ሓሪኖም ንኽቃለስዎ ብዘይ ወዓል ሕደር ይጽውዕ።

ኣብ መወዳእታ ኣኼባ ሽማግለ ዞባ፣ ነቲ ኣብ 2020 ዝተመዝገበ ጥምረትን ተወፋይነትን ኣባላት ሰልፊ ኣመጒሱን ንኢዱን ኣኼባ ደምዲሙ።

፡

Monday, 28 December 2020 10:40

Tigray crisis: Eritrea’s role in Ethiopian conflict

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DECEMBER 28, 2020  ETHIOPIA, NEWS

The UN refugee agency said it had received “an overwhelming number of credible reports” that refugees had been killed, abducted and forcibly returned to the one-party state during the current conflict. Although it did not say who was behind the abductions, a refugee told the BBC that it was Eritrean soldiers who loaded them onto lorries in the town of Adigrat and took them across the border to Adi Quala town.

Source: BBC

Tigray crisis: Eritrea’s role in Ethiopian conflict

Eritrea's leader, Isaias Afwerki, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed" 

In a sign of the changing political fortunes of a man who was once a pariah, Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki has proven to be a staunch ally of Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize winner and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, giving his troops much-needed support to fight the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in Tigray.

In a recent address to the Ethiopian parliament, the Nobel laureate revealed that Eritrea, a highly militarised one-party state, had fed, clothed and armed retreating Ethiopian soldiers when the TPLF first attacked them and seized their bases in Tigray, an Ethiopian region which borders Eritrea.

Mr Abiy said this made it possible for them to return to fight the TPLF, a former guerrilla movement with about 250,000 forces, until it was ousted from power in the region on 28 November.

“The Eritrean people have shown us… they are a relative standing by us on a tough day,” he added.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES
image captionThe conflict in Tigray has devastated the lives of many people

This was a significant acknowledgement by Mr Abiy, though he did not go as far as to admit claims that Mr Isaias, had also sent troops to help defeat the TPLF, a long-time foe of the Eritrean leader who has been in power since 1993.

Hospital allegedly shelled

The claim that Eritrean troops are fighting in Tigray was made by the TPLF, civilians fleeing the conflict, and Eritreans inside and outside the country.

“Isaias is sending young Eritreans to die in Tigray. The war will also further weaken the economy. But Isaias will be in power for a long time. He lets people fight for their survival so that they do not fight for their freedom,” said Paulos Tesfagiorgis, an Eritrean human rights campaigner who was forced into exile by the regime in Asmara.

A US state department spokesperson also said there were “credible reports” of the presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray, and called it a “grave development”.

Both governments deny the reports, with Eritrea’s foreign minister, Osman Saleh Mohammed, describing them as “propaganda”.

As for UN chief António Gueterres, he said Mr Abiy had assured him there were no Eritrean troops in Tigray, except in territory that Ethiopia had agreed to hand over following a historic peace deal between the two nations in 2018.

The deal ended the “no war-no peace” situation that had existed between the two nations since their 1998-2000 border war, which left up to 100,000 people dead. It earned Mr Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize, though the territory had not been transferred to Eritrea by the time the conflict in Tigray had started in early November.

Mr Abiy’s government has heavily restricted access to Tigray for the media, UN agencies and human rights bodies, making it difficult to verify reports or to investigate allegations of atrocities made against all sides in the conflict – including the shelling of a hospital from Eritrean territory.

Eritrea has not commented on the alleged shelling, mentioned in a statement by the UN human rights chief. Mr Abiy denies that his troops have killed a single civilian in Tigray.

“This war has been fought in absolute darkness. No-one knows the true scale of the conflict or its impact,” said Kenya-based Horn of Africa analyst Rashid Abdi.

Eritrean forces accused of looting

US-based analyst Alex de Waal said he had been informed by a UN source that the conflict had caused the “large-scale displacement” of people in the region, the poorest in Ethiopia with a population of about five million.

“If it goes on like this, there will be mass starvation in Tigray, and a population that is embittered and angry,” Mr de Waal said.

He added that he had also learned from reliable sources in Tigray, including clerics, that Eritrean forces were involved in looting.

“We are hearing that they are even stealing doors [and] bathroom fittings,” he said.

Other Eritreans said that soldiers, including their relatives, were fighting TPLF forces on several fronts, and some of them were even wearing Ethiopian camouflage.

Eritrea insists that it does not have troops in Tigray, with its foreign minister quoted as saying: “We are not involved.”

But exiled former Eritrean diplomat Abdella Adem said he personally knew soldiers who had been wounded in combat, while a source at the public hospital in Eritrea’s southern town of Senafe told the BBC that both Eritrean and Ethiopian troops had been treated there.

‘Isaias seeks TPLF’s liquidation’

Other sources in Eritrea said that Ethiopian troops had also been seen regrouping around the central town of Hagaz, and taking their wounded to the nearby Gilas Military Hospital.

UK-based Eritrean academic Gaim Kibreab said he believed that Mr Isaias had sent troops to Tigray to pursue the “liquidation” of the TPLF, which, he added, has been the Eritrean leader’s key objective since the 1998-2000 border war.

The TPLF was in power at the time in Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray regional government.

A military tank graveyard was built in Eritrea following the 1961-1991 independence war

“In the war of 1998-2000, the TPLF humiliated the president [Mr Isaias] by taking over the small village of Badme. Even when an international tribunal ruled that the village belonged to Eritrea, the TPLF refused to withdraw from the occupied place for 18 years.

“The president has been waiting for this moment and the TPLF underestimated his craftiness and patience at its own peril,” Mr Gaim added.

Missiles fired at Eritrea

Mr Isaias’ supporters insist that Eritrean troops have not crossed into Tigray, saying they had only pursued the objective of regaining sovereign territory by taking over Badme, and surrounding areas, without causing casualties.

Expressing a different view, Mr Paulos said: “Badme is back in Eritrean hands, but there has been no public announcement about it because that is not Isaias’ main concern. He is still pushing on to crush the TPLF.

“Abiy started as a peacemaker and a reformer, but he then fell into the trap of seeking revenge against the TPLF, which is what Isaias wanted.”

Celebrations broke out at the Ethiopia-Eritrea border when it reopened in 2018

Mr Abiy says he tried to resolve differences with the TPLF peacefully, but was forced to act against it after it seized military bases in a night-time raid on 3 November, convincing him that it wanted to overthrow his government.

Although Mr Isaias rallied to his aid at the time, Eritrean state media has kept its audiences in the dark about the conflict, failing to even report on the TPLF-fired missiles that landed on the outskirts of the capital Asmara in early November, causing loud explosions that were heard by residents.

“Eritrean TV talks of bombs in Syria but when the missiles landed in Asmara, it said nothing,” noted exiled Eritrean former government official Dawit Fisehaye said.

In a tweet, Eritrea’s information minister Yemane Meskel said it was “pointless to amplify its [the TPLF’s] last-ditch, predictable, though inconsequential acts”.

‘Refugees abducted’

Internet access in Eritrea is limited and the country has no independent media and no opposition parties – the fate of 11 politicians and 17 journalists detained almost 20 years ago remains unknown.

Furthermore, military conscription is compulsory while job opportunities are limited, resulting in many people – especially youths – fleeing the country. About 100,000 had been living for years in UN camps in Tigray.

Eritrea has a population of more than 5.5 million

The UN refugee agency said it had received “an overwhelming number of credible reports” that refugees had been killed, abducted and forcibly returned to the one-party state during the current conflict.

Although it did not say who was behind the abductions, a refugee told the BBC that it was Eritrean soldiers who loaded them onto lorries in the town of Adigrat and took them across the border to Adi Quala town.

Eritrea has not commented on its alleged involvement, but it has previously accused the UN agency of “smear campaigns” and of trying to depopulate the country.

Mr Dawit said he did not believe that the regime would ever reform.

”There was no change in Eritrea up to now because the leadership did not want it and the demise of the TPLF will not change that. Expecting reform is a pipedream,” he added.

Sunday, 27 December 2020 20:28

መግለጺ ሓዘን

Written by
መግለጺ ሓዘን
Sunday, 27 December 2020 13:47

Sudan’s information minister accuses Ethiopian army of involvement in border attack

Written by

DECEMBER 26, 2020  ETHIOPIA, NEWS

A Sudanese military personnel seen in Khartoum, Sudan on July 21, 2020 [Mahmoud Hjaj / Anadolu Agency]

Source: Memo

Https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201226-sudans-information-minister-accuses-ethiopia-army-of-border-attack-involvement/

The Sudanese Minister of Information Faisal Mohamed Saleh has accused the Ethiopian army of being behind the attacks targeting Sudanese territory over the past few days, constituting the latest escalation in the discourse between the two countries on the ongoing border crisis.

The Sudanese minister confirmed that intelligence reports indicate that the weapons used in the attacks belong to the army, in a clear reference to Addis Ababa which denied any involvement in the attacks.

However, at the same time, Saleh expressed: “The Sudanese government welcomes any friendly and diplomatic solution to the differences with Ethiopia.”

Sudanese military sources confirmed that the Sudanese army had deployed additional military units in the eastern region of Wad Aroud, adjacent to the Ethiopian border, reported local media.

The Ethiopian militias also deployed military reinforcements, including troop carriers and artillery, west of the Abd Al-Rafia area near the Sudanese border, in anticipation of an upcoming military confrontation between the two sides.

Read: Ethiopia, Sudan agree solution to end unrest at border 

The border negotiations between Sudan and Ethiopia have reached a dead-end, following the failure of bilateral talks that took place in Khartoum.

The sources added that the two delegations would convey to their leadership the results of the talks and the obstacles facing the two parties during the negotiations that started last Tuesday, in light of the ongoing clashes.

Sources have previously indicated that the distance separating the two parties to the conflict does not exceed three kilometres. It has been suggested that the situation on the ground warns of a possible confrontation, especially after units of the Sudanese army responded on Wednesday to attacks launched by the militias targeting the Jabal Abu Tayyour area.

The Sudanese army launched a large-scale military operation in early November to recover agricultural lands seized by the Ethiopian militias with the support of the Ethiopian army.

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