💥 „A journalist close to the government had called on Facebook to lock people from Tigray in “concentration camps.”
In Ethiopia, the conflict over control of the northern region of Tigray is intensifying. In the capital Addis Ababa, security forces arrested numerous people from Tigray today. A d p a reporter observed how those arrested were taken away in two police vehicles. The reporter saw two vehicles carrying ethic Tigrayans, with some of them shouting “What did we do? We are innocent people.”At the weekend, a journalist close to the government had called on Facebook to lock people from Tigray in “concentration camps”. The message has since been deleted.
In the past few days, the central government, which is currently waging a military offensive against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), has suffered several defeats. According to information from the rebels, the TPLF is said to have taken control of the city of Kombolcha in the Amhara region yesterday. The military had previously had to withdraw from the neighboring city of Dessie. The capture of the two cities gives the rebels access to one of the main highways into the capital, Addis Ababa.
This is an English translation of the genocidal call that was broadcast by the Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) on August 6, 2016.
Urgent call to the people of Ethiopia from the Entire Amhara people in Gondar
To the Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio Washington DC, USA; Amsterdam, Netherlands, Oromia Media Network Washington DC, USA
Re: A call to reclaim our freedom, which we have been unable to regain peacefully, through whatever forceful measure necessary
On August 5, The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) which the Ethiopian people have been struggling against for the past 25 years in the hopes that they would learn from their mistakes and injustices have on August 5, 2016, have deployed their usual ploy and crossed Soreka and Sanja passes at night, assigned their own cadres as guards, and launched a campaign to massacre and exterminate us.
The campaign aimed to frighten the people of Gondar, who have become a headache to them, and stop the struggle that is gaining momentum in the country. However, the heroic people of Gondar came out en masse to encircle the cadres and protect the people and their surroundings. We thank our region’s riot police and militia, who stood by our side by ignoring the orders of this brutal, oppressive minority group; it was a great source of strength for us.
Dear people of Ethiopia,
As you can see, our struggle is not like the typical struggle between a so-called oppressive government and oppressed people as occurs across the world. The struggle is between those who wish to destroy our race and rule over us and the rest of us Ethiopians whose misery has been unending. This is evidenced by the war waged against the people of Gonder by Tigrayan soldiers.
We have also received information that there is an arrogant and contemptful plan to use Tigrayan only forces to take control of Amhara, the vast Oromo, and Southern Ethiopia by controlling two roads:
starting from the Arassa Lasta through Belesa to the South Gondar and then West and East Gojjam using the Temben-Sekota-Lalibela road,
from Muketuri to Selalie using the Temben-Sekota-Lalibela road
North Shoa using the Dessie-Addis Ababa road
Dear people of Ethiopia,
This deadly plot is aimed at 95 million people by 5 million by using unconscionable villains and political sell-outs such as Hailemariam Desalegn and his likes. It is also unfortunate that the 5 million are serving and being used by ten or so leaders at the top and those close to 10,000 around them.
Ethiopians have been begging in various ways for these well-to-do Tigrayans to join the struggle and fight for peace. If that is not possible, we have been urging Tigrayans to distance themselves and show those at the top that they are on their own. However, instead of heeding our request, they have demonstrated their allegiance to them and engaged in psychological warfare to ridicule and humiliate us. What we have gained so far from this is death and humiliation.
Our 25 years of peaceful protests have not resulted in anything. So, what are we waiting for? Are we waiting for them to finish us off one by one? From now on, it is foolish and naive to expect any solutions through dialogue.
Whether we like it or not, there is only one option: pay them back in their own coin and use force to restore our freedom. One way of getting rid of rotten fish is to drain the sea.
Dear people of Ethiopia,
There is no doubt that pent-up frustration after patiently waiting for the right thing can only result in remarkable things. Therefore, we call on all of you, wherever you are – without any hesitation, – to start taking action as follows:
To all Ethiopians in the Amhara Region: You must block roads to Tigray to stop TPLF’s movements. First, Tigray to Addis Ababa road via Dessie. Second, from Woldiya to Wereta; from Shire to Gondar; from Humera to Gondar; and from Metema to Gondar, just like the now blocked roads around Gonder. All of you must come out and block every road to Tigray using stones and tree trunks to stop TPLF’s movement.
To our people in Afar: You must block the roads to Tigray, such as the Wiiha-Shekhit-Afdera road, as well as the roads that take to Asayita using stones and tree trunks to stop TPLF’s movements
To all Ethiopians serving in the army: We do not need to tell you that you did not join the military to serve ten or so tyrannical Tigrayan leaders, a few traitors from our region, to ensure Tigrayan hegemony. Therefore, if possible, take military action against those on the top of the command serving as your superiors. If not, stay at home until you’ve understood the truth because when you do so, we want you alive and to join us because you are our brothers and sisters. We understand your agony and dilemma.
To all Ethiopians: What we have gained through our peaceful struggle has been arrest, beating, death, and losing our race. Therefore, we have to collectively say ‘enough’ and decide that this should stop. Thus, the measures we take to protect ourselves are natural and legal. Therefore, we request Ethiopians to accept our call and stand with us.
U.N.: ‘Hundreds of Civilians Killed’ in Ethiopia Tigray Conflict
The Above Image: Ethiopian Asafu Alamaya, a 80-year-old blind who fled the Tigray conflict, is guided by her daughter at the Um Raquba refugee camp in Sudan’s eastern Gedaref state, on December 12, 2020.
Eyewitness reports suggest that artillery strikes have killed “hundreds of civilians” in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region amid an ongoing military conflict there, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday.
“We have received allegations concerning violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including artillery strikes on populated areas, the deliberate targeting of civilians, extrajudicial killings and widespread looting,” High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet told journalists in Geneva on December 22.
“These reports point to failure by the parties to the conflict to protect civilians. This is all the more concerning given that fighting is said to be continuing, particularly in some areas of north, central and southern Tigray,” she said.
The U.N. on Tuesday noted several recent accounts by people on the ground in Tigray alleging human rights violations.
Witnesses have described “artillery strikes on the town of Humera on the border with Eritrea between 9 and 11 November,” the international body noted.
The U.N. Human Rights Office said it interviewed several people from Humera “who alleged that shells launched from Eritrea had hit residential areas and the hospital. The Ethiopian army and regional Amhara forces and militia then reportedly took control of Humera, allegedly killing civilians and looting the hospital, banks, businesses, supermarkets, and private houses.”
Refugees crossing into Sudan from Ethiopia have made similar claims, “telling reporters and aid workers that artillery shells that hit towns in western Tigray had come from Eritrea,” the Guardian reported on December 21.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki both oppose the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominated Ethiopia’s federal government for nearly 30 years before Abiy was elected to office in 2018. The ongoing conflict between the separatist TPLF and Addis Ababa began on November 4 after Abiy accused Tigrayan forces of attacking a federal military base. Ethiopian and Eritrean authorities have denied Eritrea’s involvement in the Tigray conflict.
“Artillery strikes against the town of Adigrat in early November reportedly forced many families to flee to the mountains, where they were then trapped by heavy fighting between 20 and 24 November, with many people reported to have been killed,” the U.N. further revealed at Tuesday’s press conference.
“Based on multiple accounts, the Amhara ‘Fano’ militia has reportedly committed human rights abuses, including killing civilians and carrying out looting,” the international body said.
It added that the U.N. Human Rights Office “has also received information, which it has not been able to verify, concerning the presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray, their involvement in the hostilities and related serious violations of international law.”
The U.N. Human Rights Office has been unable to verify reports of alleged human rights violations on the ground in Tigray due to an ongoing communications blackout in the northern region that started on November 4. While some telephone lines have since been restored in certain areas, internet connections remain down across Tigray.
“Since fighting flared up in Tigray, more than 54,500 refugees have fled the Tigray region into Sudan,” the spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Andrej Mahecic, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
Selected „No-Empathy & compassion from Westerners“ Comments – even on Christmas Day:
“The Ethiopian army and regional Amhara forces and militia thenreportedly took control of Humera, allegedly killing civilians andlooting the hospital, banks, businesses, supermarkets, and privatehouses.”
They act the same as the Blacks do in the United States: Kill and loot. What can „you expect from low-IQ people?„
„The more Black a society, the less safe and prosperous it is.„
„Black lives don’t matter to blacks.„
„So sad please stay we’re you are and make your country better the west is full.„
„Talk to those who live in Maine about what a large influx of ” African refugees” can do to your state. Even San Antonio was smart enough to put them on buses to get them out of Texas when Africans stormed our southern border demanding asylum-„
„I think Ilhan Omar should go to the town of Adigrat for a month or two and give us an eyewitness report.„
„The U.N. exists to dump tens of millions of illiterate,diseased ,impoverished denizens of the third world on the U.,S taxpayers….for life…„
„Send Mike and Barrack over there to save them„
Just one sane comment:
„I am a white conservative American but my fellow white Americans just don’t get it. AFRICAN don’t pose a threat to America as much as the CHINESE and vast influx of MEXICANS. You guys always focus on the wrong people.„
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Addis Ethiopia Weblog 