“The poor souls who died in the Channel deserve the dignity of being described as who they were. Human beings. Men, women, children. Mothers, fathers, daughters, sons. They loved and were loved. In other words they were just like us. An unconscionable tragedy.””
Instead, they are speaking Amharic — Ethiopia’s administrative language and the native tongue of the Amhara people. Gundarta, who produced a translation of the speech in the videos, stated that the soldiers’ accents indicate that they are mostly native Amharic speakers from the Amhara Region, though some may be second language speakers from the Oromia Region.
CHANNEL TRAGEDY At least 33 migrants drown in deadliest ever incident on the Channel after inflatable dinghy flips over during crossing
A massive rescue operation is currently underway in French waters after the boat sank off the northern port of Calais, with at least three helicopters and three boats deployed to take part in the search.
Tonight, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed 33 people died in the deadliest single disaster on the intensively-used route.
The French authorities said patrol vessels found corpses and people unconscious in the water after a fisherman sounded the alarm about the incident.
Following the sinking, Dunkirk prosecutors opened a criminal investigation for “manslaughter” and “assistance with illegal immigration in an organised gang”.
Mr Darmanin said four suspected traffickers “directly linked” to the tragedy have been arrested.
He told reporters: “1,500 people have been arrested since the start of January, and four of them today. We suspect that they were directly linked to this particular crossing.”
It follows claims that people smugglers had organised the passage of the overcrowded boat, charging thousands to those on board to get to Britain.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on November 24, 2021
አይ ኦሮሞ! አይ አማራ! ወዮላችሁ! ወዮላችሁ!
The United Nations on Wednesday expressed worry over reports of large-scale displacement from western Tigray, part of the war-hit Ethiopian region where the US has previously warned of ethnic cleansing.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR and other agencies have “received very concerning reports of new waves of displacement” from the territory which borders Sudan and Eritrea, UNHCR said in a statement.
“Tigray zonal authorities report of 8,000 new arrivals, potentially up to 20,000,” UNHCR said.
“However, at this stage, we cannot corroborate or confirm these figures.”
Several witnesses have told AFP of mass roundups of Tigrayan civilians in western Tigray in recent days.
The area has been fiercely contested throughout the brutal year-long war in northern Ethiopia pitting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front TPLF rebel group.
In November 2020, after Abiy sent troops to topple the TPLF, then Tigray’s ruling party, forces from the neighbouring Amhara region rushed in to occupy and administer western Tigray.
Amhara officials contend the fertile land rightly belongs to them and was illegally annexed by the TPLF three decades ago.
As Amhara civilians have poured in over the past year, Tigrayans have fled in the tens of thousands — either west into Sudan or east, deeper into Tigray.
The exodus has been so dramatic that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress in March that “acts of ethnic cleansing” had occurred.
While the TPLF managed to retake control of most of Tigray by late June, western Tigray continues to be patrolled by Amhara security forces and Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers.
The TPLF has vowed to “liberate” western Tigray but the area has not seen heavy fighting in recent months, with the rebels instead pressing south towards the capital Addis Ababa.
In Whomera, the biggest town in western Tigray, security forces on Saturday placed Tigrayan civilians — mostly the elderly, women and children — on 21 buses headed east, said one resident who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
“They told them to carry their luggage and clothes and took them towards the Tekeze river,” the resident said.
“I am in hiding now.”
Amhara officials have not responded to requests for comment on conditions in western Tigray.
A joint UN mission is planned “to the areas where new arrivals are located, which will give us a better understanding of the situation,” UNHCR said Wednesday in its statement.
Irish Foreign Minister Coveney says Ethiopia has blocked his planned visit as he highlights government forces’ human rights abuses.
Ethiopia is kicking out most of Ireland’s diplomatic staff in retaliation for Irish criticism of human rights abuses committed by government forces fighting Tigray rebels, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Wednesday.
Coveney made his announcement as many Western nations, including the U.K., France and Ireland, called on their citizens still living and working in Ethiopia to leave the country quickly as Tigray rebels edge closer to the capital, Addis Ababa.
In London, Minister for Africa Vicky Ford said Ethiopia’s security was “deteriorating quickly” and could force the Addis Ababa airport to shut.
“I am urging all British nationals — whatever their circumstance — to leave immediately while commercial flights are readily available,” Ford said, adding that those who choose to stay should prepare “to shelter in a place of safety over the coming weeks.”
Coveney agreed that the approximately 80 Irish citizens in Ethiopia — Ireland’s largest recipient of foreign aid — should leave before flights “become a problem.”
He said Ethiopia’s embattled government “has decided to target Ireland” because it led the push for the United Nations Security Council’s November 5 statement seeking a ceasefire in Ethiopia. Ireland has a seat on the 15-member council until the end of 2022.
Four of the Irish embassy’s six staff have been ordered to leave Addis Ababa and Ireland is complying, he said.
Irish Ambassador Nicola Brennan and one other staffer would stay in Ethiopia for now to aid Irish citizens’ own exits, Coveney said, but the Irish government already has plans in place for both “to leave quickly should they need to.”
Coveney said he had hoped to visit Addis Ababa in early December to appeal directly to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for his government “to focus on dialogue rather than war.” He said Ethiopia also had rejected his proposed trip.
He said Ireland would continue to use its Security Council seat to press Abiy “to guarantee humanitarian access to parts of Ethiopia that desperately need it.” He said Ireland was determined “to expose the human rights abuses happening there, in particular the use of sexual violence as a tool of conflict, essentially mass rape.”
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