"...Religion is power. Every village has a church. The church is the centre of the community. Remove the church and the community will be left without leaders," he said.
"The Eritreans believe if they kill the priests and leaders, they can easily manipulate the people. So wherever they go, if they see a priest they will kill him."
https://www.christiantoday.com/article/ ... 136450.htm
Re: OMG
He looks so cute tho, with that neck scarf on his lying head! 
Aba wrote: ↑02 Mar 2021, 17:45"...Religion is power. Every village has a church. The church is the centre of the community. Remove the church and the community will be left without leaders," he said.
"The Eritreans believe if they kill the priests and leaders, they can easily manipulate the people. So wherever they go, if they see a priest they will kill him."
https://www.christiantoday.com/article/ ... 136450.htm
Re: OMG
I disagree with this statement. What kind of Christianity are you referring to? An imported cult with Western roasted wheat and poor grade ( Cholesterol powered) food oil or the religion of the ancestors? As far as I know, Eritrea not letting any alien imported faith and preserving its indigenous faith should be appreciated. If look Ethiopia, the last 30 years made the country as a water point for many Western based cults and the indingpus Orthodox faith was labeled as enemy along with Amhara people. Even now, the world is witnessing murders of TPLF are coming as priests and monks hiding in Churches - this is desecration. For instance, for the last 30 years ግበረ፡ሶዶም took root in Tigray because of infiltration of Western agents such as TPLF. So, I don't see any moral ground for those wolves in the sheep skin to denounce Eritrea. In my opinion, almost all African countries in this modern time are colonized by the West and China, but only Eritrea remained uncolonized. They are voluntarily colonized because they live on foreign aid and donations. They are colonized for charity. You don't accept charity does not mean you are not Christian. It is good to give than receive. The TPLF sold Ethiopians honor, like Esau did to Jacob, to foreigners for sacks of roasted wheat and aid money.
Re: OMG
"Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday spoke with Ethiopia's prime minister to express concerns over escalating violence and human rights violations in the country's Tigray region and offer U.S. assistance to help resolve the conflict.
Blinken urged Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed "to take immediate, concrete steps to protect civilians, including refugees, and to prevent further violence," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. "Secretary Blinken also asked that the Government of Ethiopia work with the international community to facilitate independent, international, and credible investigations into reported human rights abuses and violations and to hold those responsible accountable."
The secretary also reiterated calls for the immediate withdrawal from Tigray of Eritrean forces and forces from the region of Amhara in northwest Ethiopia, according to Price."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.co ... s-in%3famp
Blinken urged Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed "to take immediate, concrete steps to protect civilians, including refugees, and to prevent further violence," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. "Secretary Blinken also asked that the Government of Ethiopia work with the international community to facilitate independent, international, and credible investigations into reported human rights abuses and violations and to hold those responsible accountable."
The secretary also reiterated calls for the immediate withdrawal from Tigray of Eritrean forces and forces from the region of Amhara in northwest Ethiopia, according to Price."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.co ... s-in%3famp
Re: OMG
It would be great if Antony Blinken visit Tigary province by himself - if he has genuine interest. But he can't instruct how Ethiopia should do her own business. Ethiopia did not benefit much from such kind of advice in the past, e.ge people like Herman Cohen. Wise Tigres should listen to the advice of Ethiopians - fool Debretsion and all TPLF thugs were bragging that Egypt, Sudan, etc were to jump in and help them if a fight broke, but could not save them. They should have behaved and listened to Ethiopians. Don't wire your ears for false promise. Ethiopia's problem is only solvable by Ethiopians - and it is solved, at least TPLF is gone, next should be Ethnic federation. Anyone making false promises to you drinking Starbucks coffee will not help you - it will drive you down the hill to hell.
Re: OMG
Then, why are Eritrean troops committing crimes against humanity in Ethiopia?Abere wrote: ↑02 Mar 2021, 18:42It would be great if Antony Blinken visit Tigary province by himself - if he has genuine interest. But he can't instruct how Ethiopia should do her own business. Ethiopia did not benefit much from such kind of advice in the past, e.ge people like Herman Cohen. Wise Tigres should listen to the advice of Ethiopians - fool Debretsion and all TPLF thugs were bragging that Egypt, Sudan, etc were to jump in and help them if a fight broke, but could not save them. They should have behaved and listened to Ethiopians. Don't wire your ears for false promise. Ethiopia's problem is only solvable by Ethiopians - and it is solved, at least TPLF is gone, next should be Ethnic federation. Anyone making false promises to you drinking Starbucks coffee will not help you - it will drive you down the hill to hell.
"...The secretary also reiterated calls for the immediate withdrawal from Tigray of Eritrean forces and forces from the region of Amhara in northwest Ethiopia, according to Price.""
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.co ... s-in%3famp
Re: OMG
Here is the Fact
የወያኔዎች የአክሱም የ"700" ሰዎች ተገደሉ የሚለው የወያኔዎች የፈጠራ የውሸት ፕሮፖጋንዳ መሆኑን የአክሱም ተወላጆች አጋለጡ!!
Getachew Reda
ሕዳር 22 ለ23 አጥቢያ አክሱም ውስጥ የሆነው እውነተኛ ዘገባ እነሆ!
ትርጉም
ጌታቸው ረዳ
(Ethiopian Semay)
የካቲት 23/2013 March 2/2021
የዘገባው ባለቤት ከላይ ያለው በፎቶው የሚታየው አክሱማዊ ወጣት ነው። ተርጓሚውም (እኔም/አክሱማዊ) እንዲሁ! ዘገባው ከትግርኛ ወደ አማርኛ የተተረጎመ እውነተኛ ሰነድ። እውነተኛ ያልኩበት ምክንያትም በራሴ መንገድም በቅርቡ የተቻለኝን ያህል ማጣራት ሳደርግ ተመሳሳይነት ስላገኘሁበት ነው።
ባለፉት ሳምንታት አክሱም ውስጥ የዘር ጭፍጨፋ ተካሂዶ ወደ 700 የሚያክል አክሱማዊ ኗሪ እንደተጨፈጨፉ የሃሰት ዜና ሲሰራጭ መሰንበቱ ይታወቃል። ታዲያ ይህንን ወሸት በመቃወም እላይ/ከሥር በፎቶግራፉ ላይ የምታዩት አክሱማዊ የሆነ የወያኔ ተከታይ ወጣት እውነቱን በራሱ “የማጣራት ሂደት” (ኢንቬሰቲጌሽን) ያደረገውን በዩቱብ ያስተላለፈው የድምጽ እና የምስል (አውድዮ-ቪዲዮ) የትግርኛ ዘገባው ወደ አማርኛ ተርጉሜ አቀርብላችሗለሁ።
ይህ ወጣት ያጣራው ምንጮቹ በቅርብ የሚያውቃቸው ታማኞች ያለቸውን እና እንዲሁም ሁኔታው ተከሰተ በታበለው ሰሞን ወደ ሱዳን ተሰድደው እራሱ አነጋግሮ ያገኘውን ዘገባ እንዲህ ሲል ይጀምራል።
“እንደሚታወቀው በተለያዩ የውስጥና የውጭ አገር ዜና ማዕከሎች በተለይም ደግሞ “ለሕዝባችን መከታ እንሁን” የሚለው ቡድን እና የዜና ማሰራጫ ማዕከል ሲሰራጭ የነበረው ከእውነት የራቀ አሳሳች ዜና ሲያሰራጭ እንደነበር ይታወሳል። ይህ ውሸት እጅግ ተጋንኖ በመቅረቡ ለማመን ስለከበደኝ እውነት መሆኑን አለመሆኑን ለማጣራት የበኩሌን ምርመራ ለማድረግ ወስኜ ያገኘሁት የማጣራት ማስረጃ ከነዚህ የሓሰት አሰራጪዎች እጅግ የራቀ ሆኖ ስላገኘሁት እነሆ ዛሬ እውነቱን ማቅረብ አለብኝ ብየ እነሆ እውነቱን እንድታውቁት ይሁን….”
"... ጠላቶቻችን በሕዝባችን ላይ እያደረጉት ያለውን ግፍ እቃወማለሁ። ሆኖም እኛ ሁላችንም ስንቃወም ውሸቱን ሳይሆን እውነቱን ብቻ በመናገር ብቻ ነው የጠላትን ግፍ ማጋለጥ የምንችለው። ይህ የውሸት ዘገባ ሕዝብቻን የሕሊና ሽብርና ፍርሃት እንዲያድረበት ማድረግ ነው። ስለሆነም ጠላቶች ከሚያደርሱብን ግፍ በላይ “ውሸትን በማሰራጭት በሕዝባችን ላይ ወንጀል መፈጸም አድረጌ እቆጥረዋለሁ። ስለዚህ ውሸትን ከማሰራጨት እንቆጠብ”
ሲል ምክሩን ከለገሰ በሗላ ሕዳር ወር 22 ወደ 23 አጥቢያ 2013 ዓ.ም ውስጥ አክሱም ከተማ ውስጥ ምን ተከሰተ? የሚለውን ዘገባው እንዲህ ያቀርበዋል።
“የ ‘ፒ ፒ’ ወታደሮች ሽሬን አልፈው ወደ አክሱም ከተማ የገቡበት “ኮንክሪት” (ተጨባጭ) ቀን ባጣራሁት መረጃ መሰረት ቀንዋ ሕዳር 9 ነች። ከሕዳር 9 እስከ ሕዳር 21 ማለትም ሕዳር ጽዮን እስክያልፍ ድረስ በነዚህ 10 ወይንም 11 ቀናት ውስጥ ሰላም ሆኖ ምንም የተፈጸመ ነገር አልነበረም። ወታደሮቹ አክሱም ብዙም ሳይቆዩ አንድ ሁለት ሦስት የሚሆኑ ሁኔታውን የሚታዘቡ ወታደራዊ "ፓትሮሎች" ከተማዋ ውስጥ ትተው ሕዝቡን ባንኮቻችሁ ክፈቱ ንግዳችሁም ከፍታችሁ በሰላም ነግዱ ብለዋቸው ወታደሮቹ ወድያውኑ ወደ ዓድዋ ነው ያቀኑት። ሕዳር 22 ወደ ሕዳር 23 አጥቢያ ሌሊት ከተማዋ ውስጥ የነበሩ ጥቂት የወያኔ ታጣቂ ምሊሺያዎችና ከከተማዋ አፋፍ ውጭ አድፍጠው የነበሩ በወያኔ ሲሰለጥኑ የነበሩ የአክሱም ወጣቶች በመቀናጀት በከተማዋ የነበሩ እነዚያ ከተማዋን ለመቆጣጠር ከጫፍ ወደ ጫፍ እዚህም እዚያም እያሉ በፓትሮል ሲዘዋወሩ በነበሩት እነዚያ ሁለት ሦስት መኪና ሲዘዋወሩ የነበሩ ፓትሮል ወታደሮች ላይ በሚያመቻቸው ቦታ እየጠበቁ ደፈጣ ቆይተው በድንገት ሳይታሰብ ጥቃት ፈሙባቸው። 30 የሚሆኑ ወታደሮች ተገደሉ።
ክስተቱ እንደተፈጸመ ዕርዳታ ተጠይቆ ከዓድዋ ወደ 8 የሚሆኑ ወታደራዊ ኡራል መኪኖች ተጭነው ወታደሮች ወደ አክሱም ገስግሰው ገቡ (አንባቢዎች ከአክሱም ወደ ዓድዋ ርቀቱን ለማታወቁት 25 ኪ.ሜ ርቀት ነው) ።
እነዚህን ለማደን (ሃንት) ለማድረግ በተደረገው የቶክስ ልውውጥ 7 ወይንም 8 ወጣቶች እና ወደ 8 የሚሆኑ ሚሊሺያ ተዋጊዎች ተገድለዋል። በጠቅላላ የሞቱት 16 ናቸው። የሆነው ይህ ነው። ጭፍጨፋ ምናምን የሚባለው ከዕውነታው አይሄድም።በነገራችን ላይ ማወቅ ያለብን ወታደሮቹም ለራሳቸው “ፓብሊሲቲ” ሲሉ እንዲህ ያለ የዘር ጭፍጫፋ አያደርጉም።”
ካለ በሗላ አንድ የሚገርም ክስተት አብሮ የተነገረው እንዲህ ይላል።
“አብሮም አንድ ክስተት ተከሰተ። አክሱም ከተማ የነበሩ የሕግ ታሳሪዎች ተፈትተው ከተማዋ ውስጥ ተለቅቀው ስለነበሩ፤ ሁኔታውን በማየት የባንክ ዘረፋ ተከሰተ። ዘረፋ የተፈጸመባቸው ባንኮች መስተዋቶች እና መዝጊያ በሮቻቸውን በመሰባበር ዘረፋ ፈጸሙ። ዘረፋ ከተፈጸመባቸው ባንኮች ውስጥ ኮመርሻል ባንክ (ቅድስት ማርያም ሆስፒታል አጠገብ ያለው ባንክ) ሁለተኛው አፍሪካ ሆቴል አጠገብ የሚገኘው ባንክ፤ ሦስተኛው “ፀሓይ በርቂ” የተባለው ሦስተኛው ላይ በነዚህ ቅርንጫፎች ዘረፋ ሲፈጸምባቸው በሌሎች ባንኮች ዘረፋ አልተፈፀጸመም። በዝርፊያው ውስጥ ሕዝቡ እራሱ ዘራፊዎቹን ታግሎ ከሸሸጉበት እየተጠቆሙ ወደ 280,000 (ሁለት መቶ ሰማንያ ሺሕ) ብር የሚሆን ብር በማስያዝ ባንኮቹ እስኪረጋጉ ድረስ ለአክሱም ጽዮን ቀሳውስት ማሕበር በአደራ እንዲቀመጥ አድርገዋል።”
በማለት ሲያጠቃልል፡ እንዲህ ያጠቃልላል፡
“የሆነው ይህ ነው። “ታቦት ለመቀማት 700 ቀሳውስትና ሕዝብ ተጨፈጨፈ የሚባለው ውሸት ሁለተኛ መደገም የለበትም። እንዲያውም አክሱም ቤተክርስትያን አካባቢም ሆነ ከቤተክርስትያኑ ራቅ ያሉ አካባቢዎች ቅጥር ግቢዎች ምንም የተፈጸም ግድያ የለም። ቶክሱ የተለዋወጡብት ቦታ ከቤተክርስትያኑ በበጣም አጅግ ሩቅ ነው።…” ሲል ያጣራውን እውነታ አጋርቶናል። እኔም ተርጉሜ አቅርቤላችሗለሁ። ይህ ጠቃሚ ሰነድ ሼር የመድረጉ የናንተ ድርሻ ነው።
አመሰግናለሁ።
ጌታቸው ረዳ (Ethiopian Semay)
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Re: OMG
Dear Aba: Tigraiy wins if it upholds the truth--Are Eritrean troops committing crimes...in Ethiopia?
In a way, I don't blame you to get upset by any set of news that informs you and others that Eritrean troops are committing crimes in Tigraiy, Etiyopiya. I would be, too, if it were true. But is everything we are told true?
You may not pay enough attention to the fact that there are some people who deliberately mislead others for their own purposes. As a result, you and others may tend to accept such horrible news at face value, as if it is genuine truth, without questioning if the source of the news intends to disseminate genuine or deceitful news.
Therefore, before you ask "Then, why are Eritrean troops committing crimes against humanity in Ethiopia?" you've got to get a definite factual answer to the question: " are Eritrean troops committing crimes against humanity in Ethiopia?" Is the news true, and/or are the sources credible? If you are serious about facts, you can't afford to believe any news they feed you as true.
All people are not going to feed you information that are all true at all times? Unless you are an eyewitness yourself, you need to confirm/re-confirm the truthfulness of any news you received. How do you classify the "news" you've received regarding Eritrean crimes in Tigraiy, Etiyopiya? Is the news you received TRUE or FALSE or UNCONFIRMED? I suggest that you take it as a process of confirmation in progress.
For instance check out the next links for a set of information different than what you think you know.
1. "TPLF wearing Eritrean military uniforms, rape women and looting public properties 2021"
https://www.65tes-habeshamusic.com/tplf ... -uniforms/
2. "ኣብ መሬት ዘሎ ሓቂ እዚ'ዩ : ምኽትል ኣማሓዳሪ ሰሜናዊ ምዕራብ ዞባ ትግራይ ኣቶ ሙሉብርሃን ሃይለ ንድምጺ ኣሜሪካ"
3. " ኣብ ኣክሱም ጃምላዊ ቅትለት ተገይሩ ዝበሃል ሓሶት ምዃኑ: ኣረጋጊጹ"
In a way, I don't blame you to get upset by any set of news that informs you and others that Eritrean troops are committing crimes in Tigraiy, Etiyopiya. I would be, too, if it were true. But is everything we are told true?
You may not pay enough attention to the fact that there are some people who deliberately mislead others for their own purposes. As a result, you and others may tend to accept such horrible news at face value, as if it is genuine truth, without questioning if the source of the news intends to disseminate genuine or deceitful news.
Therefore, before you ask "Then, why are Eritrean troops committing crimes against humanity in Ethiopia?" you've got to get a definite factual answer to the question: " are Eritrean troops committing crimes against humanity in Ethiopia?" Is the news true, and/or are the sources credible? If you are serious about facts, you can't afford to believe any news they feed you as true.
All people are not going to feed you information that are all true at all times? Unless you are an eyewitness yourself, you need to confirm/re-confirm the truthfulness of any news you received. How do you classify the "news" you've received regarding Eritrean crimes in Tigraiy, Etiyopiya? Is the news you received TRUE or FALSE or UNCONFIRMED? I suggest that you take it as a process of confirmation in progress.
For instance check out the next links for a set of information different than what you think you know.
1. "TPLF wearing Eritrean military uniforms, rape women and looting public properties 2021"
https://www.65tes-habeshamusic.com/tplf ... -uniforms/
2. "ኣብ መሬት ዘሎ ሓቂ እዚ'ዩ : ምኽትል ኣማሓዳሪ ሰሜናዊ ምዕራብ ዞባ ትግራይ ኣቶ ሙሉብርሃን ሃይለ ንድምጺ ኣሜሪካ"
3. " ኣብ ኣክሱም ጃምላዊ ቅትለት ተገይሩ ዝበሃል ሓሶት ምዃኑ: ኣረጋጊጹ"
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Aba wrote: ↑02 Mar 2021, 18:59Then, why are Eritrean troops committing crimes against humanity in Ethiopia?Abere wrote: ↑02 Mar 2021, 18:42It would be great if Antony Blinken visit Tigary province by himself - if he has genuine interest. But he can't instruct how Ethiopia should do her own business. Ethiopia did not benefit much from such kind of advice in the past, e.ge people like Herman Cohen. Wise Tigres should listen to the advice of Ethiopians - fool Debretsion and all TPLF thugs were bragging that Egypt, Sudan, etc were to jump in and help them if a fight broke, but could not save them. They should have behaved and listened to Ethiopians. Don't wire your ears for false promise. Ethiopia's problem is only solvable by Ethiopians - and it is solved, at least TPLF is gone, next should be Ethnic federation. Anyone making false promises to you drinking Starbucks coffee will not help you - it will drive you down the hill to hell.
"...The secretary also reiterated calls for the immediate withdrawal from Tigray of Eritrean forces and forces from the region of Amhara in northwest Ethiopia, according to Price.""
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.co ... s-in%3famp
Re: OMG
From Pariah to Kingmaker
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/03/er ... n-lessons/
Eritrea’s Afwerki is fueling bloodshed in Tigray—and offering other regional leaders lessons in authoritarianism.
BY ALEX DE WAAL | MARCH 3, 2021, 11:55 AM
Eritrean soldiers wait in line to cross the border to attend a reopening ceremony with Ethiopia in Serha, Eritrea, on Sept. 11, 2018. STRINGER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
After months of bloodshed in Tigray, a region of Ethiopia claiming the right of self-determination, the United States is ramping up pressure to end hostilities, protect civilians, facilitate an independent investigation of atrocities, and permit humanitarian access to starving populations. In a call to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali on March 2, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken repeated his call for the immediate withdrawal of all Eritrean troops from Tigray that are operating there as part of the Ethiopian effort to quash the rebellion. This last point is emerging as a central demand, since most of the crimes in Tigray documented by journalists and human rights groups were carried out by Eritrean forces.
These atrocities are ongoing. On March 1, leading Tigrayan scholar Mulugeta Gebrehiwot, in a rare phone call from the mountains, described how Eritrean troops had razed villages, cut down mango orchards, destroyed irrigation systems, and slaughtered dozens of people from young children to grandparents in the town of Samre and the villages of Gijet, Adeba, and Tseada Sare in recent days. “Famine is coming,” he said. We should heed Mulugeta’s warning: Action now is essential to stop further crimes and a vast humanitarian catastrophe.
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki rules a tiny nation of 3.5 million people, with a GDP of $2 billion as of 2018. But the country’s military is vast; its army has an astonishing 200,000 people, most of them enrolled in compulsory and indefinite national service on reaching eleventh grade. Eritrea doesn’t publish a budget, but an estimated 20 percent of the country’s GDP is spent on the military as well as an undisclosed sum on Afwerki’s much-feared national security and intelligence services.
Several recent reports make clear just what Eritrean security and military forces are capable of. Over the last week, three different reports attributed atrocity crimes in the war in Tigray to Eritrean forces. Amnesty International documented a November 2020 massacre in a cathedral in Axum, where hundreds of civilians were slaughtered. CNN compiled and cross-checked reports of a mass killing at a monastery called Maryam Dengelat, where more than 100 people died. And VICE World News matched satellite photos of destroyed villages with eyewitness accounts to detail other atrocities.
And the fighting, burning, and forced starvations continue. Last week, satellite imagery showed at least 508 buildings burning in and around the town of Gijet in southern Tigray. This is close to the area where Tigray’s defense forces destroyed an Ethiopian armored division two weeks earlier, and in phone calls to me from the area, Tigrayans reported five Eritrean divisions—about 10,000 soldiers with tanks backed by both Ethiopian and Eritrean combat aircraft—converging on the area conducting what they called a “scorched earth” operation.
In July 2018, when Abiy flew to the Eritrean capital, Asmara, to sign a long-overdue peace agreement between the two countries, citizens of both countries hoped the occasion would push Afwerki to at last begin to demobilize his army; redirect his national budget to spending on health, education, and development; and liberalize his politics. None of that happened. It’s now clear that Afwerki saw the peace deal as a security pact with Ethiopia to eliminate the Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s (TPLF) leadership, which is leading the uprising in Ethiopia—and inflict such damage on the Tigrayan people that they could never again challenge either country.
Afwerki’s animosity to the TPLF dates back to a dispute between him and TPLF leaders, then-Ethiopia’s leaders, which led to a border war in 1998 that he lost. The Ethiopian army under the TPLF didn’t march all the way to Asmara and impose regime change, but it might as well have.
In the wake of defeat, Eritreans themselves clamored for change: First, a group of democracy activists petitioned for reform, and then 15 of the most senior Eritrean politicians—known as the G-15—followed suit. In the brief “Asmara Spring” of 2001, an independent press flourished, and Eritreans demanded that all freedoms promised after the country’s independence eight years earlier—and contained in the new constitution finalized in 1997 but never adopted—should be realized.
The G-15 included Afwerki’s oldest comrades-in-arms and all heroes of the war for independence, including former foreign ministers and defense ministers and some of the founders of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front. Likely feeling encircled, Afwerki’s response to demands for reform was to clamp down. On Sept. 18 and 19, 2001, he arrested 11 of the G-15 and consigned them to literal oblivion; they have not been seen or heard from since. Neither have Eritreans seen or heard of their cherished constitution and freedoms. Instead, all independent media were closed, journalists were imprisoned, and religious freedoms were circumscribed. Compulsory national service for all school leavers was introduced.
To divert attention from his own military adventurism and growing authoritarianism, Afwerki tried to blame his nation’s ills on Ethiopia—and especially the TPLF. And he supported any opposition group ready to wage war against Ethiopia, including Somali jihadists. That last venture prompted a fierce U.S.-led backlash that included placing the country under sanctions in 2007 before lifting them in 2018.
In all this, Afwerki did have one legitimate complaint. The peace deal that ended the 1998-2000 war between TPLF-led Ethiopia and Eritrea set up an independent boundary commission, and that commission awarded a small but symbolic piece of land—the village of Badme—to Eritrea. A dispute over Badme had been the spark for the war, but Ethiopians repeatedly stalled on implementing the decision. On that single grievance, Afwerki kept his people in a state of emergency, mobilized against Ethiopia, and cultivated a national paranoia, schooling Eritreans in the view that both Ethiopia and the entire world were conspiring against them.
Young Eritreans fled abroad rather than endure military service or the hopelessness of life in a police state with a stagnating economy. The country is one of the world’s largest generators of refugees proportionate to its size. Only a (mostly illegal) tax on diaspora Eritreans plus royalties from cobalt, gold, and potash mining kept the country afloat—until the conflict in nearby Yemen offered a lifeline. Eritrea’s Red Sea coast suddenly became a strategic asset, and Afwerki leased out the port and airbase at Assab to the United Arab Emirates to use as a forward base. That not only brought in much-needed cash but also a political opening to the Gulf states.
It’s notable that when Afwerki and Abiy signed their peace deal in 2018, they didn’t attend the African Union summit—even though the continental organization was the official custodian of the treaty, signed under its auspices in Algiers. Instead, they flew to Abu Dhabi, UAE and then to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Eritrea was becoming a willing junior partner in the transactional politics of the Arabian peninsula, sidelining the African Union and its carefully crafted peace and security architecture.
More remarkable has been Afwerki’s emergence as kingmaker in the Horn of Africa. He has been shrewdly offering two things to the region’s insecure rulers. One is practical advice on political survival against the odds—specifically, how to face international pressure to democratize. The other is a model of military training that transforms high school students into obedient fighting machines.
More remarkable has been Afwerki’s emergence as kingmaker in the Horn of Africa.
In this regard, Eritrea is now the senior partner in the Ethiopian war in Tigray. Eritrean troops are also reported to be stationed in al-Fashaga, the disputed border area between Ethiopia and Sudan—quietly exacerbating the conflict between those two countries. Afwerki is confidante and supporter of Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi, commonly known as Farmaajo. In February, political crisis in Somalia intensified as Farmaajo’s presidential term expired without either an election or an agreement with the opposition on how to handle the interregnum. Farmaajo is determined to hang on, and on one occasion, his forces fired into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators. Worryingly, Somali special forces trained in Eritrea were flown back to Mogadishu last month.
Afwerki is constructing a three-cornered axis of autocracy in the Horn of Africa with him as its leader and Abiy and Farmaajo as junior partners.
Afwerki’s public relations strategy is simple. He says as little as possible. Four months after the war erupted in Tigray, he hasn’t told the Eritrean people that as much as half of the country’s army is currently conducting operations inside Ethiopia. In fact, he has made just one public statement: a long speech disguised as an interview in which he covered world affairs but said only that Eritrea was “fulfilling its responsibilities” with respect to Ethiopia. He has said nothing about his war aims, but decades of unremitting ruthlessness tell their own story.
Alex de Waal is the executive director of the World Peace Foundation and a research professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/03/er ... n-lessons/
Eritrea’s Afwerki is fueling bloodshed in Tigray—and offering other regional leaders lessons in authoritarianism.
BY ALEX DE WAAL | MARCH 3, 2021, 11:55 AM
Eritrean soldiers wait in line to cross the border to attend a reopening ceremony with Ethiopia in Serha, Eritrea, on Sept. 11, 2018. STRINGER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
After months of bloodshed in Tigray, a region of Ethiopia claiming the right of self-determination, the United States is ramping up pressure to end hostilities, protect civilians, facilitate an independent investigation of atrocities, and permit humanitarian access to starving populations. In a call to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali on March 2, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken repeated his call for the immediate withdrawal of all Eritrean troops from Tigray that are operating there as part of the Ethiopian effort to quash the rebellion. This last point is emerging as a central demand, since most of the crimes in Tigray documented by journalists and human rights groups were carried out by Eritrean forces.
These atrocities are ongoing. On March 1, leading Tigrayan scholar Mulugeta Gebrehiwot, in a rare phone call from the mountains, described how Eritrean troops had razed villages, cut down mango orchards, destroyed irrigation systems, and slaughtered dozens of people from young children to grandparents in the town of Samre and the villages of Gijet, Adeba, and Tseada Sare in recent days. “Famine is coming,” he said. We should heed Mulugeta’s warning: Action now is essential to stop further crimes and a vast humanitarian catastrophe.
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki rules a tiny nation of 3.5 million people, with a GDP of $2 billion as of 2018. But the country’s military is vast; its army has an astonishing 200,000 people, most of them enrolled in compulsory and indefinite national service on reaching eleventh grade. Eritrea doesn’t publish a budget, but an estimated 20 percent of the country’s GDP is spent on the military as well as an undisclosed sum on Afwerki’s much-feared national security and intelligence services.
Several recent reports make clear just what Eritrean security and military forces are capable of. Over the last week, three different reports attributed atrocity crimes in the war in Tigray to Eritrean forces. Amnesty International documented a November 2020 massacre in a cathedral in Axum, where hundreds of civilians were slaughtered. CNN compiled and cross-checked reports of a mass killing at a monastery called Maryam Dengelat, where more than 100 people died. And VICE World News matched satellite photos of destroyed villages with eyewitness accounts to detail other atrocities.
And the fighting, burning, and forced starvations continue. Last week, satellite imagery showed at least 508 buildings burning in and around the town of Gijet in southern Tigray. This is close to the area where Tigray’s defense forces destroyed an Ethiopian armored division two weeks earlier, and in phone calls to me from the area, Tigrayans reported five Eritrean divisions—about 10,000 soldiers with tanks backed by both Ethiopian and Eritrean combat aircraft—converging on the area conducting what they called a “scorched earth” operation.
In July 2018, when Abiy flew to the Eritrean capital, Asmara, to sign a long-overdue peace agreement between the two countries, citizens of both countries hoped the occasion would push Afwerki to at last begin to demobilize his army; redirect his national budget to spending on health, education, and development; and liberalize his politics. None of that happened. It’s now clear that Afwerki saw the peace deal as a security pact with Ethiopia to eliminate the Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s (TPLF) leadership, which is leading the uprising in Ethiopia—and inflict such damage on the Tigrayan people that they could never again challenge either country.
Afwerki’s animosity to the TPLF dates back to a dispute between him and TPLF leaders, then-Ethiopia’s leaders, which led to a border war in 1998 that he lost. The Ethiopian army under the TPLF didn’t march all the way to Asmara and impose regime change, but it might as well have.
In the wake of defeat, Eritreans themselves clamored for change: First, a group of democracy activists petitioned for reform, and then 15 of the most senior Eritrean politicians—known as the G-15—followed suit. In the brief “Asmara Spring” of 2001, an independent press flourished, and Eritreans demanded that all freedoms promised after the country’s independence eight years earlier—and contained in the new constitution finalized in 1997 but never adopted—should be realized.
The G-15 included Afwerki’s oldest comrades-in-arms and all heroes of the war for independence, including former foreign ministers and defense ministers and some of the founders of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front. Likely feeling encircled, Afwerki’s response to demands for reform was to clamp down. On Sept. 18 and 19, 2001, he arrested 11 of the G-15 and consigned them to literal oblivion; they have not been seen or heard from since. Neither have Eritreans seen or heard of their cherished constitution and freedoms. Instead, all independent media were closed, journalists were imprisoned, and religious freedoms were circumscribed. Compulsory national service for all school leavers was introduced.
To divert attention from his own military adventurism and growing authoritarianism, Afwerki tried to blame his nation’s ills on Ethiopia—and especially the TPLF. And he supported any opposition group ready to wage war against Ethiopia, including Somali jihadists. That last venture prompted a fierce U.S.-led backlash that included placing the country under sanctions in 2007 before lifting them in 2018.
In all this, Afwerki did have one legitimate complaint. The peace deal that ended the 1998-2000 war between TPLF-led Ethiopia and Eritrea set up an independent boundary commission, and that commission awarded a small but symbolic piece of land—the village of Badme—to Eritrea. A dispute over Badme had been the spark for the war, but Ethiopians repeatedly stalled on implementing the decision. On that single grievance, Afwerki kept his people in a state of emergency, mobilized against Ethiopia, and cultivated a national paranoia, schooling Eritreans in the view that both Ethiopia and the entire world were conspiring against them.
Young Eritreans fled abroad rather than endure military service or the hopelessness of life in a police state with a stagnating economy. The country is one of the world’s largest generators of refugees proportionate to its size. Only a (mostly illegal) tax on diaspora Eritreans plus royalties from cobalt, gold, and potash mining kept the country afloat—until the conflict in nearby Yemen offered a lifeline. Eritrea’s Red Sea coast suddenly became a strategic asset, and Afwerki leased out the port and airbase at Assab to the United Arab Emirates to use as a forward base. That not only brought in much-needed cash but also a political opening to the Gulf states.
It’s notable that when Afwerki and Abiy signed their peace deal in 2018, they didn’t attend the African Union summit—even though the continental organization was the official custodian of the treaty, signed under its auspices in Algiers. Instead, they flew to Abu Dhabi, UAE and then to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Eritrea was becoming a willing junior partner in the transactional politics of the Arabian peninsula, sidelining the African Union and its carefully crafted peace and security architecture.
More remarkable has been Afwerki’s emergence as kingmaker in the Horn of Africa. He has been shrewdly offering two things to the region’s insecure rulers. One is practical advice on political survival against the odds—specifically, how to face international pressure to democratize. The other is a model of military training that transforms high school students into obedient fighting machines.
More remarkable has been Afwerki’s emergence as kingmaker in the Horn of Africa.
In this regard, Eritrea is now the senior partner in the Ethiopian war in Tigray. Eritrean troops are also reported to be stationed in al-Fashaga, the disputed border area between Ethiopia and Sudan—quietly exacerbating the conflict between those two countries. Afwerki is confidante and supporter of Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi, commonly known as Farmaajo. In February, political crisis in Somalia intensified as Farmaajo’s presidential term expired without either an election or an agreement with the opposition on how to handle the interregnum. Farmaajo is determined to hang on, and on one occasion, his forces fired into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators. Worryingly, Somali special forces trained in Eritrea were flown back to Mogadishu last month.
Afwerki is constructing a three-cornered axis of autocracy in the Horn of Africa with him as its leader and Abiy and Farmaajo as junior partners.
Afwerki’s public relations strategy is simple. He says as little as possible. Four months after the war erupted in Tigray, he hasn’t told the Eritrean people that as much as half of the country’s army is currently conducting operations inside Ethiopia. In fact, he has made just one public statement: a long speech disguised as an interview in which he covered world affairs but said only that Eritrea was “fulfilling its responsibilities” with respect to Ethiopia. He has said nothing about his war aims, but decades of unremitting ruthlessness tell their own story.
Alex de Waal is the executive director of the World Peace Foundation and a research professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.