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Source=US names envoy as concern grows over Ethiopia's Tigray (digitaljournal.com)

APRIL 24, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS
Source: Devex

The European Commission plans to “de-commit” more than €100 million ($120 million) away from Eritrea in the clearest sign yet that Brussels’ “dual-track” attempt to mix development assistance and political dialogue with the oppressive East African nation has reached the end of the line.
By Vince Chadwick // 23 April 2021

The European Commission plans to “de-commit” more than €100 million ($120 million) away from Eritrea in the clearest sign yet that Brussels’ “dual-track” attempt to mix development assistance and political dialogue with the oppressive East African nation has reached the end of the line.
Jutta Urpilainen, the European Union commissioner for international partnerships, wrote to the European Parliament’s development committee chair and political group coordinators this week to outline the move, which affects funding under the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, or EUTF for Africa.

The Finnish commissioner noted that since the 2018 rapprochement between Eritrea and Ethiopia, the EU “has invested significant political and financial capital to seize the opportunity,” while “ensuring the EU’s fundamental values were respected.”

Yet the letter, obtained by Devex, explained that of the nine projects — worth €141.3 million — approved for Eritrea through the trust fund, just one has begun implementation. Some €80 million was approved for procurement through the United Nations Office for Project Services for roadwork, but only around €19 million has been disbursed amid fierce criticism from European Parliament members and human rights activists over the risk that conscripted labor would be used on the roads.

“Engagement with Eritrea should not endanger the rights of the country’s population.”

— Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa director, Human Rights Watch

Commission officials initially defended the road project, and Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, told journalists in March 2020 that the EU should continue to pursue both development and diplomacy “to change structures and change the way in which the political system works.”

“I don’t think we can always be playing the Good Samaritan and handing out donations but not getting into the political evolution of a country,” Borrell said last year. “Eritrea is one of the main sources of migrants to Europe after all, so we are going to continue this work and expect success, although we know that this won’t necessarily happen tomorrow.”

However, this “dual-track approach” had been under review in recent months, in the lead-up to this week’s shift.

Urpilainen wrote that the eight other trust fund projects are still awaiting clearance from the Eritrean government. “Implementation … has remained highly challenging,” the commissioner wrote. “This situation reflects the lack of interest expressed by the Government of Eritrea on EUTF-funded projects and, more generally, on development co-operation with the EU.”

The letter noted that Eritrean troops’ involvement in the Tigray conflict in northern Ethiopia had “further compounded” the situation. Discussing Tigray on Monday, Borrell said that “Eritrean troops are not withdrawing, and human rights violations continue.”

The Eritrean Embassy in Brussels did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
With a December 2021 deadline to recommit the money, Urpilainen wrote that she would propose that it go to other priorities in the Horn of Africa, including €62 million for Sudan’s democratic transition, €18 million for refugees in Sudan fleeing Tigray, €20 million to combat famine in South Sudan, and €20 million for displaced people and migrants across the region. The commission will present its new proposal to the fund’s operational committee by the end of this month.

French Greens MEP Michèle Rivasi, who was among the main opponents of EU support to the road project, welcomed the commission’s move. “The money meant for Eritrea will now serve much more valuable humanitarian purposes,” she told Devex on Friday.

EU foreign chief defends aid for Eritrea amid human rights concerns

Josep Borrell says the EU’s dual-track development and diplomacy approach to government reform in Eritrea is showing some results, though experts beg to differ.

“This makes much more sense than building a highway for a dictator — Eritrean President [Isaias] Afwerki — who does not hesitate to order the army to attack civilians and to raze the Eritrean refugee camps in Tigray to the ground,” Rivasi added.

Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa director at Human Rights Watch, told Devex on Friday that the EU’s attempted dual-track engagement with Eritrea “has unfortunately failed to bring about greatly needed rights reforms.”

“Trying to fund projects without proper monitoring mechanisms and due diligence in a context marred by pervasive forced labor, the EU risked to contribute to the government’s abuses,” Bader added. “Engagement with Eritrea should not endanger the rights of the country’s population.”

APRIL 23, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Source: Reuters

U.N. Security Council, for first time, declares concern about Ethiopia’s Tigray

ReutersMichelle Nichols

Ethiopians, who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, carry their belongings after crossing the Setit River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in the eastern Kassala state, Sudan December 16, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo

The U.N. Security Council expressed concern on Thursday about the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, particularly abuse of women and girls, a week after the U.N. aid chief said sexual violence was being used as a weapon of war.

It was the first public statement by the 15-member council, which has been briefed five times privately on the conflict, since fighting between Ethiopia’s federal government troops and Tigray’s former ruling party began in November.

“The members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern about allegations of human rights violations and abuses, including reports of sexual violence against women and girls in the Tigray region, and called for investigations to find those responsible and bring them to justice,” it said in the statement, drafted by Ireland and agreed by consensus.

The council was unable to agree language last month with Western countries pitted against Russia and China, whose diplomats questioned whether the body – charged with maintaining international peace and security – should be involved.

U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock last week told the council the humanitarian crisis in Tigray had deteriorated with challenges to aid access, people dying of hunger and many reports of “gang rape, with multiple men assaulting the victim; in some cases, women have been repeatedly raped over a period of days.” He said girls as young as eight had also been targeted.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, then challenged the body’s silence, according to diplomats familiar with her remarks during the closed briefing, asking: “Do African lives not matter as much as those experiencing conflict in other countries?” read more

Ethiopia’s mission to the United Nations in New York said in a statement on Thursday that the “law enforcement operation in Ethiopia is an internal affair regulated by the laws of the country, including human rights laws.”

It said that Ethiopia had committed to investigate and ensure accountability for violations of human rights, including sexual violence, and that Ethiopia was providing humanitarian aid in Tigray.

The conflict has killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands more from their homes in the region of about 5 million. Eritrean troops – accused of massacres and killings in Tigray – have been helping Ethiopian troops.

Lowcock said the world body had not seen any proof that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea have withdrawn, despite demands from U.N. officials and the United States. The Security Council statement made no mention of Eritrean troops.

Eritrea told the Security Council on Friday that it has agreed to start withdrawing its troops from Tigray, acknowledging publicly for the first time its involvement in the conflict.

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Source: ABC

UN Security Council: ‘Deep concern’ about Ethiopia’s Tigray

The U.N. Security Council is expressing concern about humanitarian conditions and human rights in Ethiopia’s wartorn Tigray region

ByThe Associated Press

23 April 2021, 00:09

• 2 min read

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council expressed concern Thursday about humanitarian conditions and human rights in Ethiopia‘s Tigray region, marking the council’s first collective comment on the conflict that has raged in the region for six months.

The statement made no mention of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray, though U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock and Amnesty International said last week that the troops remain weeks after Ethiopia said they would leave. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Wednesday that “we haven’t seen any evidence that Eritrean troops are withdrawing from Tigray.”

In November, political tensions between Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed’s government and Tigray leaders exploded into war. Eritrea teamed up with neighboring Ethiopia in the conflict. Thousands of people have been killed.

The United States has alleged ethnic cleansing in the western part of Tigray, a claim that Ethiopian authorities dismiss as unfounded. The term refers to forcing a population from a region through expulsions and other violence, often including killings and rapes.

Ethiopia has said that life in Tigray is returning to normal.

Lowcock, meanwhile, told the council last week that some 4.5 million of Tigray’s 6 million need humanitarian aid and that “there is no doubt that sexual violence is being used in this conflict as a weapon of war.” He cited alarmingly numerous reports of rape and other sexual attacks, mainly by men wearing the uniforms of various forces.

In Thursday’s statement, the council conveyed “deep concern about allegations of human rights violations and abuses, including reports of sexual violence.” It welcomed an agreement by the U.N. and an Ethiopian rights agency to conduct a joint investigation into reported abuses.

The council also acknowledged Ethiopia’s humanitarian efforts but called for a bigger response, unfettered humanitarian access to everyone in need and “a restoration of normalcy.”

APRIL 23, 2021 MARTIN PLAUT ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Source: Economist

Evidence is growing that starvation is being used as a weapon of war in Ethiopia

Graphic detail

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Apr 22nd 2021

PEOPLE FLEEING war are often driven by a fear of bullets and shells. But in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, where fighting broke out in November between government forces and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a former ruling party that reverted to being a guerrilla movement, guns are not the only weapons of war. The United Nations has received reports of rape by soldiers. Millions face the threat of starvation, owing in part to the actions of the Ethiopian government’s forces and its allies.

The suffering is widespread. Central and eastern Tigray, as well as parts of the north-west, are facing “crisis”or “emergency” hunger levels, according to the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), meaning that households are suffering from acute malnutrition (see map). The next and final phase on the IPC scale is “famine” marked by an extreme lack of food, resulting in starvation or death.

Before the conflict broke out, Tigray was largely free from hunger; now the UN estimates that 4.5m need food aid.

Such food shortages are not simply a case of collateral damage. Ethiopian and Eritrean forces have been looting shops and farms, burning food that they cannot take with them. Water tanks and reservoirs have also been targeted.

In April the World Peace Foundation (WPF), a research organisation based at Tufts University in Massachusetts, published a report alleging systematic “starvation crimes” perpetrated by belligerents. Ethiopia’s government has also been accused of blocking food deliveries to civilians. Between 700,000 and 2.2m people are estimated to be displaced within Tigray, separated from their homes and livelihoods. More than 60,000 have fled into neighbouring Sudan.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the conflict continues to climb. A paper published last month by researchers at Ghent University in Belgium identified 1,942 people killed in the fighting, though the true number may be much higher. Nearly a third of the victims documented by the researchers were killed in point-blank murders or civilian massacres. In most cases, the perpetrators were believed to be Ethiopian or Eritrean soldiers, although in 16% of the deaths identified by the researchers, the killers’ affiliation was unclear. Inadequate health care and food shortages could cause the number of casualties to soar even higher.

The WPF reckons that in central and eastern Tigray alone, between 50 and 100 people are dying every day from causes directly related to hunger. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has promised to investigate allegations of human-rights abuses in Tigray “as soon as possible”. For the families of the many who have already died, that is already too late.

APRIL 23, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

Robert Mardini, director-general of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said: “I haven’t heard such terrible accounts for more than two decades in the humanitarian sector.” Mardini, among other things, closely followed the civil wars in Syria and Yemen when he headed ICRC’s Near and Middle East division from 2012 to 2018. “Many of my humanitarian colleagues are testifying the same,” he said.

Source: AFP

Posted By: Anya Ayenion: April 22, 2021In:

The Red Cross voiced alarm Thursday over “horrific” accounts of sexual violence in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region, amid fears that rape was being used as a weapon of war.

Robert Mardini, director-general of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said the organisation’s staff in hospitals and clinics in the region were hearing first-hand of extreme sexual violence.

“Those reports are extremely horrific, very shocking,” he told AFP in an interview, adding that this was a “matter of grave concern”.

“I haven’t heard such terrible accounts for more than two decades in the humanitarian sector,” said Mardini, who among other things closely followed the civil wars in Syria and Yemen when he headed ICRC’s Near and Middle East division from 2012 to 2018.

“Many of my humanitarian colleagues are testifying the same,” he said.

“This is a top priority for us – to prevent this from happening again and, of course, to do everything we can to support the victims and help them overcome these extremely devastating experiences.”

Five months into the Tigray war, stories of rape have become common, with doctors and nurses in Ethiopia’s northernmost region speaking of treating numerous women after gang rapes by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers.

The United Nations’ humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock warned earlier this month that sexual violence was being used in the Tigray conflict as “a weapon of war, as a means to humiliate, terrorise and traumatise an entire population today and into the next generation”.

– Over one million displaced –

Mardini said he did not want to speculate on whether rape was systematically being used as a weapon of war, saying the ICRC was simply “trying to gather the scope and the magnitude of this problem”.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray in November to disarm and detain leaders of the region’s once-dominant political party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

For months, the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments denied Eritrean troops were also involved, contradicting testimony from residents, rights groups, aid workers, diplomats and even some Ethiopian civilian and military officials.

Abiy finally acknowledged the Eritreans’ presence in March, while Eritrea did so earlier this month, pledging to pull out its forces amid mounting international pressure.

However, so far there is little sign of that happening.

The international community is meanwhile pressing for Ethiopia to allow greater access for aid agencies to Tigray as the humanitarian situation has deteriorated.

“Displacement is still happening,” Mardini said, pointing out that “more than a million people were displaced over the five past months”.

He also voiced concern at the large-scale destruction in the region, pointing to “a lot of attacks against civilians, properties but also individuals, which of course is a matter of great concern”.

ICRC has been working alongside the Ethiopian Red Cross Society to deliver aid to those affected by the Tigray conflict.

The organisation is also working to help track down the numerous people who have gone missing, and to reunite separated families.

“We don’t have reliable figures and statistics, but the humanitarian concerns are unfortunately on the rise, and it is a very worrying situation,” Mardini said.

APRIL 16, 2021 ERITREA HUB ETHIOPIA, NEWS, TIGRAY

By Martin Plaut

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, determined to use every available force in an attempt to crush the Tigrayan resistance, has reportedly turned to former Tigrayan fighters who were trained and armed by the Eritrean government.

These fighters belonged to the Tigray People's Democratic Movement [TPDM] - known as Demhit in Tigrigna.

Former members of the TPDM have been instructed to assemble in Mekele. Transport has reportedly been sent to collect them from as far as Humera on the Sudanese border.

They are apparently being promised cash and positions in the Prime Minister's party - the Prosperity Party.

When the Tigray war broke out in November 2020 many members of the Tigray opposition, including former TPDM members, joined the Tigray Defence Force to resist the attack on their homeland.

Those members of the TPDM who did not join the resistance are now being recruited by the government, but some have spoken out, saying they don't believe this is a genuine offer from the prime minister.

Members of TPDM returned to Tigray after Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018 and a the peace deal between Eritrea and Ethiopia was signed.

While in Eritrea the TPDM were reportedly used by President Isaias to provide security in and around Asmara.

In September 2015 the Sudan Tribune reported that General Mola Asgedom, who led TPDM, had crossed into the Sudan, arriving in the border town of Hamdait.

It was reported that Asgedom escaped to Sudan after armed clashes broke out with the Eritrean army on the outskirts of the Eritrean city of Omhajer. Asgedom and 683 of his supporters crossed into Sudan and handed over their weapons to the Sudanese authorities.

The clashes apparently arose after the arrival of other Ethiopia rebels – Gimbot 7 of Berhanu Nega – who were allegedly being given preferential treatment by the Eritrean government.

General Mola Asgedom subsequently crossed into Ethiopia and was interviewed about his experiences in Eritrea on Ethiopian television.

Below is a background article on the TPDM by Global Security.

Tigray People’s Democratic Movement

The Tigray People’s Democratic Movement [TPDM] remained the most significant Ethiopian opposition group being trained, financed and hosted inside Eritrea as of 2015. The UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea. reported extensively on the continued support by Eritrea for TPDM in violation of paragraph 15 (b) of resolution 1907 (2009) (see S/2014/727 and S/2012/545).

TPDM, also known by its Tigrinya acronym “Demhit”, is an armed Ethiopian opposition group founded in 2001 by dissidents from the Ethiopian ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. TPDM says on its website that its aim is “to establish a popular democratic government of Ethiopia where the rights of nation and nationality are respected”. In 2014, the UN Monitoring Group found that TPDM was being trained on Harena, an island in the Red Sea off the eastern coast of Eritrea, as well as in smaller military training outposts close to the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Moreover, in 2014, the Group reported that TPDM had become the most important Ethiopian opposition group inside Eritrea, with a dual function as an Ethiopian armed opposition group and a protector of the current regime. Its fighters, who hail from the same ethnic group as the President, are seen to be personally loyal to him. The support of Eritrea for TPDM appears to be more sustained and organized than its support for other Ethiopian armed groups (see S/2014/727).

In its report of June 2015, the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea noted the presence of TPDM in Eritrea and reported its role in round -ups against Eritrean citizens who had failed to report to their national military (A/HRC/29/CRP.1, para. 1213). The findings were echoed by Europe-based activists in contact with Eritreans inside Eritrea who told the UN Monitoring Group that TPDM foreign fighters were involved in sweeps to round up people for conscription as recently as February 2015.

The Government of Eritrea facilitated and supported a move to unite a disparate group of armed Ethiopian opposition groups ahead of the Ethiopian general election that was held on 24 May 2015. The Group also received reports that a conference bringing together a number of Ethiopian opposition groups was held in western Eritrea. During the meeting, the groups, which included TPDM, the Patriotic Front, Ginbot Sebat and Arbegnoch, agreed to unify politically and militarily. The level of success and internal cohesion of the newly formed group is unclear.

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Eritrea told the United Nations Security Council on Friday that it has agreed to start withdrawing its troops from Ethiopia's Tigray region, acknowledging publicly for the first time the country's involvement in the conflict.

The admission in a letter to the 15-member council - and posted online by Eritrea's Ministry of Information - comes a day after U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said the world body had not seen any proof that Eritrean soldiers have withdrawn.

"As the looming grave threat has been largely thwarted, Eritrea and Ethiopia have agreed - at the highest levels - to embark on the withdrawal of Eritrean forces and the simultaneous redeployment of Ethiopian contingents along the international boundary," Eritrea's U.N. Ambassador Sophia Tesfamariam wrote.

Eritrean forces have been helping Ethiopian federal government troops fight Tigray's former ruling party in a conflict that began in November. However, until now Eritrea has repeatedly denied its forces are in the mountainous region.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last month acknowledged the Eritrean presence and the United Nations and the United States have demanded that Eritrean troops withdraw from Tigray.

"Neither the U.N. nor any of the humanitarian agencies we work with have seen proof of Eritrean withdrawal," Lowcock told the Security Council on Thursday. "We have, however, heard some reports of Eritrean soldiers now wearing Ethiopian Defense Force uniforms."

The conflict has killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands more from their homes in the region of 5 million.

Lowcock said there were "widespread and corroborated reports of Eritrean culpability in massacres and killings." Eritrean soldiers opened fire in an Ethiopian town on Monday, killing at least nine civilians and wounding more than a dozen others, a local government official told Reuters.

The Security Council has been briefed privately five times since the conflict began. According to Lowcock's briefing notes on Thursday, he told the body that sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war, the humanitarian crisis has deteriorated in the past month and people are now dying of hunger in Tigray.

"We heard false allegations of the 'the use of sexual violence and hunger as a weapon'," Tesfamariam wrote on Friday. "The allegations of rape and other crimes lodged against Eritrean soldiers is not just outrageous, but also a vicious attack on the culture and history of our people."

She said the priority should be the delivery of aid to civilians in Tigray. (Additional reporting by the Nairobi newsroom; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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