Tag: Ethiopia

There Can Be No Peace In Ethiopia Without Justice And Accountability

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On November 2, 2022, the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed a peace deal towards ending the brutal two year war in Ethiopia. On November 12, 2022, they further signed an agreement laying out the roadmap for implementation of the peace deal. The roadmap includes steps to facilitate unhindered humanitarian access, provide security to aid workers, and ensure the protection of civilians, among others. It does not include any provisions to ensure justice and accountability.

The two years of war have seen atrocity crimes perpetrated by all actors to the conflict and humanitarian crisis reaching new levels, among others around 5.2 million in need of humanitarian assistance in Tigray, including 3.8 million who need healthcare. Understandably, the agreement does not change the fact that atrocity crimes have been perpetrated. They must be investigated and those responsible brought to justice. Among these crimes is conflict related sexual violence (CRSV).

Survivors of sexual assault do handcrafts at a safe house in Mekele on February 27, 2021. Four … [+] months into the Tigray war, stories of rape, many involving multiple soldiers, have become all-too-common, according to doctors and nurses in Ethiopia’s northernmost region. (Photo by EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

In early November 2022, the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation published their new report “Understanding Conflict Related Sexual Violence in Ethiopia”, produced in cooperation with the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Institute for Public Health at Washington University. The report found that “data suggest that Ethiopian and allied forces committed CRSV on a widespread and systemic basis in order to eliminate and/or forcibly displace the ethnic Tigrayan population.”

The report cites numerous testimonies of survivors of CRSV in the region.

Among them, 27-year-old woman who was raped in front of her children by a half-dozen Fano militiamen carrying out neighborhood searches targeting Tigrayans testified: “Two of them raped me and then I lost consciousness and don’t know how many more raped me, if all six [did], or not. They said: ‘You Tigrayans should disappear from the land west of Tekeze! You are evil and we are purifying your blood.’”

30-year-old survivor testified that “four men raped me. […] They insulted me and they urinated on my head. They said: ‘You and your race are a foul, toilet-smelling race and should not be in our land.’”

28-year-old mother of two, was apprehended by ten Amhara militia members and raped, as she was trying to flee to Sudan, testified that “they said: ‘If you were male we would kill you, but girls can make Amhara babies.’”

The report further cited a testimony of a survivor who recalled that “Eritrean soldiers saying while raping her that they were ordered ‘to come after the women’, while another woman recall[ed] Eritrean soldiers saying that their actions were revenge against Tigray.”

The report further identified that the use of CRSV in Ethiopia is widespread and perpetrated by all actors to the conflict, and affect many ethnic groups. The report indicates that “multiple sources suggesting that the [Eritrean Defense Forces] EDF perpetrated CRSV because they were ordered to and as a means of ethnically motivated revenge. (…) CRSV by the TPLF appears to have been ethnically motivated revenge in response to atrocities committed by federal forces and their allies in Tigray.”

Furthermore, the report indicated that Eritrean refugees have been targeted by multiple actors to the conflict, including by the EDF, by Amhara forces and by Tigrayan forces.

The response to the atrocities in Ethiopia, and specially to CRSV, is yet to follow. This also applies to healthcare services for survivors of CRSV which are still lacking.

As we watch some progress with the peace agreement, the issue of justice and accountability cannot be delayed or left unaddressed. Lasting peace cannot be achieved if the atrocities in Ethiopia enjoy impunity and survivors are left without a voice.

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Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, Contributor

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November 13, 2022
Ethiopia, Tigray military leaders agree on peace roadmap

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Top military commanders from Ethiopia and its embattled Tigray region have agreed to allow unhindered humanitarian access to the region and form a joint disarmament committee following last week’s truce.

The commanders, who since Monday have been meeting in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, signed an agreement Saturday that they said calls for disengagement from all forms of military activities.

Both parties have agreed to protect civilians and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region of more than 5 million people, according to a copy of the agreement seen by The Associated Press.

The agreement states that disarmament will be “done concurrently with the withdrawal of foreign and non-(Ethiopian military) forces” from Tigray.

The lead negotiator for Ethiopia, Redwan Hussein, told the AP that Saturday’s signing event created a conductive environment for ongoing peace efforts, noting that the next meeting of military leaders will “most likely” be held in Tigray in mid-December before a final meeting in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, in January.

In a separate statement late Saturday, Ethiopia’s federal authorities said that “efforts are being made to deliver humanitarian assistance to most of the Tigray region which is under (Ethiopian military) command.”

That statement noted that representatives of Ethiopian and Tigrayan militaries meeting in Kenya discussed “detailed plans for disarmament” of Tigray forces, including an agreement on the entry of Ethiopian forces into the Tigrayan capital of Mekele.

The African Union-led talks in Nairobi followed the cessation of hostilities agreement signed by Ethiopia and Tigray leaders in South Africa last week.

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is helping to facilitate the talks, said Saturday that “humanitarian aid should have resumed like yesterday.” Former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who is also involved in the talks, thanked the commanders for their commitment to peace.

The Tigray conflict began in November 2020, less than a year after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with Eritrea, which borders the Tigray region and whose fighters have been fighting alongside Ethiopian federal troops in Tigray.

Eritrea is not explicitly mentioned in the peace papers, and a diplomat who attended the talks in Nairobi said the issue of Eritrea was a sticking point this week.

The brutal fighting in Tigray, which spilled into Amhara and Afar regions as Tigrayan forces tried to break the military blockade of their region, reignited in August after months of lull that allowed thousands of trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Tigray.

The war in Africa’s second-most populous country, which marked two years on Nov. 4, has seen abuses documented on both sides, with millions of people displaced and many near famine.

Phone and internet connections to Tigray are still down, and foreign journalists and human rights researchers remain barred, complicating efforts to verify reports of ongoing violence in the region.

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November 12, 2022
Ethiopia peace talks extended as disarmament, aid discussed

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NAIROBI, Kenya — The latest round of peace talks between Ethiopia’s government and representatives of the country’s Tigray region has been extended as military commanders work out details on disarmament of Tigray forces after two years of conflict.

An official familiar with the talks confirmed the extension into Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The talks that began Monday in Kenya had been set to end Wednesday.

The African Union-led talks follow last week’s signing of a “permanent cessation of hostilities” in the conflict that is estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The agreement calls for the disarmament of Tigray forces within weeks, but there is concern about when other combatants who aren’t part of the deal will withdraw from Tigray. They include forces from Eritrea, which neighbors the region, and Ethiopia’s Amhara region.

Other issues discussed at this round of talks include the restoration of basic services like internet, telecommunications and banking to the region of more than 5 million people, as well as the resumption of deliveries of humanitarian aid.

The United Nations on Wednesday said they and partners were still waiting on access to a region where even some basic medical supplies have run out. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is from Ethiopia, told reporters he had expected aid to resume “immediately” after the peace deal’s signing.

The lead negotiator for Ethiopia’s government, Redwan Hussein, has said that “maybe by the end of this week or the middle of next week” humanitarian aid will be allowed to go in.

United Nations-backed investigators have said Ethiopian forces resorted to “starvation of civilians” as a weapon in the conflict marked by abuses on all sides.

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November 9, 2022
Peace talks on Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict are extended

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NAIROBI, Kenya — Peace talks between warring sides on Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict have been extended into this week, while the country’s prime minister complained in comments broadcast Monday about “lots of intervention from left and right” in the process.

An official familiar with the arrangements for the talks confirmed that discussions continued in South Africa between Ethiopia’s federal government and representatives from the northern Tigray region. The first formal peace talks began last week.

The African Union-led talks seek a cessation of hostilities in a war that the United States asserts has killed up to hundreds of thousands of people, an estimate made by some academics and health workers.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, speaking to the China Global Television Network, said “we’re working towards peace” and asserted that Ethiopians can solve matters by themselves. “Of course, if there are lots of intervention from left and right, it’s very difficult,” he added. He also said Ethiopian forces were in control of the Tigray towns of Shire, Axum and Adwa.

Neighboring Eritrea, whose forces are fighting alongside Ethiopian ones, is not a party to the peace talks, and it is not clear whether the deeply repressive country will respect any agreement reached. Witnesses have told the AP that Eritreans were killing civilians even after the talks began.

The fighting, which resumed in August after a monthslong lull, has been marked by guerrilla-style warfare by Tigray forces and drone strikes by Ethiopian ones that witnesses have said have killed civilians.

According to analysis of satellite imagery taken by Planet Labs PBC of Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar airport south of the Tigray region on Oct. 21, by armaments expert Wim Zwijnenburg of the Dutch peace organization PAX and by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the wingspan, length, shape and other identifying details of two smaller aircraft visible are consistent with those of the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone.

The United Nations-backed International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia has found evidence of the government using drones in the conflict “in an arbitrary and indiscriminate manner,” commission members told journalists last week.

The commissioners said they have not done a comprehensive analysis of where Ethiopia is obtaining the drones, but they said they had confirmed the drone used in a strike that killed people in a displacement camp early this year came from Turkey.

The commissioners also warned that “atrocity crimes are imminent” if there is no cessation of hostilities in a conflict with abuses documented on all sides.

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October 31, 2022
Sudan official: Deaths from southern tribal clashes at 220

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CAIRO — Two days of tribal fighting in Sudan’s south killed at least 220 people, a senior health official said Sunday, marking one the deadliest bouts of tribal violence in recent years. The unrest added to the woes of an African nation mired in civil conflict and political chaos.

Fighting in Blue Nile province, which borders Ethiopia and South Sudan, reignited earlier this month over a land dispute. It pits the Hausa tribe, with origins across West Africa, against the Berta people.

The tensions escalated Wednesday and Thursday in the town of Wad el-Mahi on the border with Ethiopia, according to Fath Arrahman Bakheit, the director general of the Health Ministry in Blue Nile.

He told The Associated Press that officials counted at least 220 dead as of Saturday night, adding the tally could be much higher since medical teams were not able to reach the epicenter of the fighting.

Bakheit said the first humanitarian and medical convoy managed to reach Was el-Mahi late Saturday to try to assess the situation, including counting “this huge number of bodies,” and the dozens of injured.

“In such clashes, everyone loses,” he said. “We hope it ends soon and never happens again. But we need strong political, security and civil interventions to achieve that goal.”

Footage from the scene, which corresponded to the AP’s reporting, showed burned houses and charred bodies. Others showed women and children fleeing on foot.

Many houses were burned down in the fighting, which displaced some 7,000 people to the city of Rusyaris. Others fled to neighboring provinces, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Overall, about 211,000 people have been displaced by tribal violence and other attacks across the country this year, it said.

Authorities ordered a nighttime curfew in Wad el-Mahi and deployed troops to the area. They also established a fact-finding committee to investigate the clashes, according to the state-run SUNA news agency.

The fighting between the two groups first erupted in mid-July, killing at least 149 people as of earlier October. It triggered violent protests and stoked tensions between the two tribes in Blue Nile and other provinces.

The latest fighting comes at a critical time for Sudan, just a few days before the first anniversary of a military coup that further plunged the country into turmoil. The coup derailed the country’s short-lived transition to democracy after nearly three decades of the repressive rule of Omar al-Bashir, who was removed in April 2019 by a popular uprising.

In recent weeks the military and the pro-democracy movement have engaged in talks to find a way out of the ongoing situation. The generals agreed to allow civilians to appoint a prime minister to lead the country through elections within 24 months, the pro-democracy movement said last week.

However, the violence in Blue Nile is likely to slow down such efforts. Protest groups, who reject the deal with the ruling generals, have been preparing for mass anti-military demonstrations called for Tuesday, the anniversary of the coup.

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October 23, 2022
Calls grow for Ethiopia peace effort as fighting intensifies

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Diplomats are calling on Ethiopia ’s federal authorities and their rivals in the northern region of Tigray to agree to a cease-fire as heavy fighting raises growing humanitarian fears.

African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat expressed “grave concern” in a statement Sunday over the fighting and called for an “immediate, unconditional cease-fire and the resumption of humanitarian services.”

AU-led peace talks were due to take place in South Africa earlier this month, but were postponed because of logistical and technical issues.

The warring parties had said they were ready to participate in the process, even though fighting persists in Tigray.

“The Chairperson urges the Parties to recommit to dialogue as per their agreement to direct talks to be convened in South Africa by a high-level team led by the AU High Representative for the Horn of Africa, and supported by the international community,” Mahamat said in a statement.

The AU statement followed one issued late Saturday by a U.N. spokesman who said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “gravely concerned about the escalation of the fighting” and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Fighting resumed between the Tigray forces and the federal troops in August, bringing an end to a cease-fire in place since March that had allowed much-needed aid to enter the region. Fighting has drawn in forces from Eritrea, on the side of Ethiopia’s federal military.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power called on Eritrean forces to withdraw from Tigray and urged the parties to observe a cease-fire, warning in a tweet that up to a 1 million people are “teetering on the edge of famine” in the region.

“The conflict has displaced millions of people, and camps for displaced Ethiopians have also fallen under attack,” said Power, who warned of further bloodshed if Eritrean and Ethiopian federal forces take charge of the camps.

The cease-fire calls came as heavy clashes were reported near the northwestern Tigray town of Shire, where an attack on Friday killed a International Rescue Committee worker who was distributing aid supplies.

European Union foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said he was “horrified by the reports of continuous violence, including the targeting of civilians in Shire.”

Tigray forces said in a statement that they welcomed the AU’s cease-fire call.

“We are ready to abide by an immediate cessation of hostilities,” the statement said. Ethiopia’s federal government has yet to respond.

Aid distributions are being hampered by a lack of fuel and an ongoing communications blackout in Tigray. The Associated Press reported Saturday that a U.N. team found there were “10 starvation-related deaths” at seven camps for internally displaced people in northwestern Tigray, according to an internal document prepared by a humanitarian agency.

Millions of people in northern Ethiopia, including the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar, have been uprooted from their homes and tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed since the conflict broke out in November 2020.

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October 16, 2022
Calls grow for Ethiopia peace effort as fighting intensifies

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Diplomats are calling on Ethiopia ’s federal authorities and their rivals in the northern region of Tigray to agree to a cease-fire as heavy fighting raises growing humanitarian fears.

African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat expressed “grave concern” in a statement Sunday over the fighting and called for an “immediate, unconditional cease-fire and the resumption of humanitarian services.”

AU-led peace talks were due to take place in South Africa earlier this month, but were postponed because of logistical and technical issues.

The warring parties had said they were ready to participate in the process, even though fighting persists in Tigray.

“The Chairperson urges the Parties to recommit to dialogue as per their agreement to direct talks to be convened in South Africa by a high-level team led by the AU High Representative for the Horn of Africa, and supported by the international community,” Mahamat said in a statement.

The AU statement followed one issued late Saturday by a U.N. spokesman who said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “gravely concerned about the escalation of the fighting” and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Fighting resumed between the Tigray forces and the federal troops in August, bringing an end to a cease-fire in place since March that had allowed much-needed aid to enter the region. Fighting has drawn in forces from Eritrea, on the side of Ethiopia’s federal military.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power called on Eritrean forces to withdraw from Tigray and urged the parties to observe a cease-fire, warning in a tweet that up to a 1 million people are “teetering on the edge of famine” in the region.

“The conflict has displaced millions of people, and camps for displaced Ethiopians have also fallen under attack,” said Power, who warned of further bloodshed if Eritrean and Ethiopian federal forces take charge of the camps.

The cease-fire calls came as heavy clashes were reported near the northwestern Tigray town of Shire, where an attack on Friday killed a International Rescue Committee worker who was distributing aid supplies.

European Union foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said he was “horrified by the reports of continuous violence, including the targeting of civilians in Shire.”

Tigray forces said in a statement that they welcomed the AU’s cease-fire call.

“We are ready to abide by an immediate cessation of hostilities,” the statement said. Ethiopia’s federal government has yet to respond.

Aid distributions are being hampered by a lack of fuel and an ongoing communications blackout in Tigray. The Associated Press reported Saturday that a U.N. team found there were “10 starvation-related deaths” at seven camps for internally displaced people in northwestern Tigray, according to an internal document prepared by a humanitarian agency.

Millions of people in northern Ethiopia, including the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar, have been uprooted from their homes and tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed since the conflict broke out in November 2020.

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October 16, 2022
Despite faceplant, Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw becomes youngest ever London Marathon winner | CNN

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CNN
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With six miles left, Yalemzerf Yehualaw’s race seemed to have been ruined after the Ethiopian was left sprawled on the road after stumbling over a speed bump.

The incident caused her to lose time over her rivals and later she admitted the faceplant “hurt.”

But it didn’t stop the 23-year-old from making history on Sunday as she eventually crossed the line first to become the youngest winner of the London Marathon.

Her victory, in two hours, 17 minutes and 25 seconds, was the third fastest time ever in the women’s race, the fastest debut time in history and an Ethiopian record.

Yehualaw, who had only ran her fist competitive marathon in April, made her break with four miles to go and clocked a remarkable 4:43 mile split on mile 24.

2021 champion Joyciline Jepkosgei finished 41 seconds back in second, while Ethiopia’s Alemu Megertu was third.

In the men’s race, Kenya’s Amos Kipruto won for the first time, finishing in two hours, four minutes and 39 seconds.

Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner set new course records as they took the men’s and women’s wheelchair titles respectively.

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October 2, 2022
Ethiopia civil war raging again in Tigray region, satellite images appear to confirm

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An image provided by Maxar Technologies shows what the company says are Ethiopian and Eritrean troops and tanks in formation near the town of Shiraro, in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, September 26, 2022.

Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies

Johannesburg, South Africa — New satellite images have shed some light on the world’s most hidden conflict. The images released by Maxar Technologies appear to confirm that fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has resumed after a five-month humanitarian ceasefire.

Satellite images dated September 26 show what Maxar Technologies says are Ethiopian federal forces massed in the northwest town of Shiraro, along with troops from neighboring Eritrea, a close ally of Ethiopia’s federal government. Shiraro sits only about 10 miles from the Eritrean border.

The images come after recent reports of a military mobilization in Eritrea. On September 15, reports surfaced in the Eritrean capital Asmara that reservists up to the age of 55 had been called up for service. Local media said the reservists were told to bring their own supplies, including blankets, and given just hours to report to their local head offices.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the Eritrean Defense Forces and the ruling PFDJ party over the country’s involvement in the Ethiopian conflict. It’s believed that Eritrean soldiers have fought alongside the Ethiopian army since civil war broke out in Tigray in 2020.

War in Ethiopia fuels humanitarian crisis

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Eritrea, a militarized state, is already isolated diplomatically. President Isaias Afwerki considers the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) — the rebel group battling Ethiopia’s government, but based just across his country’s own border — as his enemy, too.

The town of Shiraro had been under control of the Tigrayan forces until earlier this month, but then word filtered out that Ethiopian troops had driven out the TPLF. The satellite images appear to confirm an offensive by Ethiopian forces, showing tanks and a line of what appears to be more than 100 soldiers in formation near a hospital on the eastern outskirts of the town.

Other images show what Maxar Technologies identifies as mobilizing forces and artillery positions just south of Shiraro and long lines of buses and military vehicles on the roads. Maxar also released four images from September 19 of heavy weaponry in the town of Serha, near the Tigray boarder. Maxar told CBS News the images show “main battle tanks, self-propelled howitzers and a M-46 field gun battery.”

An image provided by Maxar Technologies shows what the company says is a main battle tank deployment in the town of Serha, Eritrea, near the Tigray region of Ethiopia, on September 19, 2022.

Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies

It’s unclear what led the ceasefire to fall apart, but shots were reportedly fired on the southern border of Tigray in the early morning hours of August 24 after five months of at least relative calm.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has cut off the Tigray region since the fighting broke out in 2020. All basic services, including phone and internet, banking and even health services have been cut off for some time.

Abiy has maintained tight control over the country’s media, and journalists are largely unable to visit Tigray. Many international journalists have been barred from entering Ethiopia or thrown out if they were already there. That’s made independently verified information on the conflict incredibly difficult to come by.

U.S. Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer is seen in an October 5, 2020 file photo speaking to journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) when he served as the U.S. ambassador to the country.

SEBASTIEN KITSA MUSAYI/AFP/Getty

“We’ve been tracking Eritrean troops’ movement across the border,” U.S. Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer told reporters during a briefing last week. “The presence of Eritrean troops in Ethiopia only serves to complicate matters and to inflame an already tragic situation.”

Neither the Ethiopian nor Eritrean governments have commented on the situation.

Hammer confirmed that he’d met representatives of the TPLF and the Ethiopian government in the Seychelles for talks, and he said there seemed to have been some agreement about restoring basic services to the region. The government cutting them off has had a devastating impact on the local population.

The TPLF has said no peace talks can take place until basic services are restored, and it calls the blockade of Tigray a war crime.

On August 2, Hammer, along with United Nations and European Union envoys, visited the Tigrayan regional capital of Mekelle and called for “unfettered humanitarian access” and a “swift restoration of electricity, telecom, banking and other basic services.”

The United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) has said that while the ceasefire gave the charity an opportunity to reach some people, it was far short of the 4.8 million Tigrayans estimated to be in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

Conflict over Ethiopia’s Tigray region worsens while diplomats scramble to find a resolution

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“We just don’t know,” is a refrain echoed by many aid organizations recently, as they have not had access to Tigray, past sporadic convoys or very limited access.

There are no confirmed figures on how many people the war has left to die of hunger and related illnesses since it started in November of 2020, but an investigation carried out by a team of researchers led by Jan Nyssen of Ghent University in Belgium found the toll was likely at least 500,000.

The U.N. Human Rights Council’s International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia concluded in a report published on September 19 that Ethiopia’s government had committed crimes against humanity in the Tigray region, and that Tigryan forces had committed serious human rights abuses, adding that some amounted to war crimes.

“We have reasonable grounds to believe that the widespread denial and obstruction of access to basic services, food, health care, and humanitarian assistance amounts to the crime against humanity of persecution and inhumane acts,” said Karri Betty Murungi, one of the three U.N. investigators who compiled the report. “We also have reasonable grounds to believe that the federal government is committing the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare.”

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September 30, 2022