🔥 Genocide Alert: Attacks on Ethiopia’s oldest Churches and Monastries.
There are new reports that the joint Eritrean & Ethiopian fascists forces are bombarding Debre Damo, one of THE OLDEST MONASTRIES of the Orthodox Church(6th century), with heavy artilleries. Dozens of civilian casualties, mainly monks, also reported
Saint Abune Aregawi(also called Za-Mika’el ‘Aragawi) was a sixth-century monk, whom tradition holds founded the
Debre Damo in Tigray, Ethiopia – said to have been commissioned by Emperor Gebre Mesqel of Axum.
🔥 Genocide Alert: Attacks on Ethiopia’s oldest Churches and Monastries.
There are new reports that the joint Eritrean & Ethiopian fascists forces are bombarding Debre Damo, one of THE OLDEST MONASTRIES of the Orthodox Church(6th century), with heavy artilleries. Dozens of civilian casualties, mainly monks, also reported
Saint Abune Aregawi (also called Za-Mika’el ‘Aragawi) was a sixth-century monk, whom tradition holds founded the
Debre Damo in Tigray, Ethiopia – said to have been commissioned by Emperor Gebre Mesqel of Axum.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on November 1, 2021
😈 The two monsters, Abiy Ahmed Ali and Mengistu Hailemariam say and do the exact same wicked things. They are both Oromos who hate Christian Tigrayans so deeply that they attempt to exterminate them using siege warfare, starvation – as a weapon of war and war Crime.
The vicious dictator Mengistu was deposed in 1991, but fled to Zimbabwe and, despite a genocide conviction, is still walking free. Tigrayan Ethiopians should not repeat the mistakes their fathers made in dealing with Ethiopia’s troubled history by allowing evil Abiy Ahmed Ali to flee the country. This bastard must be severely punished – JUSTICE must be served!
💭 History repeats itself:
🔥 Amhara & Oromos bombing Tigray, Using Rape, Hunger & Forced Resettlement (Mengistu did it back then, Abiy Ahmed is doing the same now) as a Weapon against People in Tigray for the past 130 years:-
😈 Menelik ll: Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
😈 Haile Selassie: Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
😈 Mengistu Hailemariam: Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
😈 Abiy Ahmed Ali ´= Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
The great famine is estimated to have caused 3.5 million deaths. During Emperor Menelik’s Reign, Tigray was split into two regions, one of which he sold to the Italians who later named it Eritrea. Only two months after the death of Emperor Yohaness lV , Menelik signed the Wuchale treaty of 2 May 1889 conceding Eritrea to the Italians. It was not only Eritrea that Menelik gave away, he also had a hand in letting Djibouti be part of the French protectorate when he agreed the border demarcation with the French in 1887. Some huge parts of Tigray were put under Gonder. The Southern part, places like present day Alamata, Kobo etc were put under Wello Amhara administration.
👉 2. Haile Selassie (1892 – 1975)
In 1943, at the request of the Emperor Haile Selassie, the Royal British Airforce bombed two towns – Mekelle and Corbetta. Thousands of defenseless civilians lost their lives as a result of aerial bombardment. It is recorded that ‘on 14th October [1943] 54 bombs dropped in Mekelle, 6th October 14 bombs followed by another 16 bombs on 9thOctober in Hintalo, 7th/9th October 32 bombs in Corbetta’.
Between 2 and 5 million’ people died between 1958 and 1977 as a cumulative result. Haile Selassie, who was emperor at the time, refused to send any significant basic emergency food aid to the province of Tigray,
👉 3. Mengistu Hailemariam (1937 – )
1979 – 1985 + 1987
Due to organized government policies that deliberately multiplied the effects of the famine, around 1.2 million people died from this famine. Mengistu & his Children still alive & ‘well’ while Tigrayans starving again.
👉 4. Abiy Ahmed Ali (1976 – )
2018 – Until today: probably up to 500.000 already dead. 😠😠😠 😢😢😢 Unlike the past famine there is no natural or man-made drought, rather, Abiy simply uses war and hunger as a weapon. Abiy Ahmed sent his kids to America for safety, while bombing & starving Tigrayan kids!
❖ ❖ ❖ [Galatians 5:19-21]❖ ❖ ❖
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on September 21, 2021
This is a sad, but little told story. In 1943, at the request of the Oromo Emperor Haile Selassie, the Royal British Airforce bombed two towns – Mekelle and Corbetta.
The R.A.F squadron that carried out the raid may actually have been carried out by Canadians from number 8 Squadron.
This information is from a publication called Legation: Canada’s Military History Magazine.
“In this strange colonial world the Canadians experienced things never imagined when they enlisted…On Sept. 1, 1943, a request was received from the Emperor of Ethiopia for aircraft to drop leaflets in Macaille and eastern Tigre province prior to operations against rebellious tribes. No. 8 Sqdn., another Bisley unit and normally based in Aden, operated a three-plane detachment from Addis Ababa and spent several days bombing rebel concentrations and native hutments. One of the wireless air gunners was Flight Sergeant Joseph Leon Belley of Quebec City. This squadron was the destination for numerous Canadians. Indeed, as of December 1943 at least 19 members of the RCAF had been posted there.”
When in 1942–43 peasants in central and southern Tigray began to rebel out of desperation, they were met with a harsh response. Haile Selassie’s government in collaboration with the British Royal Air Force (R.A.F), after dropping warning leaflets addressed to ‘the Chiefs, Balabats — people of Tigre province’ on 6 October 1943, devastated the region including Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, throughout the rest of that month.
This quelled the Tigrayan peasant uprising, known as Woyane, meaning ‘revolt’.
Thousands of defenseless civilians lost their lives as a result of aerial bombardment. It is recorded that ‘on 14th October, 1943, 54 bombs dropped in Mekelle, 6th October 14 bombs followed by another 16 bombs on 9thOctober in Hintalo, 7th/9th October 32 bombs in Corbetta’.
An atrocious precedent set
The Mekelle market bombing and the fact that neither Emperor Haileselassie nor Great Britain were held responsible, and never expressed regret for the cold blooded murder of civilians set a precedent for repeating the act of atrocity during civil conflicts taking place in Tigray.
Two examples of that with stark similarity are, the Ethiopian military Dergue regime of the Oromo colonel Mengistu Hailemariam replicating aerial bombing of Tigrayans on June 22, 1988 in the town of Hawzen, Eastern Tigray, during a market day resulting in a senseless loss of 2,500 men, women and children as well as inflicting severe injuries, and this year, Ethiopian military Dergue regime of the Oromo colonel Abby Ahmed Ali massacred more than 80 Civilians, including babies and children in an air attack on a busy market in the town of Togoga Tigray, on 22 June 2021.
[Isaiah 26:10] “Though the wicked person is shown compassion, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD.”
☆ Oromo Aerial Attacks on Tigray Civilians☆
❖ October 6, 1943 – Mekelle
❖ June 22, 1988 – Hawzen
❖ June 22, 2021- Togoga
The people of Tigray region were forced to pay large sums of money and their land was confiscated and distributed to loyal gentry as a punishment and as a deterrent to future revolt. A new taxation system was imposed that ‘cost the peasants five times more than they had paid under the Italians’.
In the name of centralization, Haile Selassie took away regional power from hereditary leaders and gave it to loyal Showan administrators.
This predicament again raised the level of collective resentment, taking the form of ethno-nationalist sentiment against the Oromara Showan ruling class at the centre. As Gilkes rightly observed, ‘independence from Shoan (sic) rule was raised as a rallying cry and proved popular’.
The punitive measures of the central government, and especially the memory of the R.A.F bombardment of Mekelle on behalf of Haile Selassie’s government, became grievances rooted in popular memory.
The devastating impact
1. Men, women and children (including infants held or carried by their mothers) were instantly killed.
2. Others became severely injured, and sentenced to a life of disability.
3. Children were exposed to being half-orphaned or, in some cases, fully orphaned.
4. Due to the fact that there was no a functioning government; as international organizations, such as the Red Cross weren’t around, and as health facilities were not available, some victims lost their lives were lost for lack of basic medical aid.
5. Due to the severe injury to the bodies, some corpses couldn’t be identified. Also, as many merchants and buyers came from outskirts of Mekelle and other towns, their loved ones couldn’t be traced. As a result, many victims were buried in mass graves without proper burial their respective religions required.
6. The psychological scar lasted for many years whereby a plane over the sky was feared to be an air bomber, and people had to run for a cover.
7. Many people asked “What have we done to Great Britain to deserve this?”
An atrocious precedent set
The Mekelle market bombing and the fact that neither Emperor Haileselassie nor Great Britain were held responsible, and never expressed regret for the cold blooded murder of civilians set a precedent for repeating the act of atrocity during civil conflicts taking place in Tigray.
Two examples of that with stark similarity are, the Ethiopian military Dergue regime of the Oromo colonel Mengistu Hailemariam replicating aerial bombing of Tigrayans on June 22, 1988 in the town of Hawzen, Eastern Tigray, during a market day resulting in a senseless loss of 2,500 men, women and children as well as inflicting severe injuries, and this year, Ethiopian military Dergue regime of the Oromo colonel Abby Ahmed Ali massacred more than 80 Civilians, including babies and children in an air attack on a busy market in the town of Togoga Tigray, on 22 June 2021.
💭 Tigray deserves apology for Great Britain’s aerial bombardment of Civilians In Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia.
💭 #TogogaMassacre | Abiy Ahmed Repeated What His Oromo Father Mengistu Did on the Very day of June 22
#TigrayGenocide | A Tale Familiar to Three Generations of Tigrayans
💭 My Note: History repeats itself:
🔥 Amhara & Oromos bombing Tigray, Using Rape, Hunger & forced resettlement (Mengistu did it back then, Ahmed will do the same now) as a Weapon against People in Tigray for the past 130 years:-
😈 Menelik ll: Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
😈 Haile Selassie: Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
😈 Mengistu Hailemariam: Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
😈 Abiy Ahmed Ali ´= Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
☆በራሳቸው አንደበት ሲመሰክሩልን ☆
[Galatians 5:19-21]
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
💭 “The fight for Tigray is a horrific déjà vu… For older Tigrayans, all of this seems like a horrific déjà-vu.”
This statement captures the reality that almost all facets of the ongoing war on Tigray trigger memories of the horrors of the past for Tigrayans.
The most recent parallel the man-made famine in Tigray in the 1980s captured and shared to dramatic effect by photographers, such as Stan Grossfeld, is recognizable even to outsiders who recognize the terrible similarity with what is happening now. It is awareness of this historical context that enabled Senator Leahy, president pro tempore of the US Senate, to be one of the first amongst the international community to clearly identify what is happening in Tigray as a genocide.
This genocidal war continues to fuel an ever-worsening humanitarian and human rights crisis characterized by gross human rights violations, war crimes, and crimes against humanity including genocidal rape and the weaponization of starvation. Worst of all, the recalcitrance of the Ethiopian and Eritrean regimes in spite of considerable international pressure for a ceasefire and unfettered humanitarian access, reveals that unless direct action is taken there is little chance that these atrocities will stop.
In this context, the striking parallels between the current War on Tigray and past tactics employed by previous Ethiopian regimes – most notably Haile Selassie (1930-1974) and the Derg regime (1974-1987) led by Mengistu Hailemariam – in attempts to subjugate Tigrayans, deserve a much closer look to highlight the long-standing intentions and motivations fueling the current emergency.
Emperor Haile Selassie
Emperor Haile Selassie, best known for the history and songs that have romanticized him as an African statesman, is also responsible for the deaths of millions across the country. In Tigray, his imperial regime committed indiscriminate air bombings of civilians, annexed Tigrayan territory, and deliberately hid famine even as the Emperor hosted luxurious parties and fed his pet dogs delicacies.
Air bombing Mekelle (capital of Tigray)
During Emperor Haile Selassie’s reign, Tigray remained marginalized from the country with no significant political or economic representation. This gave rise to the first “Woyane” movement that carried out armed resistance against the monarchical rule of the Emperor. Instead of attending to the people’s demand for democracy and equality, the Emperor resorted to bombing market sites in Mekelle and surrounding areas with the help of the British Royal Air Force. This resulted in the death of thousands of innocent Tigrayans in 1943. These attacks targeted the civilian population as a possible deterrent for anyone seeking to join the Woyane armed struggle against the central monarchy.
Annexation of Tigrayan Territories
Following the defeat of the first uprising, the Emperor systematically incorporated southern territories from Tigray to Wollo province (currently part of the Amhara region) to weaken the region and hinder potential recruitments for possible future revolts. It is to be remembered that Emperor Menelik, who ruled Ethiopia before Haile Selassie from 1889 to 1913, also utilized the same tactics. Under his rule, he had incorporated parts of Tigray’s western provinces to be included under the Gondar province. The motive under both administrations was to deprive Tigray of its rich socio-economic resource to sustain resistance against the oppressive rule of the Emperors that continued to undermine the rights of different ethnic groups.
Hiding Famine
During the 1958 Tigray famine, Emperor Haile Selassie was unwilling to send emergency food aid to the starving population. An estimated 100,000 Tigrayans perished as a result. His decision was in line with the increases in farmland taxation for Tigrayans and other economic restrictions that left Tigray in a state of poverty for decades to come. In 1973 the Emperor once again hid a famine that devastated areas of Tigray and Wollo. The famine in 1973 killed an estimated 200,000 people. Once the news about the massive famine broke out to the rest of the world, the government officials quietly asked for aid that was inadequate to alleviate the famine. This was done to hush the news so that the Emperor’s image is not tarnished. Despite their denial and active efforts to spread propaganda regarding the 1954 and 1973 famines, the Emperor and his administration are without question responsible for the thousands of lives lost.
Mengistu Hailemariam
Mengistu, leader of the Communist military junta known colloquially as the Derg, used the slogan “drain the sea to catch the fish” in his attempt to subjugate Tigray. More than a slogan this aim was widely implemented in widespread campaigns of extrajudicial killings to deter people from joining the armed struggle, weaponizing hunger and forcibly removing Tigrayans from Tigray.
Weaponized Hunger
The 1984 famine, which has become associated with Ethiopia in the popular imagination of the rest of the world, was devastating due to government policies that blocked access to foreign bodies like the United Nations preventing them from providing aid. In order to hide the severity of the famine, international actors were denied access to the affected community. The famine ended up taking the lives of more than one million Tigrayans in what was one of the most horrific humanitarian disasters in recent history.
Sexual Violence, Indiscriminate Shelling and Chemical Attack
The Derg also committed weaponized sexual violence, indiscriminate shelling, and chemical attack on civilians and their residential areas. Victims of sexual violence include children as young as 13 years old. Indiscriminate shelling also targeted schools, markets, and residences all occupied by civilians. In addition, civilians bore the brunt of the horrific use of chemical weaponry.
Forced Resettlement
The terrible conditions of the 1984 famine were later used as an excuse by the military junta to forcefully resettle thousands of Tigrayans to areas outside of Tigray that were less affected by the famine. The resettlement program, which was non-voluntary and executed with poor planning and coordination failed to take into account needs for basic humanitarian services to relocated populations and as a result, took the lives of 50,000 Tigrayans while leaving many more displaced from their homeland. This resettlement program referred to at the time as a “vast human tragedy of historical proportions” was of course an act of demographic engineering intended to quash the resistance to the brutal regime by depopulating Tigray.
“Members of the Derg who are present in court today and those who are being tried in absentia have conspired to destroy a political group and kill people with impunity.”
Blocking Passage for Refugees
One final point that bears mentioning here, considering that Eritrean forces are actively engaged in the current Tigrayan crisis is the role played by Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) – which later became the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) the party ruling Eritrea today under much of the same leadership – in exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Tigray in the 80s. More specifically, in 1985, following a political disagreement between Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and EPLF officials led to the latter blocking the road connecting Sudan with Tigray. Refugees were forced to take a “long and dangerous route” on top of suffering from starvation. This cost thousands of lives as they reached Sudan through tougher terrains.
History repeats itself in Tigray
At the start of the current conflict, those that lived through the previous campaigns against Tigray and resultant famines recalled the horrors of the past and feared a repetition was likely. As feared, those that fled to Sudan in the previous famines are now again in tears remembering what they went through decades ago and how much worse the current circumstances are.
All the crimes that were committed in the past, forceful annexation, weaponized starvation and rape, banned chemical attacks, forced resettlement, blockage of passage for refugees, massacres, and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas are being committed on Tigray since the declaration of the offensive by Abiy Ahmed Ali on the 4th of November 2020. Although this analysis focuses on the events post the start of the war, it should also be noted that roads from Amhara to Tigray were blocked since 2018 preventing the transportation of grains portending the tactics being used to weaponize hunger now.
Today the reality on the ground is very dire. The United Nations (UN) has reported 350,000 people are experiencing famine in Tigray and 30,000 children are at risk of dying from starvation. Aid is available but restricted by Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Amhara regional forces. All the while, Ethiopian diplomats are engaged in telling the world access has been granted and that aid is being delivered. The population of Tigray has more than doubled since the time of President Mengistu Hailemariam. Food supply to more than 7 million Tigrayans has been deliberately looted, destroyed and farmers are prevented from farming. Meanwhile, unfettered access to aid agencies has yet to be granted. The UN revealed that 99% (130 out of 131 documented incidents) of the humanitarian aid blockage is happening by the Ethiopian troops and its allies. Multiple testimonies from the Tigrayan families reveal that famine is occurring on a large scale. The only thing standing in the way of the international community from knowing the full scale is the unavailability of data. Alex De Waal said, “no data, no famine” which has been effectively concealed using both communication blackout and blockage of roads connecting many parts of rural Tigray by invading forces.
The same crimes that got Mengistu Hailemariam convicted of genocide are being committed by Abiy. It is also critical to note that the retired officials of the Derg regime have been assigned key positions within the military leadership of the current Ethiopian defense force. Thus, not only do the atrocities reported so far indicate the genocidal intent of this war, but most importantly the involvement of the military officials that were part of the Derg regime found guilty of genocide must also be used as evidence to show this genocidal intent. Once the crimes are categorized, the international community will have the responsibility to intervene and stop the atrocities in Tigray before the only conceivable future is one with another “Never Again” campaign in it.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on August 20, 2021
The fog of war is a term usually used to describe confusion on the battlefield, but when it comes to Ethiopia, it could just as easily be applied to the bitterly fought information war surrounding the escalating conflict between Tigrayan rebels and government forces.
When the BBC was recently offered an interview with teenagers allegedly caught fighting for the rebels, we cautiously accepted.
“I was playing football with friends when I was forcefully recruited by Tigrayan fighters to join their ranks,” one 17-year-old told us, on the phone from Afar, a state which borders Tigray.
The conflict began in Tigray in northern Ethiopia in November, but has since spread to the regions of Afar and Amhara, where the TPLF rebels recently captured Lalibela, a town famous for its rock-hewn churches.
“I was taken by force to the war front,” said another teenager, who told us he was in Year 10 at school in Tigray. “My family couldn’t say anything because they feared for their life.”
A 19-year-old woman said: “We didn’t get any military training. They took us to Afar. They threatened to kill our family if we didn’t join the fight.”
The teenagers told us that around 50 adolescent boys and girls were rounded up near Tigray’s capital Mekelle and forced to fight, before being captured by Afar’s regional forces, who are allied to the federal government.
The first sign something wasn’t right was when the Afar authorities, who offered us the interviews, insisted we conduct them in Amharic – Ethiopia’s lingua franca – and not their native language, Tigrinya.
Then, when we listened back carefully to the recordings, our suspicions were confirmed – at times, we could hear the regional authority spokesman telling the teenagers what to say.
Similar interviews were broadcast on local Ethiopian television channels, with teenagers paraded slowly past the cameras looking like bored senior high school students, some with injuries apparently incurred in the fighting.
‘Catalogue of horrors’
The Tigray conflict began after months of feuding between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), once the dominant party in the federal government, over the prime minister’s reform programme.
Troops from Eritrea also entered the conflict on the side of Mr Abiy.
The prime minister accuses the TPLF of becoming a terrorist organisation, while it insists that it is the legitimate government in its home region of Tigray.
The Ethiopian government has been accusing the Tigrayan fighters of using child soldiers ever since they recaptured Mekelle in June, eight months after government troops took control of it.
The New York Times published a story on this key turning-point in the war including photos of Tigrayan fighters, some of whom appeared to be underage.
Since then, Prime Minister Abiy and his army of social media supporters have accused the Tigrayan rebels of forcibly recruiting child soldiers, doping them with drugs, and pushing them to the front lines.
TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda denied that teenagers were forced to join the group’s ranks.
“If there is a problem with regard to teenagers – 17, 18, 19-year-olds, although 18 is the legal age to join the army – these are children whose parents have been subjected to untold suffering by the Eritreans, by Abiy’s forces, by Amharic expansionists,” he told the BBC.
“We don’t have to force people. We have hundreds of thousands lining up to fight.”
Government officials and rights groups have also accused Tigrayan fighters of committing atrocities, including killing hundreds of people from the Amhara ethnic group in western Tigray at the start of the conflict.
Amhara militias have taken control of parts of western Tigray
Earlier this month, a heavy artillery attack was reported on a health centre in Afar.
Social media was soon ablaze with claims that more than 100 people had been killed by the Tigrayan fighters and the hashtag #AfarMassacre quickly began trending.
The BBC spoke to a local hospital doctor, who said 12 people brought there had died from their injuries, but no-one could give us an official death toll at the scene.
The rebels denied the attack and said they’d welcome an investigation.
Murky war
Claims and counter-claims about every twist in the war are traded all day long on Twitter and Facebook – from the government, the TPLF, and their respective armies of supporters in Ethiopia and the diaspora.
With phone and internet lines down across Tigray for nearly two months now, obtaining information from the region has been almost impossible.
The federal government says communication lines won’t be restored until the rebels accept a ceasefire.
The Tigrayan fighters say they won’t accept a ceasefire until the blockade is lifted and all enemy forces leave the region.
“The federal government is intent on controlling information and the Tigrayan leaders are by no means averse to using propaganda,” says Will Davison, senior Ethiopia analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank.
“In addition, Ethiopia’s media and civil society are relatively weak when it comes to exposing who is doing what. So there is a cocktail of factors contributing to the murkiness of this war.”
A soldier of Tigray Defence Force (TDF) poses as he walks towards another field at Tigray Martyr’s Memorial Monument Center in Mekele, the capital of Tigray region, Ethiopia, on June 30, 2021
The delivery of aid to Tigray – where experts say hundreds of thousands of people are facing catastrophic levels of hunger – has been another key information battleground.
When the Tekeze Bridge was blown up on 1 July, eliminating a key aid route into the region and one of the few ways of reaching western Tigray, the federal government blamed the TPLF.
But Mr Davison says that argument doesn’t add up.
“Tigrayan forces were on the offensive after the federal retreat, they wanted to reclaim western Tigray and regain access to aid, trade and vital services. Why would they destroy a critical river crossing?” he asks.
“Amhara and federal forces, however, were trying to cut off Tigray after retreating, and they wanted to hold on to western Tigray, so they had every reason to destroy the bridge.”
Thousands of people have been killed since the war began, and millions more have been displaced. Both sides have been accused of human rights abuses.
Following the recent TPLF gains, Mr Abiy called for “all capable Ethiopians of age” to join the fight against the rebels.
Political dialogue appears to be a long way off. The information wars show no sign of dialling down either.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on August 11, 2021
🔥 Destroy, Exterminate, Rape, Steal, Annex!That is evil Abiy Ahmed’s war on Tigray!
Forces aligned to the Ethiopian government subjected hundreds of women and girls to sexual violence
Rape and sexual slavery constitute war crimes, and may amount to crimes against humanity
Women and girls in Tigray were targeted for rape and other sexual violence by fighting forces aligned to the Ethiopian government, Amnesty International said today in a new report into the ongoing Tigray conflict.
The report, ‘I Don’t Know If They Realized I Was A Person’: Rape and Other Sexual Violence in the Conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia, reveals how women and girls were subjected to sexual violence by members of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), the Eritrean Defense Force (EDF), the Amhara Regional Police Special Force (ASF), and Fano, an Amhara militia group.
It’s clear that rape and sexual violence have been used as a weapon of war to inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on women and girls in Tigray
Agnès Callamard
Soldiers and militias subjected Tigrayan women and girls to rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, sexual mutilation and other forms of torture, often using ethnic slurs and death threats.
“It’s clear that rape and sexual violence have been used as a weapon of war to inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on women and girls in Tigray. Hundreds have been subjected to brutal treatment aimed at degrading and dehumanizing them,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“The severity and scale of the sexual crimes committed are particularly shocking, amounting to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. It makes a mockery of the central tenets of humanity. It must stop.
“The Ethiopian government must take immediate action to stop members of the security forces and allied militia from committing sexual violence, and the African Union should spare no effort to ensure the conflict is tabled at the AU Peace and Security Council.”
The Ethiopian authorities should also grant access to the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights Commission of Inquiry, and the UN Secretary General should urgently send his Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict to Tigray.
Amnesty International interviewed 63 survivors of sexual violence, as well as medical professionals. Twenty-eight survivors identified Eritrean forces as the sole perpetrators of rape.
Widespread sexual violence
The pattern of acts of sexual violence, with many survivors also witnessing rape of other women, indicates that sexual violence was widespread and intended to terrorize and humiliate the victims and their ethnic group.
Twelve survivors said soldiers and militia raped them in front of family members, including children. Five were pregnant at the time.
Letay*, a 20-year-old woman from Baaker, told Amnesty International she was attacked in her home in November 2020 by armed men who spoke Amharic and wore a mixture of military uniforms and civilian clothing.
She said: “Three men came into the room where I was. It was evening and already dark… I did not scream; they gestured to me not to make any noise or they would kill me. They raped me one after the other… I was four months pregnant; I don’t know if they realized I was pregnant. I don’t know if they realized I was a person.”
Nigist*, a 35-year-old mother-of-two from Humera said she and four other women were raped by Eritrean soldiers in Sheraro on 21 November 2020.
She said: “Three of them raped me in front of my child. There was an eight-months pregnant lady with us, they raped her too… They gathered like a hyena that saw something to eat… They raped the women and slaughtered the men.”
I don’t know if they realized I was pregnant. I don’t know if they realized I was a person
Letay*
Health facilities in Tigray registered 1,288 cases of gender-based violence from February to April 2021. Adigrat Hospital recorded 376 cases of rape from the beginning of the conflict to 9 June 2021. However, many survivors told Amnesty International they had not visited health facilities, suggesting these figures represent only a small fraction of rapes in the context of the conflict.
Survivors still suffer significant physical and mental health complications. Many complained of physical trauma such as continued bleeding, back pain, immobility and fistula. Some tested positive for HIV after being raped. Sleep deprivation, anxiety and emotional distress are common among survivors and family members who witnessed the violence.
Sexual slavery and intention to humiliate
Twelve survivors said they were held captive for days and often weeks, and repeatedly raped, in most cases by several men. Some were held in military camps, others in houses or grounds in rural areas.
Tseday*, 17, told Amnesty International that she was abducted by eight Eritrean soldiers in Zebangedena and held captive for two weeks. She said: “They took me to a rural area, in a field. There were many soldiers; I was raped by eight of them… Usually, they went out to guard the area in two shifts. When four of them went out, the rest stayed and raped me.”
Blen*, a 21-year-old from Bademe, said she was abducted by Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers on 5 November 2020, and held for 40 days alongside an estimated 30 other women. She said: “They raped us and starved us. They were too many who raped us in rounds. We were around 30 women they took… All of us were raped.”
Eight women also told how they had been raped by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers and associated militia near the border with Sudan, as they sought shelter.
Two survivors had large nails, gravel, and other types of metal and plastic shrapnel inserted into their vaginas, causing lasting and possibly irreparable damage.
Soldiers and militia repeatedly sought to humiliate their victims, frequently using ethnic slurs, insults, threats, and degrading comments. Several survivors interviewed by Amnesty International said that the rapists had told them, “This is what you deserve” and “You are disgusting”.
Lack of support for survivors
Survivors and witnesses told Amnesty International that they received limited or no psychosocial and medical support since they arrived in the internally displaced persons camps in the town of Shire in Ethiopia, or in refugee camps in Sudan.
Survivors also suffered because medical facilities were destroyed and restrictions imposed on the movement of people and goods, which hindered access to medical care. Victims and their families said they are short of food, shelter and clothes due to the limited humanitarian aid.
On top of their suffering and trauma, survivors have been left without adequate support
Agnès Callamard
Reports of sexual violence were mostly hidden from the outside world during the first two months of the conflict that began in November 2020, largely because of access restrictions imposed by the Ethiopian government and the communications blackout.
“On top of their suffering and trauma, survivors have been left without adequate support. They must be able to access the services they need and are entitled to – including medical treatment, livelihood assistance, mental healthcare and psychosocial support – which are essential aspects of a survivor-centred response,” said Agnès Callamard.
“We must see all allegations of sexual violence effectively, independently and impartially investigated to ensure survivors receive justice, and an effective reparation program must be established. All parties to the conflict should also ensure unfettered humanitarian access.”
Methodology
Between March and June 2021, Amnesty International interviewed 63 survivors of rape and other sexual violence; 15 in person in Sudan, and 48 remotely on secure telephone lines. Amnesty International also interviewed medical professionals and humanitarian workers involved in treating or assisting survivors in the towns of Shire and Adigrat, and in refugee camps in Sudan, about the scale of sexual violence and for corroborating information on specific cases.
In May, the Ethiopian authorities announced that three Ethiopian soldiers had been convicted and 25 others indicted for rape and other acts of sexual violence. However, no information has been made available about these trials, or other measures to investigate and to bring those responsible to justice.
Amnesty International wrote to Ethiopia’s Office of the Prime Minister, the Office of the Federal Attorney General and the Minister of Women, Children and Youth, to Eritrea’s Information Minister and a senior advisor to President Isaias Afwerki on 26 July 2021 requesting a response to the organization’s preliminary research findings, but had not received a reply at the time of publication.
Since fighting began in the region on 4 November 2020, thousands of civilians have been killed, hundreds of thousands of people have been internally displaced within Tigray, and tens of thousands of refugees have fled to Sudan.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 24, 2021
The two monsters, Abiy Ahmed Ali and Mengistu Hailemariam say and do the exact same wicked things. They are both Oromos who hate Christian Tigrayans so deeply that they attempt to exterminate them using siege warfare, starvation – as a weapon of war and war Crime.
The vicious dictator Mengistu was deposed in 1991, but fled to Zimbabwe and, despite a genocide conviction, is still walking free.
👉Tigrayan Ethiopians should not repeat the mistakes their fathers made in dealing with Ethiopia’s troubled history by allowing evil Abiy Ahmed Ali to flee the country. This bastard must be severely punished – JUSTICE must be served!
💭 History repeats itself:
🔥 Amhara & Oromos bombing Tigray, Using Rape, Hunger & forced resettlement (Mengistu did it back then, Ahmed will do the same now) as a Weapon against People in Tigray for the past 130 years:-
😈 Menelik ll: Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
😈 Haile Selassie: Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
😈 Mengistu Hailemariam: Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
😈 Abiy Ahmed Ali ´= Half Oromo + Half Amhara = Oromo (Crypto-Muslim / Man of the flesh)
[Galatians 5:19-21]
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
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Addis Ethiopia Weblog 