Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee on the urgent need to assist the people of Tigray.
This general suggested that the presence of Eritrean forces in Tigray and some parts of Afar was not necessary.
Courtesy: Sudan Post
Afwerki after reportedly suggesting end to the Eritrean army presence in northern parts of the Ethiopian region, a security source told Sudans Post in Addis Ababa.
The unnamed member of the Eritrean army command was reportedly removed late in January by President Isaias when the president could not be convinced for the reasons suggested by the army officer that warrant withdrawal from northern Ethiopia.
“As you know there has been an armed force from Eritrea and this general suggested, according to information we heard, that the presence of Eritrean forces in Tigray and some parts of Afar was not necessary,” the security source who requested not to be named said.
“It is at this point that President Isaias who is not convinced of the many reasons given by the general, that I don’t know what are they, decided to replace him with a junior officer whom he promoted to the rank of major-general,” the security source added.
Eritrea government had dispatched thousands of its forces to fight alongside the Ethiopian federal forces against the rebellious Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) when the conflict initiated in November 2020.
Under United States and international pressure, Eritrea was forced to return its forces to its territories, but thousands more of the Eritrean forces remained in northern Ethiopia despite government claims in Asmara that it does not have forces in Ethiopia.
Last week, TPLF chairman Debretsion Gebremichael said he was in informal talks with the government of Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed to possibly reach a ceasefire with him, but sets several preconditions including the withdrawal of Eritrean and other foreign forces.
💭“አዲሱን የዓለም ሥርዓት ለማስጠበቅ ልዩ ቀውስ ያስፈልጋል።…አዲሱን የዓለም ሥርዓት ለመጠበቅ የመንግስት ያልሆኑ ተዋናዮችን እና ስልጣን የተሰጣቸውን ግለሰቦችን ማስወገድ ግድ ነው”። “Extraordinary Crisis Needed to Preserve New World Order….The elimination of non-state actors and empowered individuals “must be done” in order to preserve the new world order.
💭 The Washington Post has analyzed photos of shrapnel and satellite imagery and cross-referenced video to confirm that Ethiopia used a Turkish drone in January in an attack that killed at least 59 civilians sheltering in a school in Tigray, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing an analysis by the paper published on Monday.
On January 7, a school was struck by a drone-delivered bomb, killing at least 59 people and gravely injuring dozens more, according to aid workers whose organizations worked at the camp for internally displaced people in Dedebit, located in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray.
According to The Washington Post, more than 300 civilians have been killed by drone and air strikes since September, including more than 100 since the start of this year.
Weapon remnants recovered from the site of the strike by aid workers showed internal components and screw configurations that matched images of Turkish-made MAM-L munitions released by the weapons manufacturer. The MAM-L pairs exclusively with the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 drone.
Military experts from the Dutch nongovernmental organization PAX and Amnesty International also identified the weapon used as a MAM-L bomb that is fitted to a TB2 drone, Politico earlier reported.
The attacks have drawn criticism from US President Joe Biden and a warning from the United Nations that they may constitute a grave violation of international law, Politico said.
Drones are rapidly turning into the decisive weapon of the conflict and have helped Ethiopian government forces turn the tide against rebels from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which governed the country for nearly three decades before 2018.
Turkey has exported Bayraktar armed drones manufactured by defense contractor Baykar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi (Baykar), which is run by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law Selçuk Bayraktar. Ukraine, Poland, Qatar, Libya, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia and Azerbaijan have all taken delivery of the armed drones.
According to Turkey’s 2021 export figures announced by the Turkish Exporters Assembly in early December, Turkey’s arms sales reached a record level, with the biggest increase to African countries.
In the first 11 months of 2021, Turkey exported $2.793 billion worth of defense products, an increase of 39.7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. The Turkish defense industry, which set an export record of $2.7 billion in 2019, is preparing to set a new record by closing this year with exports of more than $3 billion. For the first time the defense sector had a 1.8 percent share of Turkey’s total exports in November 2021.