NAIROBI, Kenya – Somali troops training in Eritrea took part in the Tigray War that left thousands dead and displaced tens of thousands, according to a special UN human rights report, which could further complicate the crisis in Ethiopia.
From November 2020, the Ethiopian National Defense Forces [ENDF] and their Eritrean counterparts pitched tents in the Tigray region in pursuit of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray [TPLF] combatants, but numerous reports have linked them to gross human rights violations.
The operation was triggered by an alleged TPLF attack on Northern Command, which resulted in the deaths of ENDF soldiers in addition to the destruction of heavy weapons. But despite calls for a ceasefire, troops continued to ransack several towns in Tigray, killing dozens of innocent civilians.
However, it is the impending UN report involving Somali soldiers that could give the crisis a new dimension, given frequent denials by administrations in Mogadishu and Asmara, which have ruled out the involvement of interns from the SNA in the war.
Earlier this year, Axadlepublished reports on the involvement of Somali soldiers in the Tigray conflict where some of them were reported dead, but the authorities in Mogadishu denied the allegations, although they admitted that hundreds of soldiers were still training in Eritrea.
Excerpts from the report in Garowe Online’s possession indicate that the UN found concrete evidence of Somali soldiers engaged in the Tigray War, noting that they were followed by those in Eritrea, whose presence in Tigray sparked attacks. international reprisals against Addis Ababa and Asmara.
Somali soldiers in Axum
Although the report does not give the exact number of Somali soldiers operating in Tigray, it does indicate that they were moved from military camps and crossed into Tigray. In addition, the report notes, troops were present during the Aksum genocide which left hundreds dead.
The city of Aksum is considered a sacred shrine in northern Tigray in Ethiopia. Multiple reports published by various rights groups and international media revealed massacres that targeted worshipers in the city in November last year, mostly innocent children and women.
“The Special Rapporteur has also received information and reports that Somali troops have been moved from military training camps in Eritrea to the front line in Tigray where they accompanied Eritrean troops as they crossed the Ethiopian border. . Somali soldiers were also reported to be around Aksum, ”part of the report read.
The massacre lasted three weeks and it was at this point that information leaked about the presence of Somali and Eritrean soldiers in Tigray. Ethiopia initially denied reports to admit the presence of Eritrean troops, which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promised to withdraw, but has yet to keep his promise.
Outside of Aksum, the soldiers were seen in Mekele, the regional administrative capital of the Tigray region which would be captured months later. In Somalia, the parents of the soldiers have thronged the streets to ask where they are, but the government has assured them of their safety.
A few weeks ago, the parents returned to the streets of Mogadishu to ask for the training to take place in Eritrea but were dispersed by the security forces. Conflicting reports indicate that hundreds of Somali soldiers may have died during the war while others claim only two died during training.
Although the Somali government denies this information, the UN report acknowledges the efforts of the parliamentary foreign affairs and defense committees which have reportedly recommended that President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo send a fact-finding mission to Eritrea on the matter.
“The Special Rapporteur has been informed that the parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committees have informed the head of state to send a fact-finding mission to Asmara for an investigation,” notes the report, which will be published in the coming weeks.
Abiy Ahmed has often pledged to withdraw Eritrean troops from the Tigray region, but the conflict seems far from over. On Sunday, he was quoted as saying he had identified “traitors,” something which is closely linked to his endless feud with the TPLF, a party that was part of the defunct ruling coalition that ruled Ethiopia in from 1989 before changing the name to the Prosperity Party in 2020.
A number of TPLF associates have been arrested or executed in controversial circumstances and three others were extradited from Djibouti last week to stand trial in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa accuses the TPLF of targeting ENDF troops in their clandestine missions.
Call it the Tigray genocide
Goitom Aregawi, also known as activist Ztseat, who is a doctor at Mekelle University Hospital and president of civil society Seb-Hidari, Tigray, beat the two leaders, accusing them of organizing the war, which left thousands dead despite Ethiopia’s denials.
In an opinion written by the doctor, the first eyewitness to the war on the elephant, he noted that many people are starving to death due to the blockades imposed by Ethiopian and Eritrean troops operating in the breakaway region of Ethiopia.
“But most of Tigray remains inaccessible to foreigners and communications are severely restricted, so the vast majority of these crimes remain unknown and undocumented,” he said. “As a doctor from Tigray who served in the regional capital of Mekelle during the first four months of the genocide before fleeing my country a month ago, I saw with my own eyes this violence unfolding and I bears witness to both personal and professional. ”
According to him, the mass murder is instigated by Abiy Ahmed, an Oromia who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, and Afwerki, a strongman from the Horn of Africa, who has yet to face competitive elections since 1993. Eritrea has traditionally held a grudge against the Tigray region, which is historic.
The doctor says Afwerki and Abiy Ahmed wish to exterminate the Tigrayan people through starvation, which could trigger a serious humanitarian crisis in the country. Tigray is located in northern Ethiopia and borders Eritrea.
“Mass murder is not enough for the brains of the atrocities in Tigray, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki,” he said. “Their armed forces and allied militias seek to exterminate the Tigrayan people by causing massive famine; they burn crops and seeds, cut down trees, destroy agricultural tools, kill animals and destroy small dams and irrigation canals, to cripple the agricultural sector.
Reports from United Nations agencies and the interim administration of Tigray state that more than 2.3 million people in the region are internally displaced and that 5.2 million people are in urgent need of assistance. humanitarian aid. According to UNICEF, the number of severely malnourished children in Tigray has increased by nearly 90 percent over the past week.
Countless numbers of people have already starved to death. But the Ethiopian government, the Eritrean army and Amhara forces are determined to block humanitarian efforts, preventing and obstructing the access of aid agencies. At least eight aid workers have been killed in the past six months. Coordinated ethnicity
US President Joe Biden issued a bold statement on the raging crisis in Ethiopia, warning of escalating violence and deepening regional and ethnic divisions, including “large-scale human rights violations” and the “generalized sexual violence” taking place in Tigray. But he stopped before calling the appalling atrocities in Tigray by their real name: genocide, noted Goitom Aregawi.
“President Biden and other world leaders have a moral and legal duty to call this Tigray disease by its real name, genocide, and to identify and prosecute those ultimately responsible for this most heinous crime – Abiy Ahmed and Isaias Afwerki. And then to act with ruthless efficiency and determination to end the genocide, ”he said.
In an alert, the United Nations agency for sexual and reproductive health, UNFPA, said it was aware of “gross violations,” including gender-based violence in the war-torn north.
“The situation of women and adolescent girls in Tigray and in the border areas of Amhara and Afar remains dire,” said UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem. “We are seeing alarming levels of sexual violence and thousands of women do not have access to health and protection services.
Abiy Ahmed has often denied allegations that thousands of people were killed in Tigray, arguing that troops were targeting TPLF fighters in the country. But on several occasions he admitted Eritrean troops were in the country and even vowed to bring them out, a promise he has reportedly yet to keep.
AXADLETM
