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TPLF forces have executed at least 482 civilians in Afar and Amhara region : Investigation report


October 29, 2021

The rights abuse in the Amhara and Afar regions took place after July 2021 following TPLF’s military adventures in the region


Fekadu Tsega, state minister in the office of AG (left) and Mulissa Abdisa , Head of criminal investigation Dept. (right) during the presser ( Photo : Office of Attorney General)


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Ethiopia’s office of the Federal Attorney on Friday disclosed egregious human rights violations by Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces in the Afar and Amhara regions of Ethiopia.

The disclosure after several months of joint investigation by the Attorney General and the Federal Police.

According to the report, the TPLF has executed at least 482 civilians after its forces controlled areas in Afar and Amhara regions of Ethiopia following the declaration of unilateral humanitarian ceasefire by the Ethiopian government in late June 2021. Another 165 civilians have sustained severe wounds that led to some form of disability.

109 women were raped. A seven months pregnant woman was reportedly raped for three.

The TPLF forces took the war to these regions with the hope of controlling corridors to Sudan and Djibouti – a mission that rather turned out to be a mirage.

During the presser by the Attorney General Office, it is indicated that the Federal Attorney General, Federal Police and regional investigative authorities took part in the investigation.

Specific areas of the two regions where the TPLF carried out human rights violations are identified. The investigation focused on the areas that came under the TPLF control after the withdrawal of Ethiopian Defense Force from Tigray and were later liberated by the Ethiopian Defense Force.

In South Gondar, the districts of Nefas Mewucha, Guna Begemdir, Farta, Este and Debretabor areas are experiencing the rights abuse.

In North Gondar, Dabat, Debark and Zarema districts are among areas where the TPLF forces unleashed abuses ranging from executions to other forms of abuses, not to mention destruction of private properties and looting.

In the Afar region, Galicoma, Ewa, Awura and Guilna districts were affected by TPLF arbitrary killings and other rights abuses.

The TPLF spokesperson, who is recently posting numerous political remarks and battle updates, including a claim about the capture of Dessie which is entirely false, has not yet responded to the report by the government.

There are still areas that are under the control of TPLF forces in North Wollo, North Gondar and Waghumra areas of the Amhara region of Ethiopia.

An estimated 4.5 million people in the Amhara region in the TPLF occupied areas are believed to be facing a famine like situation. No electric power supply or communications in those areas.

https://borkena.com/2021/10/29/tplf-for ... ara-region

Tigrayans will be paying a heavy price for killing & displacing Afar women and children, Guarantee it.

War leaves two thirds of sesame farm uncultivated


By Staff Reporter 30 October 2021


Over 500,000 hectares of sesame farm, which is 70 percent of Ethiopia's annual cultivation for the cash crop, skipped a season without being cultivated due to the ongoing war in northern Ethiopia.

“Majority of sesame production is cultivated in Gondar and Tigray. Farmers in these areas have evacuated and currently migrated to urban areas. Most of their land is not cultivated for the current main Meher season. Even those who have sowed have abandoned their farms,” said Isayas Lemma, Crop Development director at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

“Other crops are also affected but the northern region is a sesame-farming corridor, which will affect export of sesame for the current year. Farmers from these areas, who used to feed themselves, currently need humanitarian aid. The situation also depletes the availability of grains in the market, inducing inflation,” added Isayas.

Ethiopia produces close to two million quintals of sesame annually, exporting more than half of it directly. Specifically, the Humera sesame fetches premium price in the international market.

Sesame, a major export commodity, was becoming expensive, with its price doubling to 6,000 birr per quintal in three years. China is the leading destination for Ethiopian sesame, which it exports to South Korea and Japan after certain value additions.

Insiders say most of the large-scale sesame farmers who fled the conflict in Tigray and Gondar will bulge the Non-Performing Loans of the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), since it provided loans for sesame commercial farmers.

Ethiopia’s sesame farms have already been thinning out after the Sudanese military occupied up to 40 kilometers of Ethiopia’s territory in Gondar, which is a highly fertile land for sesame production. The Sudan government recently disclosed it harvested a high yield of sesame from the land it occupied almost for a year now.

After a series of events led to a “law enforcement operation” on November 4, 2020 in Tigray regional state, the conflict has currently engulfed Amhara and Afar regional states with widening implications on Ethiopia.

Contributed by Ashenafi Endale

https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/art ... WjcnBszQh9