Author: Tentag

The UN Literally Looks the Other Way When It Comes to TPLF Human Rights Abuses

The UN Literally Looks the Other Way When It Comes to TPLF Human Rights Abuses

Jeff Pearce

Tigrayans forced to fight, weapons being fired and risking locals’ safety, and staff told not to video TPLF “recruitment events” — UN officials don’t talk publicly about THESE conditions in the region

According to a leaked UN internal communication from last Saturday, October 2, its humanitarian staff in Shire know of or at least have heard reports of human rights abuses within the areas they serve in Tigray and seem to be indifferent to responding and acting on them.

What’s being told to a group of UN workers and cluster partners is starkly different at times to how the OCHA is publicly reporting the situation.

Among the revelations in an internal email sent to the Shire Group, one official tells recipients, “The situation across Shire AoR feels a bit tense as TF military recruitment campaign continues (and intensifies) for over a week now. Unconfirmed reports indicate that mandatory recruitment (at least one person per family) have been ongoing in the past few days, coinciding with the increasing tensions and challenges in/around TF-controlled areas in Amhara region.”

There is a lot to unpack here, but what stands out most of all is how there is noindication in the email that the UN manager wants to investigate further to confirm or that officials will ask TPLF leaders to cease and desist forcing Tigrayans to fight for a terrorist group.

The “one person per family” reference is also interesting in that the official shows no interest in determining whether these forced recruits include children.

The UN is still protesting the Ethiopia government’s move to kick out seven UN senior officials it declared persona non grata and which it accuses of undermining security operations, spreading disinformation, and collaborating with the TPLF. Sources confirmed months ago and in August that senior UN officials have harassed Ethiopian workers, helped the TPLF to sabotage national exams in Mekelle, and worked to misrepresent the UN’s own discussion of how to respond to sexual assault cases during the conflict.

It’s reasonable to ask, as the U.S. and its public advocates go on complaining over the expelled “Seven Saints,” how does the UN keep working in Tigray, knowing that Tigrayan residents, including children, are being forced to go to war?

Here is a UN official openly suggesting in an email to colleagues that ordinary Tigrayans are being forced to fight over “challenges” in TPLF controlled regions of Amhara — a hell of a euphemistic way of saying the locals are fighting back. And giving us a window on how desperate TPLF forces are, needing to drag their own people to the battle lines.

“Firearm shooting to celebrate the recruitment is frequently heard and may pose danger to local population and aid workers,” reports the email.

And what action is the UN taking to persuade TPLF soldiers and their officers to stop doing this dangerous practice? None is given.

“All partners, please, refrain from attending (and taking pictures/videos of) any recruitment-related events.”

This is quite revealing. Why must partners and UN staff even need to be toldto steer clear and not capture any photo/video evidence of recruitment-related events?

Why would they attend and be fraternizing with new recruits at all?

Instructing staff not to take any photos or videos of recruiting events is a damage-control effort that speaks more to protecting the TPLF’s image than the physical safety of UN workers. What is the concern here? That staff will be seen socializing with TPLF recruits? That the recruits may include children, and the video and shots will provide more evidence? It’s a practice already confirmed by the New York Times’ own glorifying of child soldiers and in other media reports.

And as the campaign continues to try to keep senior UN officials like Kwesi Sansculotte in their jobs, despite his lack of social media professionalism which now proliferates the airwaves, the UN doesn’t seem very interested in talking about this:

“In the last couple of weeks, a few people were reportedly arrested (suspected of spying for ErDF) and many mobile phones of local people were temporarily confiscated on the suspicion of possibly conveying intelligence info using humanitarian Internet…” [The ellipse is in the original]

Would the UN like to weigh in on what happened to these arrested individuals? Did staff bother to find out their names and how and where they’re being detained? How about if they’re still alive? Given that during the Meles Zenawi era of TPLF rule, torture conducted right in downtown buildings in Addis was commonplace, what are UN staff doing to further investigate and ensure that these arrested individuals are having their rights protected?

The email doesn’t address any of this. And this, too, is glaringly omitted from the Situation Report.

“A few checkpoints along the Shire-Mekelle road remain open for humanitarians, though sporadically crowded with new recruits undergoing military training.”

This seems to indicate that any interference with aid getting into the region cannot simply be blamed on Ethiopian military and militia. In fact, the official contradicts herself in her own email:

“Items such as generators, ITC, teff, high-energy biscuits, and office furniture are still not allowed to transit to Tigray (despite approval by NDRMC these items are denied at checkpoints).”

NDRMC means the National Disaster and Risk Management Commission of the Ethiopian government. In other words, the Ethiopian government approved these items, but they were denied at checkpoints. Who then would deny them? Well, the federal army is no longer in control of the region after it left during the unilateral ceasefire, and it certainly wasn’t around at the time this email was written (October 2). So the only force that could prevent transit is the TPLF.

Keep in mind, the email tells us: “A few checkpoints along the Shire-Mekelle road remain open for humanitarians, though sporadically crowded with new recruits undergoing military training.” Shouldn’t these be the likely candidates for interfering with shipments?

Moreover, in keeping with the flood of photo/video evidence on social media, the email gives us a clear confirmation that the UN’s fleet of vehicles are being misused by the TPLF, contrary to UN aid chief Martin Griffiths trying to blame the more than 400 disappearing trucks on the Ethiopian government:

“Some rental vehicles have reportedly abused UN stickers to easily pass though checkpoints unrelated to any work done for UN,” admits the official in her email. “All partners using rental vehicles, please, make sure there is proper tracking of who and when uses the stickers so this practice of unauthorized use of stickers stops.”

The email also blames bank closures and communications disruptions for cashflow problems (neglecting to mention the number of comms technicians sent to do repairs by the Ethiopian government who have been murdered on the job by the TPLF). And then offers this startling insight into the situation:

“Partners (continue to) report that some national staff working for NGOs in Tigray are not turning up to work due to their inability to pay salaries. Some have tried (for a few months now) to get them paid in-kind/food, but the increasing food prices and depleting stocks affect the arrangement.”

It’s only speculation, but how much then is the relentless cries for return of banking and communications services driven not by the needs of ordinary Tigrayans as by the NGOs facing desertion of their staff?

And there’s more. The email includes the attachment of a PowerPoint presentation on preliminary findings of another round of “Emergency Site Assessment” by IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix. However, the methodology borders on bizarre: relying on questionnaires of 4,061 “key informants” — of whom only 35 percent were women and girls who contributed their “local knowledge.”

The data collection period spanned a few days in late July and all of August. But even a casual look suggests that someone is cooking the books on the numbers. The regional breakdown suggests only 151,040 Internally Displaced Persons in the Amhara region.

Well, I’m not good at math, but I was there in Wollo during the very period that this “assessment” was being made, and while the slide map somewhat reflects the truth of what the ArtsTV team and I found ourselves — that there were about 100,000 IDPs in the Dessie area alone — why doesn’t the map also reflect IDPs across the North Wollo woredas? How about those fleeing the shelling of Debre Tabor or the capture of Lalibela, both of which occurred during this same assessment period?

In fact, according to figures released by the Ethiopian Ministry of Peace, the number of IDPs in the Amhara region is about 550,000 as of September 15.Since more than 400,000 people didn’t suddenly cross into the region on the morning of September 1st, that means DTM had to be willfully blind in how it conducted its research through August, ignoring the great tides of victims of the TPLF looking desperately for safe haven.

The inescapable impression we’re all left with is that the UN has not only been lying to all of us, but even lying to itself. Ethiopia restricted itself to kicking out only seven senior officials. It may need to reconsider expanding the list of those who need to be shown the door.

Reexamining Ethiopia’s Foreign Alliances

Reexamining Ethiopia’s Foreign Alliances

By Addissu Admas 

September 25,2021

PM Abiy’s response to Biden’s threatened sanctions and restrictions are rather mild compared to the reaction displayed by Ethiopians behind closed doors. This current US administration has essentially decided to remain deaf to the plight of Ethiopians and is shamelessly siding with the TPLF, despite this party’s abysmal record, and its stated plan to drive Ethiopia into civil war in the hope of regaining its hegemonic position. The strategy these days is to depict Dr. Abiy as a megalomaniac despot, impervious to reason; and the TPLF as a victim of cruel persecution. I do not know who advises Biden or Blinken. To be perfectly honest, that is the least of my concerns. I have come to the conclusion than even many of those holding prestigious and endowed chairs in institutions of higher education have sold their souls to this manipulative and cruel party. I need not dignify them here by naming them. Those who read their questionable academic papers know who they are. Much ignorance, blatant calculation and capricious partiality, and who knows, plain old corruption may be the reasons behind their grandiloquent pronouncements. Believe me they know nothing about the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian people. What they know about Ethiopia was poured into their ears and minds by the TPLF; may be even with a dash of corrupting pampering!

I say to PM Abiy that the West has decided not to consider our present predicament with the impartiality, equanimity and objectivity owed to our well-established ancient country. We are, and we will remain a troublesome Third World country where seditious and murderous parties have the same-standing as governments elected by a super-majority of the people. For the West, we are no more than brawling children in the schoolyard deserving the same number of lashes each, without establishing who the guilty party is. It matters not who started the brawl: discipline must be maintained!

The Ethiopian government does not need to be told what to do. It has acted and will continue to act within the powers granted to it by the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE). It should not succumb to the pressure exerted by the U.S. or its allies. If the American government refuses to continue in its stubborn determination to completely ignore the very destabilizing group that is the TPLF, then PM Abiy’s government has no other option than reexamine and re-direct its alliances.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, the youthful Zhao Lijian tweeted recently “[in part]…we believe the parties concerned in Ethiopia have the wisdom and capability to properly resolve their differences, realize national reconciliation and restore peace and stability”. This is a model of how a sovereign nation treats another sovereign nation, i.e. with the dignity and the deference it deserves. The U.S. is going around the world with a big truncheon intimidating its own allies to submission. This has not worked and it will never work.

I say to PM Abiy and his government that it is time to reexamine or even reorient his alliances if America continues to refuse to acknowledge the fact that this war was ignited by the TPLF for the sole purpose of regaining its lost hegemony and the advantage of the people it claims to represent. And not, obviously, because it has profound concern for the country, or much less because of “ideological differences”. If the U.S. and the EU want to continue to believe in the false narrative the TPLF is feeding them, it is time for PM Abiy to seek support elsewhere.

I am convinced that the PM continues to be well disposed towards the U.S. and the EU not only because they are the main source of humanitarian aid to the country, but also because he has clearly indicated to favor their economic and political ideologies. Nevertheless, I would say that it is time for him to choose his friends carefully in order to preserve the integrity and wellbeing of a nation under his stewardship.

If Jimmy Carter had simply lent a helping hand to the beleaguered military regime in its war against Somalia in 1976-77, he would have most likely prevented the cruel excesses of the Derg, and the country may have stirred most likely in a different direction. However, Carter’s refusal to help Ethiopia forced the Derg to embrace the Soviet Union unreservedly. I need not recount here what happened after; it is a well-known part of our modern history. Similarly today, Biden is pushing the Government of Ethiopia to ally itself to the other superpowers of the globe for no other reason that it being obtusely deaf to what the super majority of Ethiopians are demanding. That is that the TPLF stop attacking the Amhara and Afar regions for no other reason than the hope of “securing” a better bargaining position should there be a negotiation proctored by the U.S. If the U.S. wants genuinely peace in Ethiopia, it should demand that the TPLF savage and destructive incursions in neighboring Killils (ethnic enclaves) stop. It needs to be added here that the TPLF, even though it may claim to be the sole representative of the Tigrean people, cannot decide for the total and irreversible independence of Tigray. This is a decision that only the Tigrean people can decide in a universal suffrage, and thus cannot be part of TPLF’s negotiation strategy, or much less the objective of their military campaign. After all, regardless of what is happening today, the Tigrean people are still under the dictates of the Constitution of the Federal State.

As things stand, I have a distinct feeling that the Biden administration is self-righteously entrenched in its position, and PM Abiy’s government has no choice but to embrace whomever is willing to provide a lending hand to end this miserable war. I have confidence that the PM, as Mr. Zhao Lijian stated, will have “the wisdom and capability” of choosing the best allies in helping him maintain the integrity and well-being of Ethiopia and of all Ethiopians.

 

Ethiopia: TPLF Terrorism Expands, Civilians Massacred – OpEd

Ethiopia: TPLF Terrorism Expands,
Civilians Massacred

By Graham Peebles
September 18,2021

As the armed conflict between Ethiopia and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) enters a new phase, Ethiopians are uniting against their common enemy. The TPLF is not a group of freedom fighters standing up for the downtrodden; they are a terrorist insurgent force waging a war against a sovereign state. Murdering, raping, destroying property and the lives of Ethiopians, the TPLF is a cancer that for decades has thrown a suffocating shadow of fear and division over the country, a cancer that must be cut out totally if Ethiopia is to flourish.

For 27 years they were the dominant force within a so-called coalition government. Corrupt and brutal, the TPLF stole election after election, trampled on human rights, embezzled federal funds and aid money and committed State Terrorism in various regions of the country. Administering a policy of Ethnic Federalism, they ruled through fear, divided the people along ethnic lines and are widely hated by most Ethiopians.

In 2018, after sustained public protests, they were ousted. However, after such a long period in power their divisive methodology and ideals still have influence. Senior members retreated to their Tigray heartland after losing office, regrouped, plotted, and waited for an opportunity to rise up against the government.

On 4 November 2020 they attacked the Ethiopian National Defense Forces Base in the northern region of Tigray. They killed soldiers, took control of the military’s Northern Command in Mekelle (capital of Tigray) and raided federal armories. This act of terrorism, set in motion an armed conflict in the northern region of Tigray; a fight the TPLF had been itching for, which has now spread into the neighboring region of Ahmara.

Thousands have died, combatants and civilians; claims of rape and sexual violence are widespread; tens of thousands have been displaced, homeless and hungry, with large numbers, frightened and distressed, making their way to camps in neighboring Sudan.

The TPLF’s brutal actions should be condemned unreservedly by foreign governments, particularly Ethiopia’s major donors. But, far from standing with the government, the US, UK and EU have consistently supported the terrorists, circulating misinformation, making false claims against Ethiopian forces.

Civilians Massacred

In an attempt to stop the killing and defuse the situation, on 28 June, the Government declared a “unilateral humanitarian ceasefire” and withdrew its forces from Tigray. In response, the TPLF marched into the regional capital and issued a series of outlandish conditions for complying: They demanded the release of all Tigray political prisoners (imprisoned for atrocities committed over many years), falsely accused Prime Minister Abiy of starting the war, and claimed that Tigrayans “have been subjected to…genocide and ethnic cleansing”. Federal forces are fighting the TPLF not the people of Tigray. But, as a result of the TPLF instigated conflict, civilians in Tigray have been severely impacted.

Unrelenting, obdurate, Tigray forces, which have now combined with another extremist group, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), have ignored the ceasefire and continued their attack on Ethiopia, moving into the Afar and Amhara regions bordering Tigray. Death, destruction and chaos is left in their wake with distressing reports of civilian killings, rapes, kidnapping and robbery. Homes are destroyed, office buildings, including Kabele (local government) headquarters vandalized, documents burnt, water and electricity supplies cut, Churches and schools damaged or demolished, cattle killed, crops destroyed.

Over 200 civilians were killed in Afar including more than 100 children, according to UNICEF, and around 300,000 were displaced. Federal forces have now driven the aggressors out of this region. In Deber Tabor in Ahmara, the main hospital was attacked and homes destroyed. A local resident, Mr. Deres Nega told Ethiopian media how his wife, children and friends had been killed by the TPLF. His life has been torn apart. His agony is being repeated throughout the area, his pain is the pain of a nation, a pain that has but one cure, the eradication of the TPLF.

Over 200 km north of Deber Tabor, in Chena Teklehaymanot, mass graves were recently discovered containing 124 bodies, many more people (over 100) are missing feared dead. Witnesses state that the TPLF went house to house and slaughtered men, women, children, even priests (revered throughout Ethiopia) were killed. The massacre, which has been confirmed by Gizachew Muluneh, Director of Communications for the Amhara Regional State, is but one atrocity in a series of coordinated assaults by the TPLF since the government ceasefire. Getachew Shiferaw, a leading Ethiopian activist, relates that, “Civilians were massacred [by the TPLF] in Woldia, Kobo, Alamata, Lalibela, Abergele, Maytemri, Gaint, Gashena and Mersa, among others towns.” He warns that, “Chena is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed’s press secretary, has said that TPLF atrocities in Ahmara “were carried out to avenge the military loss the clique suffered by federal and state troops,” as its fighters were routed from Afar. The government believes the Chena massacre was carried out by “the TPLF’s Samri youth group”, who are also thought to be responsible for killing over 1,000 civilians in “the town of Maikadra…last November.” After which they escaped to Sudan and hid in a UNHCR refugee camp.

Such brutal attacks, which are consistently ignored by western governments (who know very well what is actually happening) and prominent mainstream media, are forcing the Ethiopian government, until now relatively restrained, to respond and mobilize its forces. Ethiopia’s foreign ministry recently said the TPLF was pushing the government to “change its defensive mood which has been taken for the sake of the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire,” and that unless (government) overtures for a peaceful resolution were reciprocated, “Ethiopia could deploy the entire defensive capability of the state.”

The government, which has been weak on law and order enforcement, cannot simply sit back and allow the TPLF to murder civilians. They must respond swiftly and decisively, including, if necessary, deploying the air force, something they are reluctant to do because of potential civilian casualties.

Malicious foreign forces

Since the conflict began the Ethiopian government has been battling, not just the terrorists, but malicious foreign forces and misleading information from western governments and mainstream media – the BBC, CNN, New York Times, Facebook etc. The US, which is widely believed to be indirectly arming the TPLF, have led the misinformation campaign, and appear (together with the UK and EU) to have sanctioned the TPLF’s attack on Ethiopia.

To its utter shame the Biden administration (and UK and EU) has failed to condemn the TPLF attacks, and has undermined the Ethiopian government from the outset. They repeatedly call for reconciliation (thereby legitimizing the terrorists), and instruct PM Ahmed to negotiate with the TPLF, which is not only unacceptable to the government, but to the vast majority of Ethiopians, who liken the TPLF to a pack of hyenas, pointing out the impossibility of negotiating with wild animals.

In response to their international backers’ call for ‘negotiations’ the TPLF drafted a list of preposterous demands for any such talks. Among other fantasies, they wanted PM Ahmed to step down and be replaced with one of their own, and a power-sharing arrangement introduced. This would amount to the overthrow (with US backing) of a democratically elected government: The Prosperity Party (a party of national unity founded by Abiy) has a huge mandate, taking 410 out of 436 seats in the June 2020 general election. The formation of a new government, which will include opposition parties, is expected by the end of September/early October, and is eagerly awaited.

As these malicious foreign forces seek to destabilize Ethiopia for their own corrupt geo-political reasons, and the TPLF commit atrocity after atrocity, the Ethiopian people are laying aside long held divisions (largely caused by TPLF policies) and coming together, standing shoulder to shoulder with their brothers and sisters against the poison of the terrorists and the Imperial arrogance of America and Co.

While this is unquestionably a deeply troubling moment for Ethiopia, at the same time there is cause for celebration and real optimism: The staging of the first democratic elections in the country’s long and rich history was a major achievement, as was the second filling of The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (the largest dam in Africa) reservoir. Along with the imminent formation of a new and democratically elected government, these are unifying national events. Significant developments which the Ethiopian people can take great pride in as they unite against the TPLF/OLA terrorists, destructive groups that must be purged from the country completely and utterly if peace and social harmony are to be established, and the  needed work of national transformation is to go ahead.

Setting the Record Straight:A Response to Eliza Mackintosh September 8, 2021 article on CNN

Setting the Record Straight:A Response to Eliza Mackintosh's
September 8, 2021 article on CNN

September 13, 2021

Eliza Mackintosh in a September 8, 2021 article on CNN writes “In 2018, Kidanemariam was serving as Ethiopia’s consul general in Los Angeles and said he helped organize Abiy’s visit” . Frankly, as  residents of Los Angeles, we in the Hager Wodad in Los Angeles group know,  Kidanemariam had planned to suppress the number Ethiopian communities in attendance for the event. The  exception was the informed  Tigerans  in western United States who  were recipients of the entrance tickets for the event. He effectively held information on PM Abiy’s visit and followed his   sabotaging  scheme  by holding event tickets  and the location of the venue.  This is  well known  by the Ethiopian community in Los Angeles.

No wonder he got “heckled” when he got up to introduce PM Abiy not to a “crowd”  as he says but a packed Ethiopian and Eritrean audience in the Galen Center at the University of Southern California (USC) which holds over ten thousand people.

When Kidanemariam approached the podium he was booed and hissed but our group present in the audience that day did not hear “Get out of the podium Tigrayan” , and “other ethnic slurs”.

He was heckled because, if Kidanemariam’s plan in June 2018 greeting of PM Abiy in Los Angeles had worked, the turn out at the Galen center (USC) would have been attended by members of the Tigrean community only, leaving the majority non-Tigreans Ethiopians in the region from attending the event.

Kindanemariam sent tickets for the event early to all the Tigrean communities in California, Oregan, Colorado Arizona and some western US cities. Tigreans had booked hotels and arranged with family and friends for their stay in Los Angeles well before other Ethiopians.

The remaining non-Tigrean Ethiopians got the word of PM Abiy’s LA arrival very late. The entrance tickets, had it not been by the efforts of opposition activists (Ginbot 7), faith communities, and business that organized to counter this sabotaging move by Kidanemariam, his plan to suppress the audience numbers (i.e the “crowd” ) and deny PM Abiy the attendance of Ethiopians in the region  would have succeeded.

Kidanemariam is in no position to anticipate/expect PM Abiy to “chide the crowd” or “correct” the audience. According to Mackintosh, Kidanemariam claimed he approched PM Abiy and asked why he did not “chide the crowd” and Mckintosh reported that Abiy told Kidanemariam “There was nothing to correct.” 

“One of the ironies of a prime minister who came to office promising unity is that he has deliberately exacerbated hatred between different groups,” quotes Mckintosh from an open letter written by  counsel general Kidanemariam on his resignation from his post.

Aside from Kidanemariam’s phony indignation, Mackintosh is telling us it is PM Abiy and not the TPLF and its high paid cadres who cleverly used the venue of the embassies to foment discord in the wider global Ethiopian diaspora and also in the western US region for decades. We suggest that Mackintosh interview representatives of faith based community leaders, activists and others residing in Los Angeles and gather information to present a balanced report.

“In less than two years, Abiy has gone from darling of the international community to pariah”, well that maybe for Mackintosh and the US and EU who continue to use the likes of Mckintosh, DeClan of the New York times and a few others harping on the same tune that is played on CNN, BBC, Reuters and other corporate media giants to devalue the most popular and liked leader in Ethiopia’s recent history.

PM Abiy certainly has his current challenges that forced his hand in defense of the Ethiopian nation and the latest being  the TPLF’s war on the Federal government. The Ethiopian National Defense Forces(ENDF) northern command were attacked by the TPLF on November 4 , 2020 and PM Abiy responded declaring a “law and order campaign” to bring the terrorist organization in check.

Mackintosh’s slanderous statement of PM Abiy’s “facilitation ……. bears the hallmarks of genocide and has the potential to destabilize the wider Horn of Africa region”  has made her one more addition to the hostile and sustained voices campaigning against the PM of Ethiopia with unsubstantiated, accusatory statements. Ethiopia is waiting on a joint UN and Ethiopian Human Right Commisson investigation report which will become public reportedly on November 1, 2021.

Despite critics and the current challenges of the conflict/war in the Ethiopian north, Ethiopia’s PM Abiy continues to lead a reform movement and the June Ethiopian elections gave his party a mandate for five more years to lead the nation.

CNN’s Mackintosh reported also on a Skype call to Tsedale Lemma of Addis Standard who said “Soon after Abiy was “crowned” with that Nobel Peace Prize, he lost an appetite in pursuing domestic reform,” and “ he considered it a blanket pass to do as he wishes.” CNN and Tsedale are wrong because the ruling coalition EPRDF was still intact and the Ethiopian parliament still functional “soon after PM Abiy” was elected. Tsedale’s reported comment that the PM “alienated critical regional players” is not factual because the response to his olive branch to these “critical regional players” was war against him.

“The war in Tigray is not the first time he’s used that pass”, she said, adding that “since Abiy came to power on the platform of unifying Ethiopia’s people and its state, he has ruthlessly consolidated control and alienated critical regional players”.It is the TPLF’s political war and indirect regional conflicts using cadres within the EPRDF that began right after PM Abiy assumed power. The TPLF was not “sidelined” , they simply lost the election held by the EPRDF coalition that installed PM Abiy after the resignation of PM Hailemariam Desalegn.

TPLF’s self isolation from the EPRDF was by choice, and all previous attempts by PM Abiy’s government to resolve issues peacefully  were  rejected by the TPLF. Frankly, as most Ethiopians know,in Mekele the TPLF was plotting on a comeback to power and it is obvious today it wants to do this  by force of arms and  the overthrow of an elected government.

“Abiy’s appointment had been intended to quell tensions” writes Mackintosh and that is true and that is why his reform movement invited all opposition parties in exile to enter the country and to participate in the change process peacefully. Instead, the TPLF and OLF began armed conflict, trying to destabilize the regional and federal governments.

The TPLF defied the National Election Board (NEB) and the courts decision by holding a vote in its Killil.  All Ethiopians know the elections were  postponed twice due to Covid-19 pandemic and finally held in June 2021 by the permission of the Ethiopian health ministry. The current ongoing conflict which began in November 2020 has nothing to do with regional elections and started as a result of the betrayal of TPLf forces who attacked the ENDF northern command.

Mackintosh writes “Still, many Ethiopians are reluctant to lay the blame for the country’s unravelling at Abiy’s feet. Ahead of the election in June, residents in Addis Ababa told CNN they felt Abiy had inherited a mess from the previous regime and had always faced an uphill battle pushing reforms forward — an assessment shared by some regional experts”. Well, Well…

Quoting William Davison of the International Crisis Group (ICG), Mackintosh writes “Lots of people were hopeful that the liberalizing changes, after those years of anti-government protests and all of the state violence in response, […] marked a moment where Ethiopia would start to conduct its politics more peacefully.” This is true , but the TPLF, once out of power has been sabotaging all peaceful reform efforts.Today, the TPLF has declared war on PM Abiy’s government and is currently ongoing..

The reform movement was to bring about separation of powers within the Ethiopian government and not to resolve all ‘the major problems and contradictions in Ethiopia,,,,,clashing nationalisms, opposing visions, and bitter political rivalries” as analyst  William Davison is quoted in Mckintosh’s report. Davison  criticizing PM Abiy and expecting the resolution of all the “contradictions” is unreasonable and unauthentic and cheap propaganda he  is known for.

Yes, Ethiopia’s foreign ministery stated “the US of meddling in the country’s internal affairs and misunderstanding the significant challenges on the ground”. This is also validated by big powers in the United Nations Security Council(UNSC) who opposed sanctions on grounds of meddling in internal affairs of the  Ethiopian government. Furthermore, this meddling statement  contradicts  CNN’s  report that  “the tide of international opinion has turned against PM Abiy”.

But the most glaring truth is the US and EU are disappointed by the new friendship and alliance with the Eritrean government and the peaceful resolution of problems between the two nations, which won PM Abiy the Nobel Prize..

Macintosh’s quotes Professor Mehari Taddele Maru, of European University Institute who believes the “Nobel Committee’s endorsement of Abiy has contributed to the current conflict.” That is a stretch and Mehari Tadele Maru, a staunch supporter of the TPLF was on the wrong side of history when he began down playing the popular movement that toppled the TPLF, declared the EPRDF  and not the the TPLF dead, opposed the EPRDF’s election of PM Abiy and is now blaming the Nobel Prize Committee for Ethiopia’s war and not the TPLF for  the current crisis. He has been wrong on every turn of events over the last three years.

Kidanemariam wrote  “Instead of fulfilling his initial promise, he has led Ethiopia down a dark path toward destruction and disintegration.” This is false, and PM Abiy has the potential to lead Ethiopia to a bright future and Kidanemariam should not despair because  PM Abiy successfully will guide the completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam  and increase the productivity of the nation.

In Ethiopia, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front is using child soldiers as human shields​

In Ethiopia, the Tigray People's Liberation Front is using child soldiers as human shields

Doreen Nicoll       September 9, 2021

For years, it’s been common knowledge that children (under 18s) are routinely recruited into the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in Ethiopia.

The TPLF is both highly centralized as well as regimentalized down to the village level. Their militaristic preparations began during the overthrow of the Derg — the military junta that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987. Eventually, the Derg was replaced with the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) which continued to be controlled by members of the Derg. In 1991, a coalition of ethnic-based rebel groups overthrew the PDRE and formed the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

The TPLF was a dominant force in the new coalition government until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was appointed by the EPRDF in 2018 to assume the leadership. Those militaristic preparations, along with 27 years in power, means many of the same leaders are still around to seek similar rebel alliances and reinforce the regimentalized militia structure that includes the use of children.

Tigrayans have been posting pictures and videos of children carrying out wartime activities. There are also reports from government soldiers fighting the TPLF and from child soldiers themselves that children are being used as fodder by the TPLF.

Most disturbing is the July 14, 2021 New York Times article by Declan Walsh, with photographs by Finbarr O’Reilly, in which Walsh paints a picture of selfless children fighting for Tigrayan independence while completely ignoring the fact that the recruitment and use of children in conflict is a war crime and contravenes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Walsh article and O’Reilly’s pictures have since been removed from the Times’ site, but, while available, glorified the TPLF’s use of child soldiers.

As for the TPLF, they claim the children are not actively engaged in battle but instead are just helping TPLF soldiers with tasks like gathering arms abandoned by the retreating Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF).

Even if this were true — which is unlikely given that the ENDF departed from Tigray to respect provisions of a unilateral ceasefire rather than as a result of any hot pursuit by the Tigrayan fighters — it is still a violation of the UN convention and is a war crime in and of itself, as the law holds that children under 18 years of age are not to play any role in war, including, but not limited to, cooking, spying, or carrying weapons for soldiers.

ENDF soldiers have reported that the TPLF is in fact using armed child soldiers as their first line of defence. The children are sent to engage with the ENDF while TPLF forces bring up the rear.

ENDF soldiers have reportedly not fired on the children leaving the fighters vulnerable to attack from the TPLF. They also reported children dropping their weapons to run off to neighbouring villages seeking shelter and safety as well as children putting down their guns and surrendering to ENDF forces.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front chairman (and president of the Tigray region) Debretsion Gebremichael foreshadowed the use of children by the TPLF in this conflict when he stated in a speech: “Starting with children, everyone will fight.”

The TPLF is strategically using children to create a human wave in an attempt to overwhelm the ENDF. The federal military will not shoot children and so the TPLF are safe behind their human shields. For those doubting the credibility of reports that the TPLF is using children to fight its battles, Ann Fitz-Gerald, director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a professor in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Political Science Department notes that there is ample photographic and video evidence of this.

“The use of children to support any element of armed conflict constitutes a war crime — that the international community is observing this evidence and remaining silent questions the whole value of the conventions and protocols the world has adopted to address such crimes.”

Fitz-Gerald also suggests that these crimes, with knowledge of both historical context and insurgency campaigns, could have been better predicted.

“Patterns have emerged based on the ongoing and concerted propagandist efforts to link Ethiopia’s federal government with war crimes and violations impacting on strategic policy agenda of donor organizations. We saw this with the accusations over things like the use of chemical agents like white phosphorous and the use of Russian mercenaries — evidence of which was not found. These ongoing efforts have been used to push the international community to insist on negotiations as nothing else will provide a platform for the TPLF to table unrealistic demands. For this reason — and very sadly — it was not surprising that the issue of children would become another strategic policy button for the TPLF to press. But what perhaps could not have been predicted was the call for the unilateral ceasefire and the pulling of federal troops from the region. Without anyone left to blame, the TPLF moved their fighters and child recruits out to the border regions so that federal forces positioned in close proximity of the regional borders could be levied with accusations of child-related atrocities. And in the face of the international community’s ongoing silence, these predictable tactics manifested in the death and injury of hundreds of children.”

Like the evidence of the TPLF’s use of child soldiers in Tigray, there is now ample evidence that the TPLF used these child soldiers to invade Afar and Amhara regions and that hundreds of children were killed. Those rescued by the ENDF verified recruitment by the TPLF. Child soldiers often bring with them a vitality and energy that makes them easy to train. Perhaps more importantly, they have a false sense of bravery or invincibility and when plied with drugs — as children rescued from the TPLF are reporting — some have no fear.

Recruitment has been made easier for the TPLF since they support the infrastructure that includes the distribution of food aid.

The TPLF have a registration process which denies food aid to families who don’t supply a child fighter. Families without children are often left begging for food. Homeless children living on the streets are easy prey, and of course, children with families may simply go missing.

So why does the international community refuse to condemn the use of child soldiers by the TPLF? They had no problem condemning and apparently hunting down leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, which recruited and trained child soldiers. And, as Fitz-Gerald states, it was very vocal when Jermichael Boko Haram routinely kidnapped Nigerian children, and when armed groups in 2018 in South Sudan continued to recruit child soldiers and force them into conflict.

Fitz-Gerald suggests that:

“The accountability structures of NGOs that have, through this crisis, appeared to have taken a selective approach to humanity, need to be asking some serious questions. With ample evidence, questions become raised concerning internal structures in these organizations. Why, as noted recently by one Italian media reporter, did Amnesty International admit to being aware of the TPLF’s use of child soldiers but, in defending its silence, cite difficulties in accessing the area? The same organization that was content to report on an Axum massacre whilst hundreds of miles away from Axum and on the basis of telephone numbers handed to it without precise knowledge of who was interviewed or where the respondents were speaking from.”

November 17, 2020 UNICEF issued the following statement:

“UNICEF is deeply concerned about the safety and wellbeing of children affected by ongoing military operations in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law and to protect children from harm.”

According to Fitz-Gerald: “The silence of the international community exposes a sense of selective humanity within the realm of international law. The question is why are Ethiopian children different and not as deserving?”

It should not be lost on Canadians that War Child Canada to date has not issued a statement on the situation in Ethiopia. Even Romeo Dallaire, appointed special advisor to the Canadian International Development Agency on matters relating to war-affected children around the world, has remained silent. As has Amnesty International. UNICEF offered a media statement at the beginning of the conflict but there has been no follow up and donor countries have not issued independent statements of their own.

A member of the Ethiopian diaspora, Menelik Girma, has just returned to Canada from a trip home. He believes the unilateral ceasefire put in place by Ahmed could be what’s needed to make the world face the truth about the TPLF.

In a phone interview, Girma said that life in Addis Ababa was normal and he felt very safe in the capital. He also said the Ethiopian people were frustrated with biased Western reporting favouring the TPLF.

According to Girma:

“The TPLF are not underdogs. They divide and conquer among ethnic groups. The TPLF started this conflict with a pre-emptive attack and they are fighting for power. When the government responded they were painted as the villain.”

Girma would like to see the West pressure the TPLF into ending the illegal use of child soldiers and to be held accountable for their actions just like the international community did in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), and Uganda.

Instead, “the media is not mentioning TPLF use of children. Western media is silent,” he said.

During elections held in June 2021, Abiy Ahmed won a landslide victory in what has been described as a fair and transparent election which attracted the biggest voter turnout out in history. Despite announcements made by the African Union and international observers validating the free, fair and peaceful nature of the elections and the way in which they were conducted, the U.S questioned the results.

This double standard undoubtably has national interests for the U.S.

As for Girma, he knows that the Ethiopian people will hold Abiy accountable for his promises.

At this point, some TPLF leaders have been captured and will be proceeding to trial. The Ethiopian government has made it clear that it will not negotiate with terrorists, although the U.S. has been encouraging this.

Imposing such mandates has not bode well for the U.S., as witnessed most recently in Afghanistan. The Bush administration would not negotiate with ISIS after 9/11. Canada would also be wise to remember that, during the Quebec crisis, Pierre Elliott Trudeau refused to negotiate with the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ). Instead, Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act.

Why the contradictory approach for Ethiopia?

Doreen Nicoll is a freelance writer, teacher, social activist and member of several community organizations working diligently to end poverty, hunger and gendered violence