Tigrayan forces in northern Ethiopia have started handing over heavy weapons in line with a peace deal to end a brutal civil war.

The African Union (AU) said it was “a step in the right direction” to end the two-year-long conflict.

Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have died from starvation, a lack of medical care, and fighting.

The conflict broke out following a massive fall-out between the regional and federal governments.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which controlled the region, of seizing military bases and launching an attempt to overthrow his government.

Tigrayan forces advanced towards the federal capital, Addis Ababa, in 2021, but were pushed back.

TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda said he hoped that the handover of weapons would “go a long way in expediting the full implementation of the agreement”.

Armoured tanks, rockets and mortars were among the weapons transferred to the federal army on Tuesday, the Ethiopian military’s Lt-Col Aleme Tadele was quoted by local media as saying.

A team of AU monitors confirmed that weapons had been given up, suggesting that the peace deal is sticking,

Basic services, like electricity and banking, are slowly resuming in Tigray after being cut off during the conflict.

A major sticking point is the presence of Eritrean troops in the area, as well as forces from Ethiopia’s Amhara region.

They intervened in the conflict on the side of the federal government, and the TPLF is demanding their withdrawal.

World Opinions – BBC News

L’article Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict: TPLF forces hand over weapons in peace move est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

The return of hostilities in the north of Ethiopia last month has devastated the country’s hard-earned progress towards a lasting peace. After almost two years of war and widespread destruction, the fragile hope that communities in Tigray, Afar and Amhara were grasping at has been stolen.

The international community now has an urgent choice to make, one it has so far shied away from. It can either pressure the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to end its violence and enter peace talks, or it can remain silent and embolden them to expand their offensive.

Fresh reports suggesting that the TPLF is now willing to join African Union (AU)-mediated talks are welcome. However, it is important that they are held to their word.

Since March this year, a government-led truce had held strong. The humanitarian ceasefire has allowed unprecedented aid to reach Tigray with more than 4,000 trucks delivering food, medicines and other vital supplies. The World Food Programme confirmed in late July that the immediate risk of famine had been averted.

Fighting in Tigray actually ended in July 2021. The conflict between then and the start of the humanitarian truce was concentrated in the neighbouring regions. The TPLF invaded and occupied towns and villages in Afar and Amhara, bringing untold misery to the Ethiopians living there. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented the TPLF’s use of rape as a weapon of war, killings of innocent civilians, looting of aid and the destruction of public infrastructure.

The TPLF was pushed back to the borders of Tigray and did – once it was clear its offensive had failed – reciprocate the government’s ceasefire. However, while the Ethiopian government and the Ethiopian people have used the truce to try and secure peace, the TPLF has been bolstering its forces. Reports from numerous sources have suggested the recruitment of child soldiers.

The fact that peace talks were under way makes it difficult to comprehend this latest round of violence. The government outlined its openness to undertake peace talks at “any time, anywhere” and did not insist on any preconditions. The AU’s role as a mediator was welcomed and steps were taken to demonstrate our intent, such as the release of TPLF prisoners.

The international community now has an urgent choice to make — one it has so far shied away from.

However, on August 22, just two days before this new outbreak of violence, the TPLF published comments rejecting the AU’s participation in talks and outlined a series of unrealistic conditions that would need to be met in order to even consider engaging.

For too long, it has been left to the Ethiopian government to try and bring the TPLF to the table. I believe the government has exhausted every possible approach. That is why it is now time for the international community to end its silence on the actions of the TPLF and call on its leadership to lay down arms and engage in the AU-led talks.

Time is of the essence. On the day of the first attack, the United Nations and World Food Programme issued an alarm over the theft of 12 tankers with 570,000 litres of fuel from a WFP warehouse in Mekelle by TPLF forces. As the WFP chief David Beasley stated, millions will starve if aid agencies can’t deliver food.

Another round of prolonged conflict is in nobody’s interest, especially the six million Ethiopians living in Tigray. The Ethiopian people want peace and to start rebuilding their lives and communities.

The Ethiopian government will always defend the country’s sovereignty and protect its citizens, but peace and unity are always better than war and division.

By Teferi Melesse Ethiopia’s ambassador to the UK – Aljazeera

L’article Ethiopia needs the world to hold Tigray’s TPLF to its word est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

More than 10,000 people have attended an anti-US rally in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, to denounce President Joe Biden’s policy on the conflict in the country’s northern region of Tigray.

Mr Biden had called for a ceasefire in the conflict, now in its seventh month.

At the rally, people held placards criticising the US while others applauded Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and China’s leader Xi Jinping.

The Ethiopian government has come under pressure over the conflict in Tigray.

Thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and at least two million others have been displaced.

The conflict began last November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an attack on forces loyal to the region’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), after they had overrun federal army bases.

Mr Abiy declared an end to the conflict after just a month, with the capture of Tigray’s capital, Mekelle.

But more than half a year later, Ethiopian troops and those from neighbouring Eritrea are still fighting TPLF forces.

Both sides in the conflict have been accused by human rights groups of committing crimes against civilians, including mass killings and rape.

Last week Mr Biden demanded an end to “large-scale human rights abuses”, including “widespread sexual violence” in Tigray. He also warned of a possibility of famine.

The US president also said he was “deeply concerned by the escalating violence and the hardening of regional and ethnic divisions in multiple parts of Ethiopia”.

In another development, the US State Department imposed restrictions on economic and security assistance to Ethiopia over the conflict, a move that angered Mr Abiy’s government.

The foreign ministry said the move was “regrettable” that could “seriously undermine” US-Ethiopia relations.

The Biden administration has also been pushing for the withdrawal of Eritrean troops who remain in Tigray despite Ethiopian authorities saying weeks ago that they will leave the country.

World Opinions News – bbc.com

L’article Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict: Tens of thousands attend anti-US rally est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

Confirmation of closure of Shimelba and Hitsats camps in embattled region comes after state-appointed human rights commission reports both sites were ‘destroyed’.

Slow social service restoration in #Ethiopia's Tigray increased H/R abuses.

– 108 rape cases reported in Mekelle, Adigrat, Ayder hospitals
– Severe food shortage
– Insecurity/lack of health service forcing long-distance travel@EthioHRC's brief report: https://t.co/FH13UQEIPU

— Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (@EthioHRC) February 11, 2021

Two refugee camps caught up in a brutal conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have been closed and their Eritrean residents relocated, authorities have confirmed, as the country’s state-appointed human rights commission reported that both sites had been “destroyed”.

The United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) has called for protection for the residents of the Shimelba and Hitsats camps, which it says were attacked by armed men who killed and abducted refugees. Last week, it said occupants – who often leave to escape mandatory, indefinite military service and repression or search for better opportunities out of one of the world’s most isolated states – had reported that Eritrean soldiers had forced some refugees back into Eritrea.

The alleged Eritrean military presence is one of the most contentious issues in the border region of Tigray, where Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has claimed victory over rebellious regional authorities in a conflict that began in early November.

Eritrea and Ethiopia have both denied that Eritrean troops operated on Ethiopian territory. The removed Tigrayan regional authorities and many residents accuse neighbouring Eritrea of intervening on the behalf of the central government in Addis Ababa. Reports from all sides are difficult to verify because communications to the region of some six million people remain patchy and the government tightly controls access.

Tesfahun Gobezay, director general of Ethiopia’s Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs, confirmed on Thursday the camp closures, first reported by the state news agency on Wednesday.

Slow social service restoration in #Ethiopia's Tigray increased H/R abuses.

– 108 rape cases reported in Mekelle, Adigrat, Ayder hospitals
– Severe food shortage
– Insecurity/lack of health service forcing long-distance travel@EthioHRC's brief report: https://t.co/FH13UQEIPU

— Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (@EthioHRC) February 11, 2021

n Thursday, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it has learned that Shimelba and Hitsats “had been destroyed and the refugees inside the camps dispersed”. Earlier this week, the Norwegian Refugee Council also said the destruction of its facilities at the camps was confirmed using satellite imagery.

“We condemn the criminal destruction of our buildings and facilities that we set up to serve refugees in great need,” Jan Egeland, NRC’s secretary-general, said in a statement. “This rampage of burning and looting by armed men deepens an already dire crisis for millions of people.”

We condemn the criminal destruction of our buildings and facilities that we set up to serve refugees in Tigray, Ethiopia.

This burning and looting rampage by armed men deepens an already dire crisis for millions of people. #NotATarget https://t.co/SIR2mSu7N8

— Jan Egeland (@NRC_Egeland) February 8, 2021

But Tesfahun told Reuters news agency the description of destruction was an “overstatement”.

“There was a lot of fighting in those areas, not in the camps but in those areas where the camps are located,” he said. “Refugees didn’t get the necessary services quickly and also they panicked due to the firing happening around the camps. So they left the camps, and Ethiopian defence forces sheltered them and escorted them to the nearest towns of Tigray,” he said.

He said 5,300 refugees had gone to two other refugee camps in Tigray. Others were now in Tigray towns or the capital, Addis Ababa.

Chris Melzer, a UNHCR spokesman, said the agency concurred with the conclusion that the camps were now unsafe, “considering the reports of attacks on Hitsats and Shimelba, the reports of abductions, destruction, looting, and killing of humanitarian staff”. Decisions to relocate must be voluntary and movements must be organised in safety and dignity, he said.

Some 96,000 Eritrean refugees were living in four camps in Tigray before the conflict erupted in November. The EHRC said on Thursday there are currently “between 26,000 and 28,000 Eritrean refugees sheltered in Mai Aini and Adi Harush refugee camps”..

AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

L’article Ethiopia shuts two Tigray camps housing Eritrean refugees est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

Gen. Birhanu Jula made the comment on the state broadcaster Saturday.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a separate statement, “We have entered Mekele without innocent civilians being targets.”

Tigray TV earlier Saturday reported that the city was being “heavily bombarded.”

With communications cut to the Tigray region, it is difficult to verify claims by the warring sides as Ethiopia’s government pursues the Tigray regional leaders. Each government regards the other as illegal.

Millions of civilians have been affected as the fighting has gone on for nearly a month.

World Opinions News – Time.com

L’article Ethiopia Says Its Military Now Controls the Tigray Capital est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.