TDF children and soldiers among thousands detained in Oromia, Ethiopia
NAIROBI, Kenya – A number of young children are among those held by Ethiopian authorities, it has been said, in the new wave of detentions targeting Tigrayans, on suspicion of supporting the Tigray Defense Force. [TDF].
In an interview with The Associated Press on a hidden phone, one of the detainees described the harsh conditions in which more than 700 Tigrayan soldiers, their families and retirees are held in a camp in the Oromia region in Ethiopia.
While giving his military ID number but speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, the non-combatant said two inmates died after being beaten and another died from lack of medication for an ailment pre-existing.
“They call us cancer and tell us they are going to destroy us,” said the inmate, describing how military personnel supervising the inmates threatened to shoot “every one of you” if anyone tried to escape. . New detainees keep arriving, he said, and they have not appeared in court. He listed five detained children who are under 3 years old.
His account reveals conditions worse than those described in PA interviews with more than a dozen detainees and their families earlier this year before resurgent Tigray forces recaptured much of the Tigray region in June. and that the Ethiopian army withdraws. His account could not be verified because the Ethiopian authorities did not allow the press to enter places of detention.
A member of the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that the group started visiting detainees in July, months after becoming aware of them, but she could not comment on the conditions in which they are being held.
What started as a political dispute between the current prime minister and regional leaders in Tigray who have dominated the Ethiopian government for nearly three decades has claimed thousands of lives since the fighting began in November.
Already, the war has spread to the Ethiopian regions of Amhara and Afar in recent weeks and has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Millions of people in the Tigray region remain cut off from the world and some have started to starve.
The Ethiopian government, on the defensive, last week called on all capable citizens to stop Tigray’s forces “once and for all,” while urging people to watch out for suspected collaborators. Although the government has repeatedly stated that it is targeting Tigrayian forces and not ordinary Tigrayan civilians, there are many testimonies to the contrary.
Ethiopian army spokesman Col. Getinet Adane did not respond to a request for comment on the detainee’s account or a question about why young children are being detained. Outside of the military, thousands of ordinary Tigrayans have been targeted.
In a new report released on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said Ethiopian authorities have carried out “arbitrary arrests and widespread enforced disappearances” of Tigrayans in the capital, Addis Ababa, since the war’s sharp turn in June, when Ethiopia has announced a unilateral ceasefire. Fire.
The rights group cited interviews with eight current and former detainees as well as relatives, witnesses and lawyers of 23 others whose fate is unknown.
Several people said they later saw relatives or civilian friends detained on state media broadcasts purporting to show captured Tigray forces.
“The government should immediately end its ethnic profiling, which has cast unwarranted suspicion on Tigrayans,” said Laetitia Bader, researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The report comes as U.S. Special Envoy Jeffrey Feltman visits Ethiopia as part of the latest effort to pressure the Tigray government and forces to immediately stop fighting.
It has emerged that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, will not meet the US special envoy, as he traveled to Turkey on Wednesday to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish president said his country would be ready to play the role of mediator in the tensions between Ethiopia and neighboring Sudan over a disputed border area.
Among the new detainees in Ethiopia is Hailu Kebede, an official from the opposition Salsay Woyane Tigray party who briefed diplomats on the war. His lawyer, Kirubel Gebregziabher, has confirmed that he is accused of participating in the war and of “misinforming” a deadly airstrike by the Ethiopian army on a crowded market in Tigray in June. His next court appearance was delayed until Thursday in what his supporters called an attempt to block any meeting with the US envoy.
While the war is said to be popular among Ethiopians, some have expressed concern over the treatment of Tigrayans in their communities.
Last week, a government employee, who described his ethnicity as Amhara and Oromo, cried as he told the PA that police and local authorities were browsing government housing in his town in Oromia region. and told the Tigray families that they had hours to empty.
“Without any legal paper, for no reason,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“They are Ethiopians,” he said. “This is horrible.… I am a patriotic person, but that does not mean that I support the government to do something unacceptable against the Tigrayans.
AXADLETM
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