Civil War Threat in Ethiopia

[eatmorecheese]

I think that's exactly what this is.

 

[bimble]

Remember I said there was worse to come out? Well, here it is:

Rape as a weapon of war. A nice story to wake up to on International Women's Day:

Spoiler: This one had to go behind a spoiler, because of the pull quote (is that what you call it?) in the link.

Gender Based Violence in Tigray

08 March 2021 Special Briefing No. 3 Situation Report EEPA HORN “The day before yesterday, a woman in her 40s was found dead on the road to her home. She was found with her hands tied, injured to h…

martinplaut.com

(don't read that if someone in your family has ever been affected by gender based violence, by the way).

Yes. I have just read something from a women’s organisation in Ethiopia. I can’t actually get my head round what I just read at all. Don't know how to do the rest of today having read it. They added a useless UN statement from January which has led to nothing.

 

[petee]

Tigrayan forces claim to capture new town of Kombolcha

Tigrayan fighters make new advance southwards as Ethiopian troops battle to secure the strategic city of Dessie.

www.aljazeera.com

The capture of Kombolcha would be a strategic gain for the Tigrayan fighters against the Ethiopian military and its allies, who are trying to dislodge the Tigrayans from the Amhara region.

The large town is about 380km (235 miles) from the capital, Addis Ababa, and is the furthest south in Amhara that the TPLF has reached since pushing into the region in July. It suggested the TPLF was heading closer to the Ethiopian capital.

 

[petee]

Crackdown Sweeps Ethiopia’s Capital as War Draws Near

Government forces were going to door to door in the Ethiopian capital, rounding up ethnic Tigrayans, members of the same ethnic group as the rebels closing in.

www.nytimes.com

I'm paywalled, so I can't give a pullquote.

 

[teqniq]

Try this:

Crackdown Sweeps Ethiopia’s Capital as War Draws Near

 

[petee]

Try this:

Crackdown Sweeps Ethiopia’s Capital as War Draws Near

thanks!

 

[yield]

Good piece by War Nerd

The War Nerd: The Tigray-Ethiopia War | naked capitalism

The latest episode of the Ethiopian long war, which flared when the Ethiopian and Eritrean armies tried to sandwich Tigray between them in November 2020.

www.nakedcapitalism.com

 

[petee]

Good piece by War Nerd

The War Nerd: The Tigray-Ethiopia War | naked capitalism

The latest episode of the Ethiopian long war, which flared when the Ethiopian and Eritrean armies tried to sandwich Tigray between them in November 2020.

www.nakedcapitalism.com

very informative, thanks
(but that writer's got to cut the smarm)

 

[yield]

How armed drones may have helped turn the tide in Ethiopia’s war
10 Dec 2021
Cheap and efficient drones are increasingly becoming decisive weapons in modern conflicts.

Ethiopia’s 13-month war has seen yet another dramatic turn as the federal government’s counteroffensive against fighters from the northern Tigray region has made substantial advances, reversing the spectacular gains made recently by the Tigrayan forces in their push southwards.

State media said this week the country’s “joint gallant security forces” had retaken the strategic towns of Dessie and Kombolcha, the latest in a series of battleground victories since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said last month he would head to the front line and urged Ethiopians to join the fight.

 

[petee]

just saw a segment on DW news that Addis has pushed back successfully on parts of Tigray.
i didn't like the framing, "Ethiopia" has "reclaimed" parts of Tigray, as if the nation state were the natural unit.

 

[ska invita]

Almost 40% of Tigrayans suffer ‘extreme lack of food’, WFP warns

Agency sounds alarm about record 9 million people in need of food aid across northern Ethiopia’s 3 conflict-hit regions.

www.aljazeera.com

UN agency sounds alarm about a record nine million people in need of food aid across all three conflict-hit regions of northern Ethiopia.

 

[yield]

First food aid for 100 days enters Tigray under ‘humanitarian truce’
01/04/2022

A convoy of aid trucks has arrived in Tigray, the first emergency food supplies to reach the besieged region of northern Ethiopia by road for more than 100 days.

Two weeks after Abiy Ahmed’s government declared an immediate “humanitarian truce” with rebel Tigrayan forces to allow aid in, the World Food Programme said it had received the assurances it needed to dispatch 20 trucks containing vital supplies of food.

Since mid-December no aid has reached Tigray on the land route from Semera, in neighbouring Afar, to Mekelle, the capital of Tigray. In a video posted online earlier on Friday, WFP said the convoy contained 500 metric tons of food and nutrition supplies “for communities on the edge of starvation”.

 

[ska invita]

a lot of war crimes in this conflict - this happened last week - deliberate

Ethiopia: Airstrike on Camp for Displaced Likely War Crime

An Ethiopian government airstrike hit a school compound hosting thousands of displaced Tigrayans in northwestern Tigray, on January 7, 2022, Human Rights Watch said today. An apparent armed drone dropped three bombs on the compound in the town of Dedebit, killing at least 57 civilians and...

www.hrw.org

trust the Saudis to be cunts

Ethiopia: Returned Tigrayans Detained, Abused

Ethiopian authorities have arbitrarily detained, mistreated, and forcibly disappeared thousands of ethnic Tigrayans recently deported from Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch said today. Saudi Arabia should stop holding Tigrayans in abhorrent conditions and deporting them to Ethiopia, and instead...

www.hrw.org

a terrible toll....this is from wiki:

Casualties and losses
3,073 killed, 4,473 injured, 8,000 captured (rebel claim)[33][34] 2 Mig-23 lost[35][36] 2 Mi-35 lost[37][38][39] 1 C-130 lost[40] Unknown	5,600 killed, 2,300 injured, 2,000 captured (Ethiopian military claim)[41]
Total civilian casualties are disputed 12,478 – 50,000 civilians killed[42] 3 UN guards and 5 aid workers killed[43] ~2,500,000 internally displaced[44][45][46] 61,000 refugees[47] 4,500,000 in need of aid[48] 20,000 missing[49] Total Deaths: 500,000 (Including famine victims, per Ghent University)[50][51]

 

[teqniq]

New report confirms war crimes and crimes against humanity:

Ethiopia: Crimes Against Humanity in Western Tigray Zone

Amhara regional security forces and civilian authorities in Ethiopia’s Western Tigray Zone have committed widespread abuses against Tigrayans since November 2020 that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

www.hrw.org

 

[ska invita]

New report confirms war crimes and crimes against humanity:

Ethiopia: Crimes Against Humanity in Western Tigray Zone

Amhara regional security forces and civilian authorities in Ethiopia’s Western Tigray Zone have committed widespread abuses against Tigrayans since November 2020 that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

www.hrw.org

there seems to be no international pressure regarding this ethnic cleansing war

 

[petee]

there seems to be no international pressure regarding this ethnic cleansing war

indeed there doesn't.

 

[planetgeli]

there seems to be no international pressure regarding this ethnic cleansing war

Almost like morality seems to have a geopolitical bent.

 

[ska invita]

Yield posted this last year, but even if any of that is effectively true it doesn't cost our shitty journalist class to pipe up

Reasons the international community is unable to end the war in Tigray
21 April, 2021



Not sure of the source? Seems like a decent overview?

 

[Dystopiary]

Guardian have reported this online today. Had to look for it though; it should be on the main page.

Tigray has been the scene of ‘ethnic cleansing’, say human rights groups

 

[petee]

it never ends: now oromia

As many as 320 dead in Ethiopia gun attack, witnesses suggest

Witnesses say victims of massacre in country’s western Oromia region were ethnic Amharas – a minority in the area

www.theguardian.com

The suspected death toll in an attack by gunmen in Ethiopia’s western Oromia region has risen, with new witness testimony suggesting that between 260 and 320 civilians were killed on Saturday.

Reports of the massacre surfaced on Sunday, as survivors described one of the deadliest such incidents for several years in Ethiopia.

 

[Dystopiary]

There's been an ongoing hunger strike opposite Downing Street to protest massacre of Amhara people.

On 18th June, over 400 Amhara people in Oromia region of Ethiopia were murdered, many others injured. This should be big news.

Amnesty International:

“These horrific killings in Tole, allegedly at the hands of the Oromo Liberation Army, reveal its perpetrators’ utter disregard for human life. This callous massacre, which also saw women and children lose their lives, must be independently and effectively investigated,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.

“Ethiopian authorities must leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the perpetrators of these killings are brought to justice in fair trials.”

The organization interviewed 10 people, including five eyewitnesses as well as survivors, victims’ family members and a local official. Interviewees consistently recounted summary killings, burning of homes and looting. Satellite imagery analysis by the organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab also corroborates claims that fires erupted in villages in Tole Kebele on 18 June.

 

[yield]

Ten killed in air strikes on capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region - hospital

NAIROBI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - A second day of air strikes against the capital of Ethiopia's northern Tigray region killed 10 people on Wednesday, hospital officials said, while local forces accused troops from neighbouring Eritrea of again joining the war against them.

Ethiopia's government, which has been fighting the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) since late 2020, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the airstrikes, fighting, or presence of Eritrean troops.

Wednesday's reported drone strikes in Mekelle followed a TPLF ceasefire offer at the weekend.

Among the casualties in Mekelle were a father killed in the second strike and his son, a doctor, wounded when tending victims, said Fasika Amdeslasie, a surgeon at Mekelle's Ayder Referral Hospital.

Some 13 people were wounded.

 

[teqniq]

Thing have taken a turn from bad to worse in Tigray:

Eritrea accused of starting offensive on Ethiopia's Tigray

 

[elbows]

Its appearing in the news more and more at the moment.

Ethiopia's Tigray conflict: Civilian bloodbath warning as offensive escalates

Cities in Tigray are reportedly being carpet bombed as food and medical supplies are running out.

www.bbc.co.uk

Ethiopia says it will seize airports in rebel-held Tigray region

Addis Ababa says it will also take over other key infrastructure in the northern region.

www.aljazeera.com

Ethiopian army captures city from Tigray forces -sources

Ethiopian government forces and their allies on Monday captured Shire, one of the biggest cities in the northern region of Tigray, from regional forces they have been battling on and off since late 2020, two diplomatic and humanitarian sources said.

www.reuters.com

 

[ska invita]

Its appearing in the news more and more at the moment.

Ethiopia's Tigray conflict: Civilian bloodbath warning as offensive escalates

Cities in Tigray are reportedly being carpet bombed as food and medical supplies are running out.

www.bbc.co.uk

Ethiopia says it will seize airports in rebel-held Tigray region

Addis Ababa says it will also take over other key infrastructure in the northern region.

www.aljazeera.com

Ethiopian army captures city from Tigray forces -sources

Ethiopian government forces and their allies on Monday captured Shire, one of the biggest cities in the northern region of Tigray, from regional forces they have been battling on and off since late 2020, two diplomatic and humanitarian sources said.

www.reuters.com

Barely though....amazing how it's ignored from prime time spotlight

 

[teqniq]

Barely though....amazing how it's ignored from prime time spotlight

Not so amazing really. Shamefully imo it's because you know, brown people. Who somehow seem to matter less than the rest of us.

 

[Idris2002]

What I'm hearing is that there is diplomatic work behind the scenes, but it's proving ineffective. There was supposed to be an intervention by Ramaphosa (SA Prez) and Kenyatta (ex-Prez of Kenya) but it was a damp squib. . .

 

[teqniq]

It would appear that a truce has been signed but HRW has concerns:

Ethiopia: Truce Needs Robust Rights Monitoring

The “cessation of hostilities” agreement between Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigrayan authorities announced on November 2, 2022 provides a crucial opportunity for immediate and rigorous international monitoring to avert further atrocities and a humanitarian catastrophe.

www.hrw.org

 

[JimW]

Bit on Abiy's messianic Pentecostalism and prosperity doctrine along with some other religious aspects of the various conflicts: The Religious Zealot Presiding Over Ethiopia's Five Conflicts

 

[planetgeli]

With regard to Tigray, Eritrea, and several other refugees, this is really grim. The report kind of gets worse the more you read.

‘I saw many bodies’: having escaped one conflict, Tigray refugees face new terrors

Living in UN camps in a rapidly collapsing Sudan, refugees from Ethiopia are being kidnapped, taken across the Sahara, and tortured for ransom – in a brutal, multimillion-dollar industry

www.theguardian.com