Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was once the toast of the international community. He was young, spoke the language of democracy, and was willing to reverse longtime policy to end the border conflict with Eritrea. In 2019, he took home the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
Today, he is a Nobel embarrassment.
On July 18, 2021, his office issued a statement with the type of ethnic incitement that would make Rwanda’s Hutu génocidaires blush: He referred to Ethiopia’s Tigrayans as “the cancer of Ethiopia” and called on all Ethiopians “to remove the invasive weed.” Human rights organizations and journalists say he is systematically seeking to starve the Tigray province, and he has begun closing or seizing businesses owned by the Tigray. In effect, this replicates what late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin once did with his country’s ethnic Indian population. Both the war and the internal economic disruption have undercut Ethiopia’s already tenuous economy.
Rashid Abdi, one of the East Africa’s most insightful and perceptive analysts, now reports via twitter, “Embassies in Addis [Ababa] making contingency plans to move to Nairobi in case situation deteriorates in coming weeks. Economic and financial collapse feared.” He cited one analyst as suggesting the prospects of an internal coup are very high.
Such a scenario is not farfetched. In last month’s elections, Abiy’s party reportedly won 410 out of 436 seats. The State Department, however, called the election “flawed” and international elections monitors pointedly refused to call the polls free and fair. Most opposition remains in prison. The Tigray Defense Force’s recapture of the Tigray provincial capital Mekelle after Abiy claimed victory is an embarrassment Abiy cannot hide. Nor, even with the tight control Abiy’s regime holds over the media, can he hide the images of thousands of Ethiopian troops paraded through the capital as prisoners.
This creates a perfect storm for Abiy. The government wants a scapegoat for their failure, and top generals could target Abiy if only to preempt the prime minister targeting them. Nor is Tigray the only insurgency Ethiopia now faces. At the same time, the implosion of Ethiopia’s economy means that Abiy is hemorrhaging the support of ordinary Ethiopians in the capital and across the country. While the Ethiopian Birr is officially 44 to the US dollar, it is trading in the Ethiopian-Somaliland border town of Wajaale at 61 to the dollar, a 38 percent drop.
Abiy’s arrogance toward fellow African leaders and the African Union means that, while none care for the precedent of a violent overthrow, neither would any intercede if members of Abiy’s own entourage pushed Abiy aside. Regime change in Ethiopia will be internal and may likely come in a matter of weeks rather than years. Let us hope the White House and State Department are not asleep at the switch, and that the Pentagon is already considering how to achieve a noncombatant evacuation operation for the tens of thousands of American citizens who call Ethiopia home.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 19, 2021
☆ Architect of the Dam, Meles Zenawi
Back in 2012 PM Meles Zenawi needed $4.8 billionto build The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.2017 was the dam’s scheduled completion date
☆ Seller of the Dam, Abiy Ahmed Ali.
And then came the evil PM Abiy Ahmed Ali in 2018.
The first thing he did was, to travel to Egypt – to swear to Allah before the Egyptian people that he will not hurt Egypt’s share of the Nile.
“I swear to Allah, we will never harm you,” Ahmed repeated the words in Arabic after Egypt president Al-Sisi, who thanked him.
😈 Upon his return to Addis Ababa, on July 26 2018, Abiy Ahmed murdered the chief engineer of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project Simegnew Bekele.
😈Abiy Ahmed Ali sold the dam to Egypt and his Arab Babysitters.
He started the cold war against Tigray in March 2018, and the hot war in November 2020 — in a well-coordinated manner with Isaiah Afewerki, the UAE & Somalia — following the Road map given to him by his Luciferian guardians. In addition to massacring more than 200,000 Tigrayans, he has spent $ 4.8 billion in the #TigrayGenocide. He would/ must have spent that money instead on the Renaissance Dam.
🔥 Three years earlier, on this very day of July 26, 2015, President Barack Hussein Obama became the 1st sitting US President to visit Ethiopia. Upon his arrival at the Bole airport, a rainbow – that we know from The Blue Nile ‘Tiss Esat’ water falls — had appeared over Addis Sky.
💭 We don’t know the exact day of Premier Meles Zenawi’s death – may he have already died on 26 July while undergoing treatment in Belgium?
💭 May 18, 2012, President Obama invited three African leaders – President John Evans Atta Mills of Ghana, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania at the G8 Meeting to address a symposium on global agriculture and food security. (Population Control).
💭 On July 16, 2012 the Muslim brotherhood Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi visited Addis Ababa and met with His Holiness Abune Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
☆ President Atta Mills of Ghana died on July 24, 2012
☆ Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia died on 20 August, probably on July 26, 2012
☆ His Holiness, Abune Paulos, Patriarch and Catholicos of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Archbishop of Axum and Ichege of the See of Saint Teklehaimanot, fell asleep in the Lord in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on August 16, 2012
☆ President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi, died on June 17, 2019.
❖ First The Patriarch, and then The Prime Minster. Coincidence? I don’t think so!
Mohamed Morsi knew something about the death of The Patriarch & The Prime Minster – so they have to get rid of him.
Archangel Michael, The Prince of Light and Defender of God’s will, certainly knows what’s going on – and I think President Barack Hussein Obama + President Mohamed Morsi + Billionaire Saudi-Ethiopian tycoon Mohammed al-Amoudi + The designated (by Obama’s CIA) shadow PM Abiy Ahmed Ali had conspired to murder Patriarch Paulos and Premier Meles Zenawi.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 17, 2021
Nine months of Oromia’s / ‘Ethiopia’s’ brutal shadow war against Tigrayans – The #TigrayGenocide is an ongoing series of human rights abuses, starvation crimes, in which hunger is used as a weapon of war, oppression, punishment, including pillage, forced displacement, destruction of food, water and health facilities, widespread rape that prevents survivors from caring for themselves and their children, and obstruction of humanitarian aid. perpetrated by Abiy Ahmed Ali’s Oromo and Amhara Army and militias.
However, Christian Tigrayans have mercy even with these barbarians who waged genocide against them. But, these barbarians don’t take this as an act of peace – as a goodwill gesture. The merciless, barbarous, callous, hard-hearted and ungrateful fascist Oromo and Amhara (Oromara) army of the evil Nobel Peace laureate Abiy Ahmed Ali is reinforcing itself with three more regional militias against the just and merciful Tigray forces.
The Oromo god „Waqqa-Alah„demands mass ritual blood sacrifices. Pay attention, the wars fought in Ethiopia are Satan’s continuing battle for Power – so almost all the wars that took place in Ethiopia are always purposefully brought by Satan to Christian Northern Ethiopia.
💭 Now please tell us who is the terrorist and fascist war criminal?
💭 Ethiopia’s Tigray forces say they released 1,000 captured soldiers
Forces in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have released around 1,000 government soldiers captured during recent fighting
Forces in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have released around 1,000 government soldiers captured during recent fighting, the head of its ruling party said, as both sides prepared for a showdown over contested land in the west of the region.
Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told Reuters by satellite phone late on Friday that they have released 1,000 low-ranking soldiers.
“More than 5,000 (soldiers) are still with us, and we will keep the senior officers who will face trial,” he said.
He said the soldiers had been driven to Tigray’s southern border with the Amhara region on Friday, but did not say who received them or how the release was negotiated.
Reuters could not independently confirm his account.
A military spokesman said he was not immediately available to comment on Saturday, and the spokesman for the Amhara regional administration said he had no information on the release.
Officials in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office and a government taskforce on Tigray did not answer calls seeking comment.
Fighting broke out in Tigray in November when the government accused the TPLF of attacking military bases across the region, which the party denied. The government declared victory three weeks later when it took control of the regional capital, Mekelle, but the TPLF kept fighting.
In a dramatic turn, the TPLF retook Mekelle and most of Tigray at the end of June, after the government pulled out its soldiers and declared a unilateral ceasefire. read more
However, the TPLF vowed to keep fighting until it had regained control of disputed territory in the south and west of Tigray that was seized during the fighting by the government’s allies from Amhara.
Abiy said this week that the military would repel any TPLF threat, effectively abandoning the self-declared truce. Amhara and three other regions said they were mobilizing forces to support the national army in its fight against the TPLF. read more
Thousands of people have died in the fighting; around 2 million have been displaced and more than 5 million rely on emergency food aid.
On Friday, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry issued a statement accusing aid groups of arming rebels.
“Some aid agencies have been actively engaged in a destructive role. We have also confirmed that they have been using aid as a cover and are arming the rebel groups to prolong the conflicts,” it said.
The statement did not identify the groups and there was no immediate response from the agencies that operate in Tigray. The United Nations humanitarian organization OCHA did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.N. has said desperately needed aid is being blocked at checkpoints as convoys travel through government-held territory. Ethiopian authorities say the aid needs to be checked.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 16, 2021
👉 Where’s the outrage over famine and genocide in Ethiopia
Not My Party: What’s Going on in Ethiopia (And Why You Should Care)
The world seems indifferent to the war, famine, and ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia. The United States shouldn’t be.
There’s a crisis in Ethiopia—ethnic cleansing and famine worse than anywhere in the world. So why is the social media outrage being carried by Bachelor Nation?
In the Ethiopian city of Aksum, hyenas fed on the bodies of some of the hundreds who were killed in a church massacre. The corpses of young boys laid in the street for days. This is one of the many horror stories taking place in the Tigray region of the country. Thousands are starving to death. Millions are in need of food. There have been over 22,000 rape victims. The government is blocking humanitarian efforts to supply aid, and they’re suspected of committing war crimes.
How did this happen in a country led by Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize just two years ago?
Tigray’s the home to the TPLF, a regional political party and paramilitary organization. The region is mountainous and sits on the border of Eritrea, a country that was once part of Ethiopia. Ethiopia and Eritrea have been at war for decades, with Tigray and the TPLF stuck in the middle. Abiy was hailed for bringing this conflict to an end in 2018.
Then last year, Abiy postponed the Ethiopian elections because of COVID. The Tigrayans didn’t like this too much. So they held elections on their own. Then, Abiy sent the Ethiopian military into the region after claiming that the TPLF had attacked their base, starting a sh*tshow of epic, historic proportion.
The Eritrean Army then saw an opportunity for revenge after years of war in Tigray. And so they invaded as well, alongside Abiy and the Ethiopian army. Internet access and electricity was cut off to the region. So the ethnic cleansing of Tigrayans raged in secret.
“There’s no hunger in Tigray. There’s a problem in Tigray, and the government’s capable of fixing that.” [Ahmed]
Nice Nobel Prize, ass.
That’s right: In 2021, when we can FaceTime our moms across the globe in a second, nobody knew about this mass murder and famine for months. But now that it’s public, with millions still denied aid, where’s the social media outrage? “Kony 2012” had Bieber and Gaga and everyone. Cardi B spoke out on Sudan.
But if you aren’t a consumer of foreign news here in the U.S., you might only know about this if you’re a “Bachelor’s” fan. That’s because when the last season finished, a contestant named Magi Tareke called her mother, who lived in the Tigray region, and she couldn’t get through because of the blackouts. Turns out her mother was safe, and her brother had fled to Sudan. In the meantime, the bachelorettes rallied around her on social media. And thank God—somebody had to.
The lack of outrage obviously stems from the Ethiopian government’s lies and gaslighting and blackout of the region. They blocked journalists and humanitarian groups and the internet, and it’s worked.
But I also worry that our muted response is a result of our own diminished view of the United States’s role in the world. Look, USAID director Samantha Power has been taking action. But all Joe Biden’s done is put out a nice statement. The administration’s been focusing more on COVID and the homefront.
The MAGA right has decided that the U.S. should ignore the problems in “sh*thole countries” and ban refugees fleeing persecution from coming here. Meanwhile, the extreme left thinks that U.S. involvement in the world does more harm than good.
We cannot let this America-alone mindset take hold. For all our flaws, the U.S. is needed. When there are problems, China and Russia ain’t coming through that door. It’s on us to reestablish ourselves as a beacon of hope in the world.
From Apologies To Atrocities: How To Make Sense Of Leadership Statements In Ethiopia
“This hasn’t been researched, but it’s obvious. From the battle of Add waa during the time of Menelik, to the later wars, many people from central Ethiopia – Oromos, Amharas – have been going to Tigray to fight. They were there for the war with Eritrea, and there’s been a military presence in Tigray for the 30 years since. So, if you’re wondering what the proportion of Oromo in Tigray is, leave it for DNA to find out. It’s probably wrong to say this, but: those who went to Add waa, to fight, didn’t just go and come back. Each of them had about 10 kids.”
In a speech to assembled Ethiopian ambassadors in January 2019, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed would make a prescient remark regarding Tigray. Alluding to the role of soldiers during the battle of Adua in 1896 and later, during the Eritrean war, Abiy said: “This hasn’t been researched, but it’s obvious. From the battle of Add waa during the time of Menelik, to the later wars, many people from central Ethiopia – Oromos, Amharas – have been going to Tigray to fight. They were there for the war with Eritrea, and there’s been a military presence in Tigray for the 30 years since. So, if you’re wondering what the proportion of Oromo in Tigray is, leave it for DNA to find out. [Hilarity in the audience] It’s probably wrong to say this, but: those who went to Add waa, to fight, didn’t just go and come back. Each of them had about 10 kids.” [Loud laughter of the audience and applause].
On March 21 2020, during a parliamentary session in which he was questioned on sexual violence in Tigray, Abiy replied: “The women in Tigray? These women have only been penetrated by men, whereas our soldiers were penetrated by a knife”.
Earlier that year, after the first reports of the deliberate targeting of women had begun to emerge, an Ethiopian general is filmed addressing a group of officers. Berating his cohorts, he says: “why are women being raped in Tigray, at this time? We might expect this during war time and it is not manageable but why is it happening now in the presence of federal police, in the presence of an official administration?”
The rest of the video has been cut by the Ethiopian Broadcast Commission which first broadcast it, but it would appear to be an admission of what had been going on. An admission later echoed by the Ethiopian Minister for Women’s Affairs and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. (Addis Standard reports)
What are we to make of these statements? How are we to interpret words which, from the Prime Minister himself, seem an open acknowledgment, even an endorsement, of military tactics and strategy that holds, as its central pillar, the use of rape in war? How can the world reconcile these kinds of statements? How will the people of Tigray – and in particular the women – live with what has been said, and what has been admitted; and above all, if Abiy wins the election in June 21, how will the the rest of Ethiopia live with a Prime Minister who has endorsed a culture of rape?
Abiy Ahmed was appointed Prime Minster of Ethiopia on April 2 2018. He arrived on the scene talking hope, reconciliation, reform and much anticipated change. He seemed to embody everything Ethiopians hoped for. He was half Oromo half Amhara; a Christian, though Protestant, but he acknowledged his Islamic ancestors. He seemed to be the new ‘unity in diversity’ figurehead incarnate. A new Ethiopia in the making. Who could object? He embarked on a series of tours around the country to explain himself then to the diaspora, to neighbours, and to the world. He moved fast, making changes addressing all the grievances over corruption and the past ‘misdeeds’ of the former government. He released prisoners, called back banned political parties and enjoined Ethiopians to address their past and atone with one another over historical events, and then move on.
The man with a PhD in Peace and Conflict studies it seems was putting in place the main steps for future reconciliation and state rebuilding. The world held its breath; he ‘made peace’ with Eritrea, he talked of Rwanda, he reminded the world of the evils of genocide and the need not to demonize and to transcend all differences. He appointed several women into his cabinet, a first for Ethiopia. He was applauded at home and abroad he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
It was a moment of pride for the country for him. Much was written: articles, blogs, Twitter, Facebook all were euphoric. Ethiopia reasserting her honor, her history of internationalism and defender of universal values. A founding member of the United Nations a great contributor to Peace-Keeping operations since 1950. Abiy, the ex military man now statesman was bringing back this honor to Ethiopia, to the Ethiopian army, to its people.
As the war unfolded in Tigray, the reports of atrocities and their specific intentions seemed to follow the textbook example of all that has been written and researched on the use of rape in war, and on violations of international protocols and treaties governing conflict. AP Africa correspondent Cara Anna described the horrors of sexual violence in Tigray on CBS News. Aljazeera and Reuters detailed the sexual slavery in Tigray. Helen Clark and Rachel Kyte called the world to action: “The world knows enough to say that war crimes are happening in Tigray. We should not need to wait until we are able to conduct full and thorough investigations before we act to stop rape as a weapon of war. We should not have to count the graves of children before we act to stop starvation crimes.” The Red Cross also condemned this horrific sexual violence in the strongest terms.
With each report and social outrage, there was denial and counter accusations of ‘fake news’ and ‘alleged’ rapes and claims of a ‘western’ smear campaign against the integrity of Ethiopia. The cries of pain and testaments of Tigrayan women, now scorned and dismissed as propaganda.
As activists and human rights lawyers examine the evidence from Tigray and other places where women continue to suffer the onslaught of violence and ethnic cleansing, the academics remind us: governments don’t outsource violence to militias; they model it.
On June 19th the world will be commemorating International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. A day agreed on by all member states of the UN to condemn and call for the end of conflict-related sexual violence, including rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy and enforced sterilization; and to honour victims, survivors and those fighting to end these most terrorizing and destructive of crimes.
As activists and human rights lawyers examine the evidence from Tigray and other places where women continue to suffer the onslaught of violence and ethnic cleansing, the academics remind us: governments don’t outsource violence to militias; they model it. Data on government and militia attacks against civilians in civil wars from 1989 to 2010 show that when governments target civilians — whether through massacres, ethnic cleansing or deliberate bombing and shelling — they generally do so through both their regular military forces and militia forces. And when states decide not to target civilians, militias generally hold back as well. They may influence militia behavior through training or through more informal diffusion — or both. Studies show that when governments train militias, militias are more likely to target civilians both with sexual violence and other kinds of violence.”
On June 17 The African Union announced the opening of the official Commission of inquiry into Tigray. As they begin to collect the statements from Tigrayan refugees and victims of sexual violence, they would be wise to also consider the various speeches and statements of Abiy Ahmed himself.
❖ “After surviving 1,500 years of human history in a remote monastery, the Garima Gospels are now facing their most severe threat.“
❖ “The war in Tigray has inflicted more destruction on Ethiopia’s religious and cultural heritage than anything since the invasions of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi.”
After surviving 1,500 years of human history in a remote monastery, the Garima Gospels are now facing their most severe threat.
When a Canadian scholar first glimpsed the ancient Garima Gospels, carried carefully into the sunlight by monks in a mountain monastery in northern Ethiopia, the pages were tattered and crumbling.
“The parchment was so brittle that flakes fell to the ground at every turn,” wrote Michael Gervers, a historian at the University of Toronto, recalling his earliest encounter with the manuscript more than 20 years ago.
Even then he did not fully realize what he was seeing. Some experts now believe it could be the world’s oldest intact version of illuminated Christian scripture. Radiocarbon analysis revealed that its pages date back as early as the fifth century, making it one of the oldest manuscripts of any kind in the world. Its brilliant colours and stunning illustrations make it even more valuable to world culture.
Today, after surviving 1,500 years of human history in a remote monastery, the Garima Gospels are facing their most severe threat.
Historic manuscripts, along with church icons and silver crosses, are among the treasures that have been plundered by Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers, raising global alarm for Tigray’s cultural heritage.
Cut off from the world by military clashes and telecommunications shutdowns, the fate of the Abba Garima monastery and its spectacular Garima Gospels is still unknown. But the area around the monastery is controlled by soldiers who have looted systematically since the start of the war. The fears are growing.
“It is chilling to many of us to think that these Gospels and other ancient artifacts are in the way of danger,” said Suleyman Dost, a professor in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.
“These Gospels are not only among the earliest complete texts of the Christian scripture, but they also provide us with a rare glimpse into the language, religion and history of ancient Ethiopia,” he told The Globe and Mail in an e-mail.
“They are truly part of the world heritage and constitute indispensable sources for scholars of early Christianity, late antique Ethiopia and even early Islam.”
The Garima Gospels, bound and illustrated copies of the Four Gospels of the New Testament written in the classical Ethiopian language Ge’ez, are one of the treasures of the ancient Axumite kingdom, whose heartland is now engulfed by the war zone in Tigray.
“The war threatens countless invaluable remains from this period, including inscriptions, religious buildings and manuscripts that have been diligently preserved in monasteries for centuries,” Prof. Dost said.
The Axumite kingdom, whose territories extended across the Red Sea into modern-day Yemen, was one of the great cultural and economic empires of its time, a crossroads of early civilizations and one of the first states to accept Christianity as state religion, in the early fourth century, before even the Roman Empire. Its capital, Axum, is reputed by tradition to be the home of the Ark of the Covenant – another holy relic whose fate is unknown today.
“It was the one territory which retained its Christianity without external domination and has done so ever since,” Prof. Gervers said.
“It is the oldest free Christian culture in the world. And that culture was centred in what is now Eritrea and Tigray. The world is only at this point coming to recognize the importance of this area.”
The Garima Gospels are older than more famous Western manuscripts such as the Book of Kells, and a closer link to the original Greek gospels. “They are just amazing in their artistic expertise, incomparable even to early Gospel books that we have,” Prof. Gervers told The Globe in an interview. “They are of utmost importance to Christian culture as a whole. Their loss or displacement would be disastrous to the cultural heritage of Judeo-Christianity.”
Prof. Gervers has been documenting Ethiopian art and culture for decades, photographing historic church manuscripts and creating a unique database of about 70,000 digitized images, including the Garima Gospels. With no sign of the Tigray war ending soon, his database is becoming increasingly crucial. “We’re thankful that we were able to document so much of this over the past 30 years,” he said.
Among the most invaluable illustrations in the Garima Gospels, he said, are an unparalleled image of the evangelist Mark, and a rare image of a building that has been identified as the Old Temple in Jerusalem.
The war in Tigray has inflicted more destruction on Ethiopia’s religious and cultural heritage than anything since the invasions of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, who burned churches and manuscripts across the country in the 16th century, Prof. Gervers said.
He and his colleagues are trying to monitor the antiquities markets, in case any looters try to sell the manuscripts. “It would be an offence to Christianity if the Garima Gospels ended up for sale somewhere.” Even worse, soldiers could simply burn the manuscripts “out of spite,” he said. But so far their fate is a mystery. “We haven’t heard a word about it.”
Wolbert Smidt, an ethnohistorian at Jena University in Germany who studies Ethiopian culture and history, said he has received reports of soldiers regularly searching churches and sometimes looting or burning church relics, including rare parchment manuscripts that were written by hand in late antiquity.
But there is still hope, he says. During conflicts of past centuries, the monks of Abba Garima carefully hid the Garima Gospels, possibly in mountain caves. Today there is a chance that the monks may have succeeded in hiding them again.
🔥 Today, in Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, large numbers of women and girls are again being subjected to “unimaginable” terror and suffering as a result of pervasive sexual violence
🔥 Civilian casualties continue to mount, regional analysts say. Accumulating evidence suggests war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed by all parties. But Abiy’s army, the Eritrean troops he secretly invited into Tigray, and Amhara militia are believed to be the main culprits.
🔥 Prime minister Abiy Ahmed opened the way for victimisation of women with disastrous decision to attack Tigray
🔥 Ethiopia – once Africa’s big success story – is at growing risk of fracture and failure under Abiy Ahmed. The international community should call him personally to account before it’s too late.
🔥 Tigray’s abused, abandoned women cannot do it themselves. Unseen and unheard, they are drowning in a sea of tears.
The use of rape as a weapon of war is as old as warfare itself. In Bosnia in the 1990s, thousands of Muslim women were brutalised by Bosnian Serb forces, who set up “rape camps” as part of a policy of “ethnic cleansing”. In 2001, the UN’s Yugoslav war crimes tribunal redefined mass rape as a crime against humanity. Yet there have been many similar atrocities since then, including in South Sudan, Syria, Iraq, and Myanmar.
Now the world looks on – or rather, looks away – as it happens again. Today, in Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, large numbers of women and girls are again being subjected to “unimaginable” terror and suffering as a result of pervasive sexual violence. The word “unimaginable” is taken from a disturbing new report on Tigray by Parliament’s international development committee – a report largely ignored by the British government and media.
Reporting from Tigray last week, where fighting erupted in November after government-led forces invaded to topple the region’s breakaway leadership, the International Rescue Committee charity warned the crisis was especially affecting women. “Women are having to engage in sexually exploitative relationships, receiving small amounts of money, food and/or shelter to survive and feed their children,” an IRC spokesman said.
“Rape is being used as a weapon of war across the conflict. Multiple displaced people have given eyewitness accounts of mass rape. Women who are assaulted are in need of multiple levels of care, including emergency contraceptives, and drugs to prevent HIV in addition to psychological support. With 71% of hospital and medical facilities damaged and many looted, medical supplies are scarce,” the IRC said.
Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, opened the way for this mass victimisation of women with his disastrous decision to attack. Once feted as a peacemaker, he will be remembered as the man who chose brute force to settle a political argument, in one of the world’s most fragile states, in the middle of a global pandemic.
After failing to secure the quick victory he predicted, Abiy has minimised the scale of the emergency. The latest UN assessment tells a different story: 4.5 million people in need of food and assistance, hundreds of thousands displaced, 67,000 refugees sheltering in Sudan, and humanitarian convoys blocked. Opposition parties say more than 50,000 people have died. Amnesty International last week decried a “ferocious tide” of rights violations including “numerous credible reports of women and girls being subjected to sexual violence, including gang rape, by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers”.
Save the Children also sounded the alarm. Thousands of children separated from their families were at daily risk of abuse while living in “unsafe and dire conditions” in informal camps, it said. “Many survivors are too scared to report sexual assault or seek treatment due to stigma and fear of reprisal”.
The worst crimes are often hidden from view, Doctors Without Borders said: “Many of Tigray’s six million people live in mountainous and rural areas where they are all but invisible to the outside world.” Malnutrition was on the rise, especially among children and pregnant women, it said.
The extent of the fighting is unclear, given the government’s internet blackout, reporting restrictions, and unreliable official information. Civilian casualties continue to mount, regional analysts say. Accumulating evidence suggests war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed by all parties. But Abiy’s army, the Eritrean troops he secretly invited into Tigray, and Amhara militia are believed to be the main culprits.
His initial bullishness dispelled, Abiy now describes the war he began as “tiresome”, says some reports of atrocities are exaggerated or faked, and has promised investigations. He claims Eritrean soldiers are withdrawing. There’s no doubt opposition forces are also much to blame for continuing carnage and misery. But hopes Abiy will heed appeals to stop fighting and open peace talks were dashed last weekend when Ethiopia’s council of ministers formally designated Tigray’s leadership, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, as a terrorist organisation. The International Crisis Group warns guerrilla warfare could drag on for years.
Anyone expecting decisive international intervention is likely to be disappointed. The African Union has proved ineffective, the UN security council even more so. G7 foreign ministers, meeting in London last week, went out of their way to avoid upsetting Abiy’s government, which they persist in regarding as a strategic ally rather than a problematic actor.
“We condemn the killing of civilians, rape and sexual exploitation, and other forms of gender-based violence,” the G7 communique said. It backed an investigation process, called for a ceasefire and improved humanitarian access, and urged “a clear, inclusive political process in Tigray”.
But direct pressure on Abiy, such as the threat of sanctions and aid cuts, and concerted, collective action to find and prosecute those legally responsible for atrocities and mass rapes were wholly lacking. It was a feeble start for US president Joe Biden’s putative “alliance of democracies” and Boris Johnson’s idea of Britain as a global “force for good”.
Maintaining Ethiopia’s “unity and territorial integrity” appears to be the west’s main concern. Yet under Abiy’s divisive leadership, lethal clashes between the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups are escalating. Political violence affects several regions. A possible war with Egypt looms over Addis Ababa’s new Blue Nile dam. And on 5 June, ill-prepared, boycotted, and un-monitored national elections that Abiy vows to win could drive Ethiopians further apart.
Under Abiy, Ethiopia – once Africa’s big success story – is at growing risk of fracture and failure. The international community should call him personally to account before it’s too late.
Tigray’s abused, abandoned women cannot do it themselves. Unseen and unheard, they are drowning in a sea of tears.
🔥 “In Sweden — the rape capital of Europe — studies continue to reveal that migrants, mostly from North Africa, the Middle East, and Muslim sub-Sahara, account for the overwhelming majority of rapes,”
🔥 “Four Muslim migrants from North Africa gang-raped a 36-year-old woman on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, after she stopped to ask how she could help them.”
🔥 “A British woman (alias, Ella) revealed that her Muslim rapists called her “a white whore,” and much worse, during the more than 100 times the Pakistani grooming gang raped her in her youth.”
🔥 “According to Dr. Taj Hargey, a British imam, Muslim men are taught that women are “second-class citizens, little more than chattels or possessions over whom they have absolute authority.”
🔥 “A Muslim man who almost killed his 25-year-old German victim while raping her — and shouting “Allah!” — afterwards inquired if she liked it.”
Four Muslim migrants from North Africa gang-raped a 36-year-old woman on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, after she stopped to ask how she could help them. According to the March 3 report,
The alleged victim is believed to have lived on the Canary Islands, whereas the suspects are thought to have arrived only recently on a boat…. [T]hey were given initially government-provided accommodations managed by the Red Cross but later kicked out for breaking the rules. They are then thought to have set up camp in the park where the woman was allegedly attacked after enquiring about their situation. The woman had asked if she could help them with anything, but within ‘a matter of seconds’ this had led to her being assaulted…
This woman, who was described “as either an Irish expat or coming from a Nordic country,” joins countless other European women — especially those “from a Nordic country” — to be raped by Muslim migrants.
Why is this ongoing phenomenon not being checked? One of the reasons revolves around the specter of “racism.” The “woke” establishment tends to see European women accusing Muslim men of raping them through a skeptical light.
For example, in Sweden — the rape capital of Europe — studies continue to reveal that migrants, mostly from North Africa, the Middle East, and Muslim sub-Sahara, account for the overwhelming majority of rapes, as captured by the following title: “Report: 9 in 10 Gang Rapists In Sweden Have Foreign Origins.”
To neutralize these findings, on March 9, 2021, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (“Brå”) said that “Immigrants’ sharp over-representation in rape statistics may be due to the fact that Swedish women are more likely to report immigrants for rape than they are to report Swedish men.” Stina Holmberg, a research councilor at Brå, elaborated:
It may be that you are more inclined to report something you [a Swedish women] have been exposed to, if the crime was committed by someone you feel more alien to, and who has low social status.
Skepticism for rape reports against non-white males turns to open hostility whenever this issue is forthrightly discussed, as Sarah Champion, a Labor politician and MP for Rotherham (the epicenter of sex grooming), learned last summer, when she was accused of “fanning the flames of racial hatred” and “acting like a neo-fascist murderer.” Her crime? She had dared to assert that “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls.” (The same elements that accused Champion of being a “murderer” also, and rather unsurprisingly, characterize the UK’s anti-extremism program, Prevent, as being “built upon a foundation of Islamophobia and racism.”)
Perhaps most telling is an April 2020 article titled, “I was raped by Rotherham grooming gang — now I still face racist abuse online.” In it, a British woman (alias, Ella) revealed that her Muslim rapists called her “a white whore,” and much worse, during the more than 100 times the Pakistani grooming gang raped her in her youth.
“We need to understand racially and religiously aggravated crime if we are going to prevent it and protect people from it and if we are going to prosecute correctly for it,” Ella said in a recent interview.
Prevention, protection and prosecution — all of them are being hindered because we are neglecting to properly address the religious and racist aspects of grooming gang crimes…. It’s telling them that it’s OK to hate white people.
That there are “racial” and “religious” aspects to the epidemic of Muslims raping European women is an understatement. According to Dr. Taj Hargey, a British imam, Muslim men are taught that women are “second-class citizens, little more than chattels or possessions over whom they have absolute authority.” The imams, moreover, preach a doctrine “that denigrates all women, but treats whites with particular contempt.” Consider a few earlier examples:
Another British woman was trafficked to Morocco where she was prostituted and repeatedly raped by dozens of Muslim men. They “made me believe I was nothing more than a slut, a white whore,” she recollected. “They treated me like a leper, apart from when they wanted sex. I was less than human to them, I was rubbish.”
Another British girl was “passed around like a piece of meat” among Muslim men who abused and raped her between the ages of 12 and 14. Speaking now as an adult, a court heard how she “was raped on a dirty mattress above a takeaway and forced to perform [oral] sex acts in a churchyard,” and how one of her abusers “urinated on her in an act of humiliation” afterwards.
A Muslim man called a 13-year-old virgin “a little white slag” — British slang for “loose, promiscuous woman” — before raping her.
In Germany, a group of Muslim migrants stalked a 25-year-old woman, hurled “filthy” insults at and taunted her for sex. They too explained their logic — “German girls are just there for sex” — before reaching into her blouse and groping her.
Another Muslim man who almost killed his 25-year-old German victim while raping her — and shouting “Allah!” — afterwards inquired if she liked it.
In Austria, an “Arabic-looking man” approached a 27-year-old woman at a bus stop, pulled down his pants, and “all he could say was sex, sex, sex,” prompting the woman to scream and flee.
In short, there certainly is a “racist” aspect to the rape of European women by migrants — though in reverse: nonwhite Muslim men tend to see white women as nymphomaniacs that are “hot” for being degraded and abused — a stereotype that, incidentally, stretches back to the very beginnings of Islamic history.
Even so, Ella’s attempts to highlight these “religious and racist aspects” that fueled the abuse she and other European girls and women experienced — that is, her attempt to connect the dots in an effort to help eliminate this phenomenon — led only to “a lot of abuse from far-left extremists, and radical feminist academics,” she said. Such groups “go online and they try to resist anyone they consider to be a Nazi, racist, fascist or white supremacist.”
“They don’t care about anti-white racism, because they appear to believe that it doesn’t exist. They have tried to floor me and criticise me continually and this has been going on for a couple of months. They tried to shut me down, shut me up… I’ve never experienced such hate online in my life. They accuse me of ‘advocating for white paedophiles’ and being a ‘sinister demonic entity.’”
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on April 15, 2021
Health officials say Ethiopian troops and their allies have been forcing women into sexual slavery in the Tigray region. That is after the conflict began there last year when Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed ordered an offensive. Thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced. Now, a woman’s story of surviving gang rape offers an insight into the sexual violence against women in Tigray and the Ethiopian military’s involvement. A warning – some viewers may find the information in this story distressing.
The young mother was trying to get home with food for her two children when she says soldiers pulled her off a minibus in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, claiming it was overloaded.
It was the beginning of an 11-day ordeal in February, during which she says she was repeatedly raped by 23 soldiers who forced nails, a rock and other items into her vagina, and threatened her with a knife.
Doctors showed Reuters the bloodstained stone and two 3-inch nails they said they had removed from her body.
The woman, 27, is among hundreds who have reported that they were subjected to horrific sexual violence by Ethiopian and allied Eritrean soldiers after fighting broke out in November in the mountainous northern region of Ethiopia, doctors said.
Some women were held captive for extended periods, days or weeks at a time, said Dr. Fasika Amdeselassie, the top public health official for the government-appointed interim administration in Tigray.
“Women are being kept in sexual slavery,” Fasika told Reuters. “The perpetrators have to be investigated.”
Reports of rape have been circulating for months. But Fasika’s assertion, based on women’s accounts, marks the first time an Ethiopian official – in this case, a top regional health officer – has made a sexual slavery accusation in connection with the conflict in Tigray.
In addition, eight other doctors at five public hospitals told Reuters that most of the rape victims described their attackers as either Ethiopian government soldiers or Eritrean troops. It was more common for women to report sexual violence by Eritrean soldiers, the doctors said.
The Eritreans have been helping Ethiopia’s central government fight the region’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), in the conflict plaguing the Horn of Africa nation.
Taken together, the descriptions paint the most detailed picture to date of the sexual violence against women in Tigray and the military’s alleged involvement in it.
Most people interviewed for this article declined to be identified. They said they feared reprisals, including possible violence, by soldiers who guard the hospitals and towns.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed acknowledged in a speech to parliament on March 23 that “atrocities were being committed by raping women” and promised that the perpetrators would be punished. He did not identify the alleged perpetrators.
He said then for the first time that Eritrean soldiers had entered the conflict in Tigray in support of the Ethiopian government after the TPLF attacked military bases across the region in the early hours of Nov. 4. Ethiopia’s government had previously denied this, and the Eritrean government still does not acknowledge their troops’ presence. The TPLF was the dominant power in the central government when Eritrea fought a bloody border war with Ethiopia a generation ago.
Neither the Ethiopian nor the Eritrean governments responded to Reuters’ questions about specific cases raised by women and their doctors, or about the accusation of sexual slavery. No charges have been announced by civilian or military prosecutors against any soldiers. However, officials in both countries emphasized that their governments have zero tolerance for sexual violence – a point Abiy’s spokeswoman, Billene Seyoum, said the prime minister reiterated recently in discussions with military leaders.
The alleged sexual violence has drawn international attention.
Billene said the United Nations, the African Union and Ethiopia’s state-appointed human rights commission have been authorized to carry out joint investigations into alleged abuses by all sides in the conflict. That includes the “criminal clique,” she said, referring to the TPLF.
An Ethiopian military spokesman and the head of a government task force on the Tigray crisis did not respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment. Reuters could not reach military leaders in either country.
Asked about the reports that Eritrean troops have committed rapes in Tigray and are keeping women in sexual slavery, the country’s information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, accused TPLF activists of “coaching ‘sympathizers’ to create false testimonies.”
“All the fabricated stories – which are alien to our culture and laws – are peddled to cover up the crimes of the TPLF which started the war,” he told Reuters in a written response.
Reuters was unable to reach a TPLF spokesman.
RECORDS OF ABUSE
Fasika, the health official, said at least 829 cases of sexual assault have been reported at the five hospitals since the conflict in Tigray began.
Those cases were likely “the tip of the iceberg,” Fasika said. Rape is under-reported in Ethiopia because it carries a huge stigma. Also, most of the region’s health facilities are no longer functioning, and travel between towns remains dangerous, he said.
Most of the women who have come forward are either pregnant or sustained severe physical injury from the rapes, Fasika said.
Reuters interviewed 11 women who said they had been raped by soldiers from Eritrea, Ethiopia or both. Four said they were kidnapped, taken to military camps and gang raped, in some cases alongside other women. The women did not know the camp names but said they were located near Mekelle and the towns of Idaga Hamus, Wukro and Sheraro.
Five other women said they were held in fields or deserted houses for up to six days. And two said they were raped in their own homes.
Reuters could not independently verify their accounts. However, all told similar stories of being beaten and brutalized. Healthcare providers confirmed that the 11 women’s injuries were consistent with the events they described, and they showed Reuters medical records for three of the women detailing their conditions.
The health care providers also shared details of nine other cases of sexual assault, including the ordeals of two 14-year-old girls.
Although Ethiopia’s government declared victory over the TPLF in November, fighting continues in some areas, and medical workers say new rapes are reported at the region’s health facilities every day.
“This is being done to dishonour the women, to break their pride,” said a doctor at Ayder Referral Hospital, in Mekelle, citing the brutality of the attacks and humiliation of victims. “This is not for sexual gratification. The rapes are to punish Tigray.”
‘TELL MY STORY’
The 27-year-old mother said uniformed soldiers from Eritrea pulled her off a minibus on the road from Mekelle to the city of Adigrat on Feb. 6. They tied her up and marched her through fields to a bush camp, she said. After 11 days of rapes and beatings, she said, the soldiers forced nails, cotton, plastic bags and a rock into her vagina and left her alone in the bush.
Villagers found her unconscious and brought her to a nearby hospital.
She said she was still bleeding from severe internal injuries and could not control her urine, walk without a crutch or sit up for long periods. One leg was broken, she said.
She also described a different kind of pain: While in the hospital, she has no way to speak to her 4-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter because the Eritrean soldiers took her cellphone. She had left the children with her mother to search for food and never returned. At the time, the family had less than a week’s worth of bread.
“I don’t know anything, if they are dead or alive,” she said. “The enemy destroyed my life.”
A 32-year-old mother in Mekelle told Reuters that soldiers removed her from a minibus on the same road at the end of February. They were dressed in Ethiopian uniforms, she said, but spoke with an Eritrean accent and had traditional facial scarification typical of the neighbouring country. She said they shot her 12-year-old son dead in front of her, then brought her to a camp where she was held with other female captives and repeatedly raped for 10 days.
“Tell my story,” she said. “This is happening to women out there right now. I want this to end with me.”
A 28-year-old house cleaner said soldiers grabbed her from a street in Mekelle on the afternoon of Feb. 10 and took her to a field outside a military base where she was raped by more than 10 men wearing Ethiopian or Eritrean uniforms.
Wiping away tears, she said that during her two-week ordeal, soldiers doused her with alcohol and mocked her as they assaulted her. She escaped when her captors were distracted by gunfire, she said.
SHOT FOR RESISTING
The government has set up a task force separate from the human rights commission to investigate the reports of sexual violence. Its head, Mebrihit Assefa, said the body includes representatives from the regional health bureau, the attorney general’s office and federal police.
The task force plans to set up five centres where rape survivors can file reports with law enforcement and receive medical and psychosocial support.
“Our prosecutors (and) police officers are there to investigate all crimes committed, including sexual violence,” said Awol Sultan, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office.
He did not respond to questions about the women alleging they were raped during captivity, or whether prosecutors were in touch with either the Eritrean or Ethiopian militaries. The results of the criminal investigations will be released publicly at an unspecified date, he said.
Abera Nigus, the head of Tigray’s justice bureau, said the legal process was likely to be complicated because most courts are not functioning in Tigray, and many rape victims cannot identify their assailants.
Knowing their rapists are still at large also has discouraged women from seeking help, doctors said.
Many of the women who sought treatment at hospitals had vaginal and anal tears, sexually transmitted diseases and injuries that rendered them incontinent, said the Ayder hospital doctor, an obstetrician gynecologist. The doctor shared notes from 11 cases the hospital had treated involving women raped by soldiers.
One woman had been gang raped on three separate occasions, according to the hospital notes.
Another was five months pregnant when she was raped, the notes indicate. Two 14-year-old girls were sexually assaulted in front of their families. One girl had a hand and foot amputated.
