Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on March 16, 2022
The Mind Boggling Hypocrisy of The West
These days, multiple warning signs of potential genocide against the Tigray people of Ethiopia are present, no Russian military operation in the invasion of Ukraine goes by without a torrent of denunciations from Western governments and the corporate media in the most strident of terms, portraying Putin as the new Hitler and the Russian military as a modern version of the hordes of Genghis Khan. But when a US ally and major supplier of oil to the West aids the fascist Oromo regime of Ethiopia to massacre Tigrayan Christians, puts Ethiopian migrants in concentrations camps in Saudi Arabia, carries out a barbaric massacre in Yemen, Western governments do not make even the mildest protest.
Neither the US nor the British government have issued any statement on the execution of 81 prisoners Saturday in Saudi Arabia, which was widely condemned by human rights and Saudi exile groups. Even when the issue was raised Monday at the regular State Department press briefing, spokesman Ned Price would say nothing more than “we are continuing to raise CONCERNS about fair trial guarantees,” although he said he “can’t speak to the timing of that, but we have raised these CONCERNS”
In plain English, this means that the administration has said nothing about the executions to the Saudi monarchy and its murderous ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who, together with his brothers, is allowed to make £2.7bn offer for London’s Chelsea Football Club. Wow!
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on January 27, 2022
🔫 Arms from UAE likely bound for Ethiopia & Eritrea
The Houthi armed forces seized a UAE-owned vessel allegedly ‘carrying military equipment’ off Hodeidah, spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced in a televised address on Monday.
During the address, Saree presented footage of the vessel ‘Rwabee,’ showing vehicles and military equipment, as well as weapons and ammunition on board.
“The Yemeni naval forces succeeded in carrying out a special military operation targeting a vessel in the Yemeni territorial waters in the Red Sea, specifically off the Hodeidah Governorate, while it was carrying out hostile activities,” said Saree.
“This hostile vessel carries military equipment, including machinery and devices, and other equipment that is used in the aggression against the Yemeni people,” he went on to say.
He also pointed out that the naval forces “were watching this vessel as it was transporting large and different quantities of weapons,” adding that its seizure falls “within the framework of the legitimate defence of our country and our people.”
Saree concluded by emphasising that the armed Houthi forces “will not hesitate to carry out special operations and will face escalation with escalation.”
The Saudi coalition accused the Houthis of ‘piracy,’ announcing that the movement ‘hijacked the vessel ‘Rwabee’ off the port of Hodeidah,’ noting that it ‘was flying the UAE flag’ and ‘was carrying equipment which was used in the Saudi field hospital on the island of Socotra.’
The coalition called on the Houthis to release the ship ‘immediately,’ threatening that it would take ‘all necessary measures and procedures to deal with this violation, including the use of force.’
The Saudi-led coalition, with the participation of the UAE, began its military operations in Yemen in 2015 under the slogan of supporting government forces against the Ansar Allah Houthi movement after its forces seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2015, which subsequently resulted in the outbreak of a war that caused the worst humanitarian disaster in the world, according to the United Nations.
A ship hijacked by Yemeni militias in the Red Sea has 11 crew on board from five countries, the United Arab Emirates told the United Nations Security Council president on Monday.
Seven of the crew are Indian and the others come from Ethiopia, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines, the UAE’s permanent representative said in a letter.
It denounced the “act of piracy” against the UAE-flagged Rwabee, which the Houthi militias seized on January 2.
The Iran-backed militias say they seized the Rwabee in Yemeni waters and have released a video which they say shows military equipment on board.
“This act of piracy is contrary to fundamental provisions of international law,” said the letter, signed by UAE ambassador Lana Nusseibeh and dated January 9.
“It also poses a serious threat to the freedom and safety of navigation as well as international trade in the Red Sea and to regional security and stability.”
Nusseibeh described the Rwabee as a “civilian cargo vessel” that was leased by a Saudi company and was carrying equipment used at a field hospital. It was travelling on an international route, she added.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen to support the internationally-recognised government in March 2015 after the Houthis captured the capital, Sana’a, the previous September.
The UN estimated that the war would have killed an estimated 377,000 people directly or indirectly by the end of 2021, and calls it the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe.
Ethiopia FM condemns Houthi terrorist attack, affirms solidarity with UAE in phone call with H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed
💭 Turkish embassy in Ethiopia forced to move to Kenya over insecurity
Turkey’s embassy in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa has been moved to neighboring Kenya due to threats after the deployment of Turkish drones by the Abiy Ahmed regime to suppress the Tigray rebellion, the T24 news website reported.
Although the Turkish government hadn’t made an official statement regarding the sale of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to the Ethiopian government, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had visited the country and met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan twice in the past six months, adding to the widespread belief that drones bought from Turkey, in addition to Iran and the United Arab Emirates, had changed the course of the civil war in Ethiopia, journalist Barçın Yinanç wrote in an article on the T24 news website on Monday.
“Turkey’s embassy in Addis Ababa cannot operate from the capital due to threats it has received. The ambassador and several embassy staff are serving from [neighboring] Kenya. There was no statement from the [Turkish] Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the matter,” the journalist said.
The conflict that has been going on for over a year in Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country and a linchpin of regional security, has left thousands dead, forced more than 2 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine.
Forces under Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian military, ethnic militias, and troops from neighboring Eritrea, are fighting to oust the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or T.P.L.F., from its stronghold in the northern region of Tigray.
In early November, the government teetered when fighters from Tigray surged south toward Addis Ababa, forcing the prime minister to declare a state of emergency. Foreigners fled the country and the government detained thousands of civilians from the Tigrayan ethnic group.
But weeks later Abiy pulled off a stunning military reversal, halting the rebel march less than 100 miles from the capital, then forcing them to retreat hundreds of miles to their mountainous stronghold in Tigray.
He succeeded partly by mobilizing ordinary citizens to take up arms to block the Tigrayan advance. However, his fortunes were greatly boosted by a fleet of armed drones, recently imported from the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Iran, that pummeled the Tigrayan forces, according to a report by The New York Times last week.
A drone strike on a flour mill in May Tsebri, a town in the northwest of Ethiopia (Tigray region), reportedly killed 17 people on Monday January 10 and injured dozens more, according to eyewitnesses.
The January 10 bombings came just days after a similar attack on a camp for displaced persons in Dedebit killed 59 and injured nearly 140 on Friday January 7.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the strike
Three people were killed and six wounded in an apparent drone attack on Abu Dhabi on Monday, UAE police have said. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have announced a strike “deep” in Emirati territory.
Three fuel trucks exploded in the industrial Mussafah area near storage facilities used by oil firm ADNOC, after which a “minor fire” broke out at a construction site at Abu Dhabi International Airport, the Emirati WAM news agency reported, citing police.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the blast and the fire were caused by a drone attack.
Police said that “no significant” damage was done to the area, later adding that two Indian nationals and a Pakistani national were killed, while six people were wounded.
Yemeni media reported that the Houthis had announced a military operation “deep in the UAE” and promised to reveal more details later on Monday.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree previously said that the rebels were confronting “a wide advance of the UAE mercenaries” and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) fighters.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni civil war in 2015 on behalf of ousted President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. The collation carried out bombing raids into the Houthi-controlled areas, while the rebels responded by firing rockets and sending armed drones into Saudi territory.
In 2019, a drone attack claimed by Houthis caused massive fires at several Saudi oil refineries operated by state-owned company Saudi Aramco.
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