(BBC)-Eritrean troops fighting in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray killed hundreds of people in Aksum mainly over two days in November, witnesses say.
The mass killings on 28 and 29 November may amount to a crime against humanity, Amnesty International says in a report.
An eyewitness told the BBC how bodies remained unburied on the streets for days, with many being eaten by hyenas.
Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane G Meskel has dismissed the accusations as “preposterous” and “fabricated”.
In a tweet, he suggested that the eyewitnesses quoted were militiamen allied to Tigray’s former ruling party, the TPLF, whose dispute with Ethiopia’s federal government led to the conflict in the region.
Ethiopia’s government has promised a joint investigation with international actors. While it cast questions on Amnesty’s methodology, it admitted “serious issues that should be of great concern” were raised.
Both Ethiopia and Eritrea deny that Eritrean forces have been involved in the Tigray conflict.
Find the full story at the BBC.
So on Nov. 4 Tplf commits massacres in Mai-Kadra and three weeks later turns around to accuse Eritreans committed massacre in Axum! Sound familiar? The plan is to implicate a foreign power was allied with Ethiopian forces and to internationalize the conflict. Second plan? To get Tigrayans behind it against Ethiopians! Typical Tplf straregy.
The TPLF led regime did the same thing, if not worse, in the Somali region only a few years ago. They shut NGOS and kiked out Médecins Sans Frontières. They tortured, raped, and killed on a massive scale. There were some who were alarmed and said so. But then the so-called international community kept quiet. Today the then apologists are crying foul just because their masters and financers are targetted.
What I rather see is the need for the Abiy’s administration a better and robust diplomacy. To be honest I am not sure what many of its emissaries are doing these days. May be that is due to a lack of coordination and clear directives. But I don’t feel comfortable with the officials there getting into a debate with Good Ole USA. The Biden administration thinks/believes serious crimes against humanity have been committed on innocent civilians. I don’t see a problem with that claim. As a nation that provided shelters, protection and opportunity for besieged millions throughout its history it has to monitor humanitarian violation wherever it allegedly happens. It is up to the accused to prove its innocence beyond the benefit of the doubt. Just ‘I did not do it’ or ‘lecturing about ‘sovereignty’ would not cut the mustard. The current regime there must allow verified independent group to carry out an extensive investigation and find out if the alleged serious crime was committed and by whom. Were the victims enemy combatants or unarmed innocent civilians? That must be hammered out. I don’t think everybody is gonna believe such investigative report by the domestic human rights body. If there are armed forces in Tigray other than those of the federal government, they must leave immediately. The current provisional administration of that region has ordered/demanded such forces to leave the region and that must be heeded with no further delay.
And there is another scenario that has been bothering me lately. This back and forth exchange between Abiy and Biden administration seems to have precedence. I am afraid it may end up to be 1976-77 all over again. Then it was like ‘No I didn’t do it. Yes you did. No I didn’t, yes you did’. That is what we see now. What worries me is this mild exchange of words will escalate into arguments resulting into frosted diplomacy. Then Abiy will feel besieged and cornered and will throw himself into the hands of the heathens in Moscow and Beijing. That will be the worst thing that can happen to that country and it’s more than 120 million citizens. The burden is on the prime minister. He had told the world that civilians were not intentionally targeted/victimized and he has to tax himself to prove that to the world. I believed him. He told the world that Ethiopian defense forces and the police are the only ones that have been doing the law enforcement tasks. I believed him. As a man of The Holy Scriptures he was speaking with a 100% assurance. He has to prove to the world that his forces were/are innocent beyond the benefits of the doubt. His officials should have a sit down with the UN officials and come up with a plan on how to investigate the allegations. He better watch his steps with the goons in Moscow and Beijing. He can’t be in both houses. He has to be in Beijing or Moscow. He can’t be both. Otherwise he will be toast. The time Putin sees him all in with the Chinese he is gonna see coup at his doorstep. The time the commies in Beijing realize he is all hands on deck with the Russians one of his trusted generals will be staring at him with handcuffs. So he better stay in good terms with Good Ole USA. Nobody has the right to take away the blessed human life that Allah so intricately created. It is quite clear that the Abiy administration is losing on the diplomatic front. The only way out of this quagmire is to prove it is innocent. It has to prove that there were no foreign armies on the Ethiopian soil in Tigray. BTW, I don’t consider Amharas to be foreigners in their own country. I hope and pray that the Biden administration will continue engaging the current regime there and will not let history repeat itself.