Djibouti extradits TPLF fighters to Ethiopia for trial
DJIBOUTI – Djibouti has reportedly handed over a number of Tigray People’s Liberation Front [TPLF] is fighting for Ethiopia, state media Fana reports, in what could further trigger hostilities between Addis Ababa and Mekele that have been in conflict.
Since November 2020, Ethiopia’s national defense force [ENDF] has set up tents in the Tigray region in pursuit of TPLF fighters who are alleged to have attacked the Northern Command and killed several soldiers in addition to taking up arms.
Even in the war, there are Eritrean troops who accused the TPLF of firing missiles at Asmara and Amhara’s regional forces. The United States and other European power plants have called for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean troops and Amhara regional forces from Tigray, but Ethiopia has not yet complied with the directive.
The soldiers are accused of, among other things, rape, women and children, torturing innocent civilians and killing innocent people. A doctor working in the region recently called the Tigrayan War a “genocide” and urged Washington and other stakeholders to “refer to it.”
And according to Fana, Djibouti arrested a number of refugees from the TPLF before handing them over to Ethiopia on Monday night. The victims have been “hiding” in Djibouti for a couple of months before being arrested on Monday by Djibouti authorities.
Of the members of the TPLF fighters who fled to neighboring countries after attacking the northern defense force and members of the federal police, Habtom Gebreselassie Wolyu, Mesele Tamene Eshetu and Colonel Mohammed Berihu were arrested.
It is stated that the federal police will soon launch investigations against the suspects and hold them responsible for the brutal crimes they are alleged to have committed against the army, the police and the general public. Ethiopia did not say when the investigations will begin.
The arrest comes under pressure from the international community against the administration of Abiy Ahmed, who is accused of unfairly targeting the Tigrayan people. The Prime Minister, who acknowledged that Eritrean troops are in Tigray, promised to withdraw them, but no such action has yet been taken.
Abiy has also accused the TPLF of targeting security forces in Tigray. US President Joe Biden called for a “ceasefire” in a statement issued last week just days after the State Department under Foreign Minister Antony Blinken beat a number of Ethiopian and Eritrean officials with travel sanctions.
Ethiopia described the visa restriction as “inappropriate” and added that the United States did not consider “current issues”. But reports from various humanitarian groups suggest that thousands of people may have died in the Tigray conflict as Abiy Ahmed fights to justify his victory in the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
AXADLETM
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