Mereja.Forum

Sure, you may feed your wounded ego by Reuter’s’ report. The fact on the ground is different.

By the way, you have all the option to go back to Dedebit mountain valleys. That is your choice and I admit it won’t be a cake walk for any government to smoke any rebel from their. But do you have the courage to do so - to wage a protracted gorilla war? You are fat cats now after looting Ethiopia, Tigray Included, who cannot afford to lose the comfort of designer liquors and clothes and the poor Tigray people won’t let you take away their children again and use them as cheap fodder. Think about it!

What a surprise the fat cat weyannes turned out to be war hardened. Yabello the pi...mp collect garbage from wester media and drink your chocolate milk to sooth your wounded ego. What else can you do. Bring on post your crying heart.The war hardened are folding as we speak. Help Getachew find the downed plain ..a reason to move your old a.....s

Battle-Hardened

????
Really?
For the past 27+ years these thugs were under who''res skirt in Addis, Mekele, Dubai, Bangkok, or elsewhere.
What kind of battle are you talking about?
I pity the people of Tigray and want to see them live in peace.
But never under TPLF.
TPLF MUST GO

Bissbiss Shettattam Agga*me A.K.A. Yaballow:--- At This Time, The Mig 29 And Sukoi 27 Are Pounding The Hideout Of Rats Woyane T.P.L.F. In Mekelle And Adwa Environ.

These are Eritrean kids, you lying pos.

Don't associate them, with you qomalat!


ASMARA, ERITREA: Eritrean children play 07 June 1991 on an Ethiopian army tank. The roadside was destroyed by Eritrean Liberation Front (EPLF) rebels in the battle for Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea, that fell 20 May to EPLF rebels after 17 years of war. (Photo credit should read )
https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/20/af ... iopia-war/

yaballo wrote: ↑

09 Nov 2020, 17:12

BATTLE-HARDENED TIGRAYANS & A CRUMBLING EMPIRE: Hundreds dead in worsening Ethiopian conflict [REUTERS]

photo [from file]: children playing on a destroyed Ethiopian army tank in its last & bloody wars ...

“Ethiopia is like an empire crumbling before our own eyes,” the diplomat told Reuters.

One diplomat told Reuters Abiy had already rebuffed calls for calm from the regional African group IGAD over the weekend. “He is about to take the country to a very dangerous situation. He is not listening to anyone,” the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But analysts do not believe the clashes will reawaken the conflict with Eritrea given that President Isaias Afwerki and Abiy both see the Tigrayan leadership as enemies.

By Giulia Paravicini


DANSHA, Ethiopia (Reuters) - An escalating conflict in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region has killed hundreds of people, sources on the government side said, even as the prime minister sought on Monday to reassure the world his nation was not sliding into civil war.

The flare-up in the northern area bordering Eritrea and Sudan threatens to destabilise Africa’s second most populous nation, where ethnic conflict has already killed hundreds since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took over in 2018.

Reuters reporters travelling in Tigray and the neighbouring Amhara region saw trucks packed with armed militia and pickups with mounted machine-guns rushing to the front line in support of the federal government push.

Some militia members waved the Ethiopian national flag.

Abiy, the continent’s youngest leader at 44, won a Nobel Peace Prize last year for democratic reforms and for making peace with Eritrea. But last week the prime minister, who is from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, launched a campaign against forces loyal to Tigrayan leaders whom he accused of attacking a military base in the town of Dansha.

“Concerns that Ethiopia will descend into chaos are unfounded and a result of not understanding our context deeply,” he tweeted on Monday. “Our rule of law operation is aimed at guaranteeing peace and stability.”

Abiy has said that government jets have been bombing arms depots and other targets. Aid workers and security sources have reported heavy fighting on the ground.

A military official in Amhara, on the side of the federal troops, told Reuters that clashes with Tigrayan forces in Kirakir had killed nearly 500 on the Tigrayan side.

Three security sources in Amhara working with federal troops said the Ethiopian army had also lost hundreds in the original battle in Dansha.

Reuters has been unable to verify numbers, though a diplomat also said hundreds were believed to have died.

BATTLE-HARDENED TIGRAYANS

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which governs the region, is battle-hardened from both the 1998-2000 war with Eritrea and the guerrilla war to topple dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. TPLF forces and militia allies number up to 250,000 men and possess significant hardware, experts say.

Tigrayans account for just 5% of Ethiopians but had, before Abiy’s rule, dominated politics since rebels from their ethnic group toppled Marxist military rule in 1991.

They say Abiy’s government has unfairly targeted them as part of a crackdown on past rights abuses and corruption.

“These fascists have demonstrated they will show no mercy in destroying Tigrayans by launching more than 10 air strike attempts in Tigrayan cities,” the TPLF said via Facebook.

Billene Seyoum, spokeswoman for the prime minister’s office, said she was not authorised to comment in response to statements by the TPLF, and that information on the military campaign needed to be corroborated with the Ethiopian army.

The army said it was intensifying attacks and that large numbers of Tigrayan special forces and militia were surrendering. It denied a TPLF claim of downing a jet.

The army spokesman did not respond to phone calls seeking further comment.

‘AN EMPIRE CRUMBLING’

Journalists including from Reuters were turned away from the Dansha base on Monday by soldiers citing safety concerns.

Outside the base, SUVs and pickups were filled with soldiers and a black metal sign read: “Let’s build one democratic country together.” Military helicopters flew northward.
Slideshow ( 5 images )

On a road into Dansha from the neighbouring Amhara region - which supports the federal government - huts in a string of villages appeared abandoned.

In some parts, men in plain clothes with AK-47 assault rifles stood guard.

A senior diplomat working on the Ethiopia crisis said Abiy had increasingly fallen back on support from Amhara - raising the risk of more ethnic violence - after parts of the military’s Northern Command went over to Tigrayan control.

“Ethiopia is like an empire crumbling before our own eyes,” the diplomat told Reuters.

Will Davison, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank, said the TPLF might be capable of a strong counter-offensive. “The path to making the Tigrayan leadership surrender appears arduous,” he said.

Amid growing international concern, the TPLF has sought mediation by the African Union, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The United Nations wants Abiy - a former soldier who fought alongside Tigrayans against Eritrea - to start dialogue.

One diplomat told Reuters Abiy had already rebuffed calls for calm from the regional African group IGAD over the weekend. “He is about to take the country to a very dangerous situation. He is not listening to anyone,” the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The prime minister’s office did not immediately reply on Monday evening to a request for comment on the diplomat’s remarks.

There are fears of reprisals against Tigrayans elsewhere, with 162 people including a journalist arrested in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa on suspicion of supporting Tigrayan forces.

All-out war would damage the economy after years of steady growth in the nation of 110 million people. It could also add to the hundreds of thousands displaced in the last two years.

But analysts do not believe the clashes will reawaken the conflict with Eritrea given that President Isaias Afwerki and Abiy both see the Tigrayan leadership as enemies.

Reporting by Giulia Paravicini; Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri, David Lewis, Omar Mohammed and Maggie Fick in Nairobi; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne, Maggie Fick and Andrew Heavens; Editing by Nick Macfie, Mark Heinrich and William Maclean.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

SOURCE: REUTERS: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethi ... cOeEQ6OVno


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