US Senate calls for an immediate withdrawal of Eritrean troops from Tigray

Thursday, 20 May 2021 22:18 Written by Martin Plaut

MAY 20, 2021 MARTIN PLAUT ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Source: CNN

[Full text below]

The US Senate has unanimously passed a resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean troops from Ethiopia’s war-torn northern Tigray region, after a CNN investigation revealed that the soldiers were cutting off critical aid routes.

The resolution, sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman James E. Risch and passed by the Senate on Thursday, called on Eritrea to “immediately and fully withdraw its military forces from Ethiopia” and condemned human rights violations committed by the Eritrean military.

It also urged US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to ensure that a “full, independent, international investigation into all reports of human rights violations, abuses, and atrocities” committed in the course of the conflict is carried out and that those responsible be held accountable. Blinken called for such a probe on February 27, a day after investigations by CNN and Amnesty International into two separate massacres.

Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed in Tigray since November, when Abiy launched a major military operation against the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), sending in national troops and fighters from Ethiopia’s Amhara region.

CNN has previously reported that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea had crossed into Tigray and perpetrated extrajudicial killings, massacres, sexual violence and other human rights abuses.

The renewed drive for action by US lawmakers was prompted by CNN’s investigation, which revealed Eritrean soldiers were manning checkpoints in Tigray, obstructing and occupying key humanitarian aid routes, roaming the halls of one of the region’s few operating hospitals and threatening medical staff.

On May 12, Von Batten-Montague-York, the Washington, DC-based advocacy group that led the push for the resolution, said on Twitter that CNN’s report “confirms what we have briefed members of Congress: War crimes are being committed against civilians in Tigray.”

“We are doubling our push for passage of S.Res.97 and sanctions against Ethiopian and Eritrean officials guilty of crimes against civilians in Tigray,” the group added.

Despite pressure from the US, there has been no sign that Eritrean forces plan to exit the border region anytime soon.

The Senate on Thursday called on the Biden administration to “conduct and impose strict accountability measures on those found responsible” of human rights violations, opening the door for potential US sanctions.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, the New York Democrat who chairs the committee, have been leading a continued push for the Biden administration to “urgently use all available tools, including sanctions and other restrictive measures, to hold all perpetrators accountable and bring an end to this conflict.”

McCaul told CNN on Thursday that “there have been ample, credible reports from human rights groups and journalists on the continuing presence of Eritrean troops, and reports that have implicated them, and other armed actors, in human rights abuses, rape and other atrocities.

“It is clear that the Government of Ethiopia and the Government of Eritrea have not upheld their public commitment to withdraw Eritrean forces out of Tigray. Now we have this on-camera evidence from CNN.”

He argued that the “Biden administration needs to take action now to demonstrate we are serious when we demand accountability for atrocities.”

US Senate Resolution

That the Senate—

(1) calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia;

(2) condemns in the strongest terms all violence against civilians;

(3) calls on the Government of Eritrea to immediately and fully withdraw its military forces from Ethiopia, and condemns in the strongest terms any human rights violations, murder, looting, rape, and other crimes committed by the Eritrean military or any other forces in the Tigray Region or elsewhere in Ethiopia;

(4) strongly disapproves of the escalation of political tensions between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) into armed conflict;

(5) calls for the swift and complete restoration of electricity, banking, telephone, and internet services throughout the Tigray Region and other parts of Ethiopia where communications have been restricted;

(6) appreciates the willingness of Sudan to welcome refugees fleeing the conflict in the Tigray Region;

(7) urges the Government of Ethiopia to—

(A) take tangible steps toward improving humanitarian access in keeping with commitments made to the United Nations World Food Programme and Secretary of State Antony Blinken;

(B) pursue accountability for human rights abuses and atrocities; and

(C) make progress on other key issues with regard to the conflict in the Tigray Region and threats to regional stability following the visit of Senator Coons;

(8) calls on the Government of Ethiopia to—

(A) ensure that any apprehensions of TPLF members are carried out with the least possible use of force and that the rights to which those detained are entitled under Ethiopian and international law are fully respected;

(B) require the immediate and full withdrawal of Eritrean forces from Ethiopia;

(C) release all opposition leaders, supporters, and activists detained on the basis of their political activity and views as well as journalists detained on the basis of their reporting, and respect the rights of all Ethiopians to free expression and political participation, without discrimination based on ethnicity, ideology, or political affiliation; and

(D) convene a credible and countrywide process of national dialogue and reconciliation inclusive of all nonviolent political parties, ethnic communities, religious groups, and civil society organizations in Ethiopia to work toward the sustainable resolution of grievances and chart a democratic and peaceful path forward for the country;

(9) urges all parties to the conflict to—

(A) cease all hostilities, commit to a political solution for resolving existing differences, fully comply with international humanitarian law, and refrain from actions that could continue, spread, or escalate the conflict, particularly attacks on civilian targets;

(B) make demonstrable progress to guarantee unfettered and immediate humanitarian access, for personnel and supplies, to areas affected by the conflict, and take all possible steps to protect the safety of civilians, including refugees, displaced persons, and humanitarian aid workers; and

(C) allow for, and cooperate with, independent and transparent investigations of any alleged human rights abuses committed in the course of the conflict in the Tigray Region and other conflicts across Ethiopia, and hold perpetrators to account in a credible process; and

(10) urges the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, in coordination with the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies, to—

(A) engage at the highest levels with leaders of the Government of Ethiopia, the Government of Eritrea, and the TPLF to encourage the full cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of Eritrean forces, mitigate the humanitarian crisis that has emerged from the conflict, and support an inclusive process of national dialogue and reconciliation;

(B) immediately establish criteria to end the pause of all non-life-sustaining assistance to Ethiopia and support programming to meet immediate humanitarian needs, including of refugees and internally displaced persons, advance nonviolent conflict resolution and reconciliation throughout the country, and aid a democratic transition in Ethiopia;

(C) take continued actions to ensure that a “full, independent, international investigation into all reports of human rights violations, abuses, and atrocities” committed in the course of the conflict as called for by Secretary of State Blinken on February 27, 2021, is conducted, and impose strict accountability measures on those found responsible;

(D) use all diplomatic, developmental, and legal tools to prevent further ethnic-based violence and mass atrocities, including by non-state armed groups, and promote competitive multi-party democracy in Ethiopia; and

(E) maintain close coordination with international allies and multilateral organizations regarding efforts to address the conflict in the Tigray Region and other regions of Ethiopia and bring attention to the conflict in international fora, including the United Nations Security Council.

Amend the title so as to read: “A resolution calling on the Government of Ethiopia, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and other belligerents in the conflict in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia to cease all hostilities, protect human rights, allow unfettered humanitarian access, and cooperate with independent investigations of credible atrocity allegations.”.

US Ambassador to United Nations explains President Biden’s engagement with Tigray

Wednesday, 19 May 2021 11:20 Written by Eritrea Hub

MAY 19, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Source: US State Department Briefing

Digital Press Briefing with Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, Tuesday 18 May 2021

Introduction by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield

[Note: below is an extract of what she had to say]

Before I served in my current role as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, I spent most of my career working on the African continent, and I first visited Africa, I’m almost embarrassed to say, over 43 years ago. I fell in love with the continent, with the people, as you know, with the food and with the culture. And Africa is very much in my heart. It was an emotional experience for me 43 years ago, and it continues to be emotional for me today. I knew my ancestors came from this large and beautiful and diverse continent, and so I felt very, very proud at that moment to be on the continent. And I feel very proud to be working on issues related to the continent now.

Since then, my experiences working in Liberia and Kenya and Rwanda and Nigeria and the Gambia, and virtually every other corner of the continent, have deeply shaped who I am. So if there’s one message I’d love for you to deliver back home today, it’s that I miss you.

Moderator: Thank you. The next question, we will go to Ethiopia, a question from Tsedale Lemma of the Addis Standard out of Ethiopia. She writes, “Ethiopia is undergoing a tragic episode of manmade political violence, including a devastating civil war in Tigray that has now left more than 5 million people facing a potential famine in the coming months. As actively engages as the Biden administration seems to have been initially, its first five months in office did not bring anything concrete by way of leveraging its diplomacy to stop Ethiopia’s descent into complete chaos. Is it time for Ethiopians to give up expecting anything from the Biden administration?”

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield: Thank you. And that is an extraordinarily important question and I hope that that is not where Ethiopians are going. The Biden administration has been engaged with Ethiopia from day one. You can go back and look at the kinds of statements that were even made prior to the administration taking over on January 20th. President Biden sent his own emissary to Ethiopia; Senator Coons went out to meet with and try to engage with the government on this situation. Jeff Feltman has just completed a visit to Ethiopia, and I have been actively engaged on this issue here in New York, insisting that it be put on the agenda of the Security Council and successfully getting a statement out of the Security Council. I will continue to engage on those issues here in New York, but our administration has also made clear its engagement on this.

We have raised our grave concerns over the reports of human rights violations, the abuses, the atrocities that have taken place in Tigray, and we condemn them in the strongest terms, and you have seen all of those messages come out. And we will continue to address this. We’ve called on the Eritrean Government to remove its forces from Tigray. Jeff Feltman went to Eritrea as well and engaged with the president there. And we, again, have repeatedly engaged the Ethiopian Government at the highest levels.

So in the past five months, we have been proactively engaged on this issue and I would hope that the Ethiopian Government and the Ethiopian people are conscious of what we are doing, and continue to work with us to try to find a solution to this situation.

Moderator: Staying along those same lines of Ethiopia, Brook Abdu from The Reporter newspaper writes in our Q&A, “Is the Tigray crisis on the agenda for tomorrow’s [Wednesday 19 May] UN Security Council meeting? What do you think of the Horn of Africa security dynamics as a whole?”

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield: It’s not on the agenda for the Security Council meeting tomorrow, but at any point we can have this issue on the agenda, either having it come to us through the UN or having it added to the agenda by one of the members, but we are engaged and continue to engage with member states, with the African – the A3+1 members of the Security Council, with the P5, as well as with other member states of the UN on this issue.

Eritrean regime announces election of new Patriarch whilst current Patriarch remains under house arrest

Tuesday, 18 May 2021 21:38 Written by Eritrea Hub

MAY 18, 2021 ERITREA HUB NEWS

Source: Human Rights Concern – Eritrea

17 May 2021

The Eritrean regime announced on 13th May 2021 that “His Reverend Abune Qerlos has been elected as 5th Patriarch of Eritrea’s Orthodox Tewahdo Church in an election conducted today in Asmara… The official consecration of Abune Qerlos will take place on June 13th.”

The announcement justified this event with the information that “Representatives of monasteries, dioceses… and departments of the Holy Synod as well as representatives of Theological Colleges and …representatives of dioceses from abroad participated in the electoral process.” The regime further claimed that the election was “in accordance with the norms and regulations of the Holy Synod and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewadho Church”.

What was not made clear was that the current third Patriarch of Eritrea is still alive, and church statutes do not authorise the election of a new Patriarch while the existing one is alive. The current Patriarch, Abune Antonios has been under house arrest for over 15 years. His detention is illegal, as he has never been charged with any offence or tried for it. His deposition and the substitution of another member of the clergy is also illegal under the Orthodox Church statutes, which do not give the political authorities any legal role in such appointments.

The arrest and deposition of the legitimate patriarch, Abune Antonios, is part of an attempt by the Eritrean regime to control every religious group and to determine externally all decisions of the Orthodox Church. Because Abune Antonios would not prioritise political authority above obedience to God, he became unacceptable to the Eritrean regime, and was in effect deposed from his supreme role as patriarch. On January 20, 2006, authorities notified Patriarch Antonios he would be removed from his position and placed him under house arrest. On January 20, 2007, authorities confiscated Patriarch Antonios’ personal pontifical insignia, and in May that year forcefully removed him from his home and detained him at an undisclosed location. Thus, legally elected Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church has been cut off from communicating with his church by physical imprisonment.

The actions of the Eritrean regime in its attempts to remove the Patriarch was not widely accepted within his church, but protesting against this state interference is highly dangerous for clergy. Indeed, the 2016 Report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea states that at that time “over ten Orthodox Priests were detained” for protesting against the continued detention of Abune Antonios as well as the regime’s plans to appoint a new Patriarch.

Human Rights Concern – Eritrea condemns the decision by the Eritrean regime to replace the legitimate Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church with someone more acceptable to them, who will obey government dictates without question. This has all the marks of state interference in matters reserved to the church. The claim that the new appointee, Abune Querlos, has been elected in accordance with all the norms and regulations of the church is entirely spurious and false, since no election of a new patriarch can occur legally whilst the present one is still alive. This so-called election must not be recognised by other churches or official state pronouncements. It is important that all diplomatic and religious authorities, the United Nations and other international bodies, as well as all human rights organizations, do not give credence to this misleading announcement, or recognition to the new state appointee.

—-

Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+44 7958 005 637

www.hrc-eritrea.org

Monday’s critical hearing will shape American policy towards the Horn – Sanctions against Eritrea need to be on the table

Sunday, 16 May 2021 20:38 Written by Martin Plaut

MAY 16, 2021 MARTIN PLAUT ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Speaking to the US Senate

On Monday the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a closed meeting to hear a report-back from President Biden’s Horn of Africa Special Envoy, Jeffrey Feltman and other top officials.

The session is entitled: “Challenges and Opportunities for the United States in the Horn of Africa.”

Since it will be a closed meeting we will only learn what is being proposed from briefings after the event, but there are already some pointers.

First: Feltman has just come to the end of a long tour of the region. He travelled to Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, and Ethiopia from May 4 to 13, 2021.

His public objectives were spelled out and can be seen in full below. Essentially, he was aiming to solve the war in Tigray, keep the Sudanese democracy programme on track, end the dispute between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt over the Nile as well as solve the Ethiopia-Sudan conflict over the al-Fashaga triangle. No mean objectives!

We know that his travels included Eritrea, where he sat down with President Isaias for three hours. He also held a meeting with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister.

Second: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has repeatedly spelled out American frustrations at Eritrea’s refusal to leave Tigray. He did so once again on Saturday, 15th May.

As Blinken said: “The continued presence of Eritrean forces in Tigray further undermines Ethiopia’s stability and national unity. We again call upon the Government of Eritrea to remove its forces from Tigray. Both Eritrean and Ethiopian authorities have repeatedly promised such a withdrawal, but we have seen no movement towards implementation.”

Third: It is now nearly two months since Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed said that Eritrean forces would leave Tigray. There is – as the Americans rightly observe – no sign of this happening. So how can it be brought about?

Sanctions – an essential part of the diplomatic toolkit

The only way of persuading President Isaias that the US and the EU mean business is to hit Eritrea’s sources of external funding.

The Eritrean diaspora has – for years – been forced to pay for President Isaias’s foreign adventures and subsidise his domestic repression. The notorious 2% tax is extracted from members of the diaspora. So too are taxes to pay for Covid and the military. Failure to pay up results in threats, abuse and a severing of all services by the Eritrean state.

The Dutch showed the way – expelling Eritrea’s top diplomat to make it clear that this would not be tolerated.

Canada took the same step in 2013. In 2007 the United States closed the Eritrean consulate in Oakland, California for funneling weapons to Islamists in Somalia.

The 2% tax – and how it has been extracted from Eritreans living abroad has been carefully studied. A Dutch report showed how this happened in Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Britain.

The US and the EU need to lead the way: Stop the 2% tax and cut funding for Eritrea’s war in Tigray

Travel by U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman

MEDIA NOTE

OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON

MAY 14, 2021

Source: US State Department

Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman has just completed his first visit to the region as U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, traveling to Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, and Ethiopia from May 4 to 13, 2021.

The Horn of Africa is at an inflection point, and the decisions that are made in the weeks and months ahead will have significant implications for the people of the region as well as for U.S. interests. The United States is committed to addressing the interlinked regional crises and to supporting a prosperous and stable Horn of Africa in which its citizens have a voice in their governance and governments are accountable to their citizens.

A sovereign and united Ethiopia is integral to this vision. Yet we are deeply concerned about increasing political and ethnic polarization throughout the country. The atrocities being perpetrated in Tigray and the scale of the humanitarian emergency are unacceptable. The United States will work with our international allies and partners to secure a ceasefire, end this brutal conflict, provide the life-saving assistance that is so urgently needed, and hold those responsible for human rights abuses and violations accountable. The crisis in Tigray is also symptomatic of a broader set of national challenges that have imperiled meaningful reforms. As Special Envoy Feltman discussed with Prime Minister Abiy and other Ethiopian leaders, these challenges can most effectively be addressed through an inclusive effort to build national consensus on the country’s future that is based on respect for the human and political rights of all Ethiopians. The presence of Eritrean forces in Ethiopia is antithetical to these goals. In Asmara, Special Envoy Feltman underscored to President Isaias Afwerki the imperative that Eritrean troops withdraw from Ethiopia immediately.

The political transition in Sudan is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that can serve as an example for the region. As Special Envoy Feltman underscored to Sudan’s leadership, the United States will continue to support that country’s ongoing transition to democracy so that Sudan can claim its place as a responsible regional actor after three decades as a destabilizing force. We are also committed to working with international partners to facilitate resolution of regional flash points—such as the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and conflict on Sudan’s borders—so they do not undermine the fragile progress made since the revolution.

As Special Envoy Feltman discussed with leaders in Addis Ababa, Cairo, and Khartoum, Egypt and Sudan’s concerns over water security and the safety and operation of the dam can be reconciled with Ethiopia’s development needs through substantive and results-oriented negotiations among the parties under the leadership of the African Union, which must resume urgently. We believe that the 2015 Declaration of Principles signed by the parties and the July 2020 statement by the AU Bureau are important foundations for these negotiations, and the United States is committed to providing political and technical support to facilitate a successful outcome.

The Special Envoy will return to the region in short order to continue an intensive diplomatic effort on behalf of President Biden and Secretary Blinken.

Tigray: TPLF statement

Saturday, 15 May 2021 09:51 Written by Eritrea Hub

MAY 14, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Source: TPLF

“The people of Tigray, it is great that you belong to us; it is great that we do not look across at you from the other side with envy; it is great that we are your offspring” – this saying of our living leader comrade Meles adequately expresses the all-inclusive golden history, the undying heroism and determination of our people. Indeed, it is great that you are our people!!

Our historical enemies, in alliance with countless forces, strove to destroy our people off the face of the earth. They massacred en masse children, old men and even spiritual fathers. In addition to the genocide, destruction and looting of the property of our nation and people, the rapes and persecution which they have carried out on the women of Tigray, is aimed at humiliating us as people and to make us bow our heads in shame.

The fascist army of Abiy Ahmed, invading forces of Isayas and expansionist Amhara forces worked in concert with all demonic forces who can throw at least a pebble to destroy the people of Tigray and inflicted injustice which our annals of history will never forgive. They did all they could to destroy our land and our people; they are still continuing to do so.

But our people, who doesn’t bow down to challenges, who never gets exhausted to fight and who doesn’t yield to the countless injustice, has not submitted to the dreams of its enemies. Even now, as always, our people has abandoned its private issues and prioritizing Tigray above all things, is fighting for the sake of our land and our people. Our people, living either abroad or inside the country, is living day and night without rest only for Tigray.

Saying that it is worse than death to live in a humiliated Tigray and not afraid to give its forehead to a bullet, our people, who is living in liberated territory or among the enemy, is doing legendary deeds unheard of in world history. During times when our enemies are unhesitatingly massacring mothers and children, even children are singing ‘Tigray shall be victorious!’.

Indeed, Tigray shall be victorious! Our people, because you overcame all challenges and fought, because you didn’t bow your head exhausted by the suffering, as we have told you, you are on the verge of scoring the victory you long for by burying your enemies. Since your struggle is for a just cause, it is a must that victory belongs to you. You shall ensure your liberty with your honorable struggle.

The oppressors, even while on the verge of death and with whatever time they are left with, are openly announcing what they would like to do. It is their standard policy to destroy our land and our people until their very last moment. Therefore, just like you have already started to do it, tie your waste with scab (show determination) and fight. Fighting spirit, struggle and victory belongs to you. Fight! Your liberty is in your hands!

Tigray shall be victorious!!

Eternal glory and honor to the martyrs of the past and the present!

Press Statement by President Biden’s envoy to Horn after visiting Ethiopia

Saturday, 15 May 2021 09:45 Written by Eritrea Hub

MAY 14, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Source: US State Department

Travel by U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman

MEDIA NOTE

OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON

MAY 14, 2021

The Special Envoy will return to the region in short order to continue an intensive diplomatic effort on behalf of President Biden and Secretary Blinken.

Travel by U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman

Friday, 14 May 2021 19:16 Written by OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON

MAY 14, 2021

The Special Envoy will return to the region in short order to continue an intensive diplomatic effort on behalf of President Biden and Secretary Blinken.

Source=Travel by U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman - United States Department of State

As Ethiopia Fights in Tigray Region, a Crackdown on Journalists

Friday, 14 May 2021 18:09 Written by Eritrea Hub

MAY 14, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Source: New York Times

Authorities have detained journalists without charges and revoked the accreditation of a reporter for The New York Times.

Credit…Simon Marks for The New York Times

By Abdi Latif Dahir and Declan Walsh

May 13, 2021

NAIROBI, Kenya — One Ethiopian journalist was taken away by police officers as his distraught 10-year-old daughter clung to him. Another fled the country after she said armed men ransacked her home and threatened to kill her.

And a foreign reporter working for The New York Times had his press credentials revoked, days after he interviewed victims of sexual assault and terrified residents in the conflict-torn Tigray region of northern Ethiopia.

Six months into the war in Tigray, where thousands have died amid reports of widespread human rights abuses, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia has sought to quell critical coverage of the conflict with a campaign of arrests, intimidation and obstruction targeting the independent news media, according to human rights campaigners and media freedom organizations.

Credit…Ben Curtis/Associated Press

Mr. Abiy, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, is contending with an election scheduled for June 5 that is expected to cement his hold on power. But rights groups describe a climate of fear and repression that has eroded Ethiopia’s already-tenuous press freedoms and could undermine confidence in the outcome of the vote.

“It’s a sharply disappointing state of affairs given the hope and optimism of early 2018 when Mr. Abiy became prime minister,” said Muthoki Mumo, representative for sub-Saharan Africa for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

When Mr. Abiy came to power, Ethiopia was among the most repressive countries for journalists in Africa, and he quickly won global praise for a series of sweeping reforms. Journalists were freed from incarceration, hundreds of websites were unblocked and Ethiopia hosted the World Press Freedom Day celebrations for the first time.

Social media usage exploded. And for the first time in 14 years, Ethiopia did not have any journalists in prison.

But Mr. Abiy’s ambitious reforms quickly ran into stiff headwinds, including opposition from regional political parties and outbreaks of ethnic violence in several restive regions. His government began to revert to the old ways, shutting down the internet during political protests and detaining journalists under laws that had been introduced by the previous government.

When Mr. Abiy collected his Nobel Peace Prize in Norway in December 2019, he broke with tradition by not taking questions from the press. In his acceptance speech, he accused social media platforms of sowing discord in Ethiopia.

Credit…Spencer Platt/Getty Images

After Mr. Abiy began a military operation in Tigray on Nov. 4, hoping to oust a regional ruling party that had challenged his authority, press freedoms deteriorated further.

Within hours, the internet in Tigray was shut down and journalists were blocked from entering the region. Later, the authorities detained Ethiopians working in Tigray for international news outlets including the BBC, Agence-France Press, the Financial Times and The New York Times.

Since November, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented the arrests of at least 10 journalists and media workers who were held for periods from a few days to two months related to their coverage of the conflict in Tigray.

Last week, government officials confirmed that they had revoked the accreditation of Simon Marks, an Irish reporter based in Ethiopia working for The New York Times.

In a war that has already caused thousands of deaths, displaced at least two million people and led to charges of ethnic cleansing, news media coverage has become a “very sensitive” topic for the government, said Befeqadu Hailu, an Ethiopian journalist imprisoned for 18 months by the previous regime.

In the early days of the fight, at least six Ethiopian reporters working for local media in Tigray were arrested. Later, the authorities turned against Ethiopians working with international news outlets. In December, Kumerra Gemechu, a cameraman with Reuters, was detained and held without charge for 12 days before being released.

Credit…via Reuters

In January, human rights groups accused the security forces of killing Dawit Kebede, a reporter who was shot dead in the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle, ostensibly for flouting the curfew.

In February, armed men ransacked the home in Addis Ababa of Lucy Kassa, a freelance reporter for the Los Angeles Times and other outlets. In an interview, Ms. Lucy, who has since fled to another country, said the men appeared to be government agents, knew what story she was working on and warned her to stop. They confiscated a laptop and flash drive that she said contained evidence that soldiers from the neighboring country of Eritrea were fighting in Tigray, though Ethiopia had insisted at the time that this was untrue.

The government said in a statement at the time that Ms. Lucy had not legally registered as a journalist.

In March, the Ethiopian government permitted several news organizations to travel to Mekelle, but then detained the Ethiopians working for them for several days.

Mr. Marks, who works for The Times and other publications, has reported from Ethiopia since 2019. In a letter revoking his accreditation on March 4, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority accused him of “fake news” and what it called “unbalanced” reporting about the conflict in Tigray.

A day earlier, Mr. Marks had returned to Addis Ababa from Tigray, where he interviewed civilians who described atrocities by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers, and women who said they suffered horrendous sexual assaults.

Credit…Simon Marks for The New York Times

That reporting was the basis of two stories published by The Times in the following weeks.

Last week, after appeals by The Times were declined, the head of the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority confirmed Mr. Marks’s accreditation had been canceled at least until October. Officials told Mr. Marks that The Times’ coverage of Ethiopia had “caused huge diplomatic pressure” and that senior government officials had authorized the decision to cancel his papers.

“It is deeply disappointing that a Nobel Peace Prize recipient would try to silence an independent press,” said Michael Slackman, The Times’s assistant managing editor for international. “We encourage the government to rethink this authoritarian approach and instead work to foster a robust exchange of information. It can start by reissuing Mr. Marks’s credentials and freeing any journalist being detained.”

The next test of Ethiopia’s openness is likely to be the June 5 election, the first for Mr. Abiy since being appointed prime minister in 2018.

Billene Seyoum, a spokeswoman for Mr. Abiy, referred questions about Mr. Marks to the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority.

In a telephone interview, Yonatan Tesfaye, the deputy head of the broadcast authority, confirmed that Mr. Marks’s credentials had been revoked. He added that while they did consult other government institutions, including law enforcement, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority made the decision independently.

He said the authority was also examining the work of Ethiopian journalists for potential violations of Ethiopian law.

“We want the media to take the context we are in and we want them to operate respecting the rule of law that the country has,” he said.

Kenya-Ethiopia Peace Meeting Stalls Due to Heavy Rains

Wednesday, 12 May 2021 13:24 Written by Manase Otsialo

Abiy and Kenyatta

President Uhuru Kenyatta with Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed attend the Kenya-Ethiopia Trade and Investment Forum in Addis Ababa on March 1, 2019.

10 MAY 2021

The Nation (Nairobi)

By Manase Otsialo

The planned security meeting between Kenya and Ethiopia over the fast-deteriorating relationship between Garre and Degodia clans in Mandera has been postponed.

The meeting was scheduled for Sunday before being moved to Monday but the Ethiopian delegation sent a message that heavy downpour on their side had hampered movement.

"We have not been able to hold a security meeting with our Ethiopian counterparts due to heavy rains on their side that has rendered roads impassable," Mandera County Commissioner Onesmus Kyatha said.

The meeting was called after counter attacks by suspected clan militias that left at least two dead and three others injured in Banisa Sub-county.

"We wanted to agree on ending the animosity between these two clans that reside in both countries. We shall still engage Ethiopian authorities on the same once the situation normalises," Mr Kyatha added.

CNN Report: “Eritrean troops disguised as Ethiopian military are blocking critical aid in Tigray”

Wednesday, 12 May 2021 13:19 Written by Nima Elbagir, Barbara Arvanitidis and Eliza Mackintosh

MAY 12, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

“Eritrean troops are operating with total impunity in Ethiopia’s war-torn northern Tigray region”

By Nima Elbagir, Barbara Arvanitidis and Eliza Mackintosh
Video by Alex Platt and Mark Baron, CNN

Source: CNN

Updated 0403 GMT (1203 HKT) May 12, 2021

Axum, Ethiopia — Eritrean troops are operating with total impunity in Ethiopia’s war-torn northern Tigray region, killing, raping and blocking humanitarian aid to starving populations more than a month after the country’s Nobel Peace Prize winning leader pledged to the international community that they would leave.

A CNN team traveling through Tigray’s central zone witnessed Eritrean soldiers, some disguising themselves in old Ethiopian military uniforms, manning checkpoints, obstructing and occupying critical aid routes, roaming the halls of one of the region’s few operating hospitals and threatening medical staff.

Despite pressure from the Biden administration, there is no sign that Eritrean forces plan to exit the border region anytime soon.

On April 21, a CNN team reporting in Tigray with the permission of Ethiopian authorities traveled from the regional capital Mekelle to the besieged city of Axum, two weeks after it had been sealed off by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers. An aid convoy also made the seven-hour journey.

CNN team driving into the besieged city of Axum, which remains inaccessible to many aid organizations. Credit: Alex Platt/CNN

Ethiopia’s government has severely restricted access to the media until recently, and a state-enforced communications blackout concealed events in the region, making it challenging to gauge the extent of the crisis or verify survivors’ accounts.

But CNN’s interviews with humanitarian workers, doctors, soldiers and displaced people in Axum and across central Tigray — where up to 800,000 displaced people are sheltering — indicate the situation is even worse than was feared. Eritrean troops aren’t just working hand in glove with the Ethiopian government, assisting in a merciless campaign against the Tigrayan people, in some pockets they’re fully in control and waging a reign of terror.

The testimonies, shared at great personal risk, present a horrifying picture of the situation in Tigray, where a clash between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), in November has deteriorated into a protracted conflict that, by many accounts, bears the hallmarks of genocide and has the potential to destablize the wider Horn of Africa region.

Ethiopian security officials working with Tigray’s interim administration told CNN that the Ethiopian government has no control over Eritrean soldiers operating in Ethiopia, and that Eritrean forces had blocked roads into central Tigray for over two weeks and in the northwestern part of the region for nearly one month.

As the war and its impact on civilians deepens, world leaders have voiced their concern about the role of Eritrean forces in exacerbating what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to spokesperson Ned Price, has described as a “growing humanitarian disaster.” In a phone call with Abiy on April 26, Blinken pressed Ethiopia and Eritrea to make good on commitments to withdraw Eritrean troops “in full, and in a verifiable manner.”

CNN’s efforts to reach Axum were thwarted by both Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers multiple times over several days.

On one of the first attempts, the CNN team encountered what it later learned was the aftermath of a grenade attack, where a group of local residents were flagging down cars, warning passersby not to go any further. But before we reached the scene, a large army truck drove up and parked sideways, blocking the road. Our cameraman got out of the car and started filming only to be confronted by Ethiopian soldiers, who threatened the team with detention, demanding that we hand over the camera and delete the footage. But we refused and were able to conceal the footage until we were eventually released.

On another occasion, CNN was turned back by an Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) Command operating out of a former USAID distribution center in the outskirts of the city of Adigrat, where several trucks laden with sacks of desperately needed food sat languishing in the hot sun. The aid, bound for communities in Tigray’s starved central zone, had been stopped from going any further despite daily phone calls from humanitarian workers pleading for access.

Even after being granted entry to Axum by the Ethiopian military, CNN’s path was obstructed by Eritrean troops controlling a checkpoint on a desolate mountain top overlooking Adigrat. The forces were wearing a mixture of their official light-colored Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) fatigues and a woodland camouflage with a green beret, which military experts verified as tallying with old Ethiopian army uniforms.

It is one of the first visual confirmations of reports — relayed in recent weeks by the UN’s top humanitarian official Mark Lowcock and US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield — that Eritrean soldiers are disguising their identities by re-uniforming as Ethiopian military, in what Thomas-Greenfield described as a move to “remain in Tigray indefinitely.”

CNN was informed by aid agencies that they had also been turned back by Eritrean soldiers manning the same checkpoint. Ethiopian military sources in the region confirmed to CNN that Eritrean soldiers were in control of key checkpoints along the route to Axum. The military sources said they had requested multiple times for the Eritreans to allow cars and convoys through, but had been refused.

CNN has reached out to the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments for comment.

After repeated phone calls to Ethiopian central government and senior military officials, CNN was finally allowed into Axum on its fourth try. On the same day, international medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres demanded that the 12-day blockade of the road into Axum be lifted.

Many aid agencies are still being barred from the besieged city, where one of the few hospitals operating for miles is running out of essential supplies, including oxygen and blood, humanitarian workers working in the region told CNN.

On arrival at the Axum University Teaching and Referral Hospital, patients are greeted by a sign asking for blood.

The medical staff we spoke to asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, but requested that CNN identify their hospital — they say that they want people to know that they are still here.

Inside one of the under-resourced examination rooms, a malnourished 7-year-old was lying on a gurney, wrapped in a blanket to cushion her fragile skin. Latebrahan’s emaciated legs could no longer hold her weight and she lay wide-eyed, staring up at the crowd of doctors gathered around her bed.

Seven-year-old Latebrahan lies on a gurney at Axum University Teaching and Referral Hospital, where she's being treated for malnourishment.

Seven-year-old Latebrahan lies on a gurney at Axum University Teaching and Referral Hospital, where she’s being treated for malnourishment.

The medical team were doing their best to keep her alive, but they had run out of a therapeutic feeding agent due to the blockade, the only way to help her gain weight without disturbing her delicate system.

Latebrahan’s father, Girmay, who asked to be identified only by his first name, told CNN the journey from their home in Chila, around 60 miles north of Axum, near the border with Eritrea, had been dangerous and costly.

“There is no help, no food, nothing. I didn’t have a choice though — look at her,” Girmay said.

Like many other rural border towns, Chila has been blocked off from receiving aid since the conflict began six months ago. Humanitarian workers say famine could have already arrived there and they would have no way of knowing.

“Based on guesswork there is a sense that in these areas that we are not able to access, out in the countryside for instance, places are falling into pockets of famine. But we’re not able to verify that and that’s part of the problem,” Thomas Thompson, the UN World Food Programme’s emergency coordinator, told CNN.

The fighting erupted during the autumn harvest season following the worst invasion of desert locusts in Ethiopia in decades. The conflict has plunged Tigray even further into severe food insecurity, and the deliberate blockade of food risks mass starvation, a recent report by the World Peace Foundation warned. The Ethiopian government itself estimates that at least 5.2 million people out of 5.7 million in the region are in need of emergency food assistance.

USAID distributes supplies in Hawzen, central Tigray, where residents hadn't received aid for two months.

USAID distributes supplies in Hawzen, central Tigray, where residents hadn’t received aid for two months.

Eritrean soldiers have been blocking and looting food relief in multiple parts of Tigray, including in Samre and Gijet, southwest of Mekele, according to a leaked document from the Emergency Coordination Centre of Tigray’s Abiy-appointed interim government obtained by CNN. In a PowerPoint presentation dated April 23, the center states that Eritrean soldiers have also started showing up at food distribution points in Tigray, looting supplies after “our beneficiaries became frightened and [ran] away.”

That report was corroborated by humanitarian workers in Tigray, who said they had “protection” issues around distributing aid in some areas as civilians were later robbed of the aid by Eritrean soldiers. Emily Dakin, who leads the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team in Tigray, also told CNN that she had received reports of health centers being looted, which was “contributing to some of the dysfunctionality of the hospitals.”

Eritrea’s Minister of Information Yemane Meskel has rejected these claims.

Hannibal, 7, is treated at Axum Teaching and Referral Hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg, which he received from soldiers' gunfire as he was sitting on his mother's lap.

Hannibal, 7, is treated at Axum Teaching and Referral Hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg, which he received from soldiers’ gunfire as he was sitting on his mother’s lap.

Eritrea’s power in the region feels absolute even in the Axum Teaching Hospital, where Eritrean soldiers are among the gun-toting troops roaming the corridors, dropping off wounded soldiers and threatening medical staff. It is a terrifying scene for patients, many of whom say they were injured either directly or indirectly by soldiers.

One doctor, who asked not to be named, told CNN that the siege had prompted a surge in patients. In addition to cases of malnutrition like Latebrahan, doctors and nurses are treating a grim array of trauma from shrapnel, bullets, stabbings and rapes. In a desperate attempt to keep pace with demand, medical workers have also begun donating blood.

A sign at Axum University Teaching and Referral Hospital reads:

A sign at Axum University Teaching and Referral Hospital reads: “Blood Campaign, for mothers, for children, for all those that need it.”

But despite this, there wasn’t enough blood on hand to save one young woman, who had been attacked by soldiers who tried to rape her.

The doctor treating the woman told CNN that the hospital had seen a spike in sexual assault cases over recent weeks, but that the rise was just “the tip of the iceberg,” as many were too scared to seek medical services.

An alarming number of women are being gang-raped, drugged and held hostage in the conflict, in which sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war and its use linked to genocide. According to one agency’s estimate, almost one-third of all attacks on civilians involve sexual violence, the majority committed by men in uniform.

An autopsy photo of the young woman seen by CNN showed her internal organs spilling out from a wound in her lower abdomen.

“She came to our emergency department and she had a sign of life initially. [But] if you find blood for a patient, it’s only one or two units and one or two units could not save this woman. She bled [out] and she died,” the doctor said haltingly, overcome with emotion.

He took a deep breath, then added, “I see this woman in my dreams.”

This reporting would not have been possible without the support of dozens of Tigrayans, who shared their stories at great personal risk. CNN is not naming them to protect their safety. It also builds on a series of investigations into massacres and sexual violence in Tigray by CNN’s Bethlehem Feleke, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Katie Polglase. Read CNN’s full Tigray coverage here.

Source=CNN Report: "Eritrean troops disguised as Ethiopian military are blocking critical aid in Tigray" - Eritrea Hub