Ethiopia: Security and Justice for Tigrayans (SJT) – Lalibela and the Protection of Religons/UNESCO Sites (10.08.2021)

Ethiopia: Abiy’s message yesterday was loud and clear [and no amount of fact-checking can vindicate his name]

It is just like Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and his comrades doesn’t want to be responsible for their own actions. We know they project all evil at the Tigrayan population and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). That’s what they do and what they need to do justify the continued warfare in Tigray and beyond.

The state did yesterday “call to arms” and all eligible citizens to fight this war. The Office of the Prime Minister released a statement saying so. So, that the current day civilians can continue the heroic past of the predecessor and get rid of TPLF, once and for all. Which is resounding alike the Amhara Regional State and their leadership. There is no difference in the rhetoric or methodology between them.

The Ethiopian Current Issues – Fact Check Agency or whatever it is. Can have their voice and opinion. However, it is their own statement saying so. It wasn’t the foreign press that made up the headlines and stories about Ethiopia. No, the OPM and his allies made it all up by themselves and published it for the whole world to see.

This wasn’t like a secret memo, letter or talk between two trusted friends. It wasn’t a leaked cable or a call. No, this was a Press Release and what it directly stated, which the foreign press and outlets described to the people.

Maybe Abiy felt it backfired. As his wordings and the rhetoric, shines of desperation and hopelessness. Since this war has hit a nerve and the Tigray Defence Force (TDF) is winning ground. The TDF and its allies showing strength and restraint. While evidence and witnesses is telling media of what horrific tales the Tripartite Alliance has done over the recent months. Which the Fact Checking Agency and the State calls “fake” and “false”. While we are supposed to eat of their hands and swallow their lies.

Well, the truth is already out. A government that has lied about everything. Even has to fact-check it’s own press release. That says a lot about the mismanaged and a bummer of a war. Where people are dying of a man-made famine and weaponizing aid. Where the state has targeted one group and justify the atrocities in Tigray. They are even trying to pin other actions made by the state army and regional special forces on the TDF. That is what the state does. Therefore, the idea that the foreign press is supposed to write puff-pieces is insane.

The press release yesterday speaks of itself and it cannot be changed. They maybe not like the sentiment and how the International media interpret it. However, they cannot be mind-readers and expect people to follow the same paradigm and understanding as the one who published it. That is just being narrow-minded and very very foolish. Just like expect some to go haywire of this text and others to applause it. Because, that’s the world we live in and the OPM and the Fact Check Agency has to understand this too.

Now is the right time for all capable Ethiopians who are of age to join the Defence Force, Special Forces and militias and show your patriotism” (OPM, 10.08.2021). How else are the world supposed to understand this message? Are the youths and all civilians not called up? “All capable” is a broad statement and implies everyone who is over 18 and able to conscript either to the ENDF, Special Forces or a militia. That says it all…

What else did the PM and Prosperity Party think when they did this call and war-cry? Did they expect salutes and hallow speeches? That is how it looks like… when the Fact Checking Agency has issues with the headlines of the international press. Maybe, the OPM and the PP should have worded it differently, if they meant something else.

They need to get other codes and other phrases if they want it to mean something else. However, they just want to interpreted as a plea for war and more soldiers. Since they want to look peaceful and supreme. However, that is so far from the truth. We all know that the ENDF and everyone on the PM side is losing ground. That’s why he is seeking whatever he can get with a pulse. In a hope to turn around and finally gain ground again. Nevertheless, at this very moment… that seems hopeless. Just like the whole “Operation Law Enforcement” have become.

The PM cannot run, he cannot hide and the truth of his war-crimes and his allies massacres are out. The blood is on his hands, the victims and executions are done on his orders and he cannot rewrite that. The deaths and destruction will not be a triumphant way to victory. Alas, it is a road to more murder and devastation. It seems like the PM never leans and burns more bridges as the days goes by.

He should have sound advice and people who can guide him ahead. However, we all know that he has dropped those and only has “yes-men” and empty suits around him. He is surrounded by extremist and apologists for the bloodshed and the genocidal war. That’s why we are here and he cannot handle the bad press. Peace.

Tigray: Intensified fighting across borders ‘disastrous’ for children (10.08.2021)

UN agencies continue to sound the alarm over the growing “humanitarian catastrophe” in northern Ethiopia, sparked by the conflict in the Tigray region, now in its ninth month.

NEW YORK, United States of America, August 10, 2021 – A recent escalation in fighting in Afar and other neighbouring regions, has been disastrous for children, said Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a statement on Monday.

Displaced people killed

UNICEF was extremely alarmed by the reported killing last Thursday of over 200 people, including more than 100 children, in attacks on displaced families sheltering at a health facility and a school in Afar.

Ms. Fore added that crucial food supplies were also reportedly destroyed in an area that is already seeing emergency levels of malnutrition and food insecurity.

“The intensification of fighting in Afar and other areas neighbouring Tigray, is disastrous for children. It follows months of armed conflict across Tigray that have placed some 400,000 people, including at least 160,000 children, in famine-like conditions,” she said.

Humanitarian ceasefire needed

Some four million people are in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity in Tigray and the adjoining regions of Afar and Amhara.

The recent fighting has displaced an additional 100,000 people, thus adding to the two million who have already fled their homes.

UNICEF further estimates that the number of children in Tigray suffering from life-threatening malnutrition will increase 10-fold over the next 12 months.

“The humanitarian catastrophe spreading across northern Ethiopia is being driven by armed conflict and can only be resolved by the parties to the conflict,” said Ms. Fore.

“UNICEF calls on all parties to end the fighting, and to implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Above all, we call on all parties to do everything in their power to protect children from harm.”

Delivering amid conflict

Despite numerous challenges, the World Food Programme (WFP) delivered food to more than a million people in the northwest and parts of southern Tigray during June and July.

However, WFP only reached half of the people it planned to assist, including communities on the verge of famine, due to severe shortages of food, cash, fuel and functioning telecommunications equipment.

WFP reported that more than 175 trucks arrived in the Tigray region during the first week of this month, including 90 carrying lifesaving food aid.  Another 90 trucks are expected to arrive in the coming days.

However, with 5.2 million people needing food assistance, representing roughly 90 per cent of the population, WFP and partners require at least 100 trucks to be arriving daily to support them.

A dire warning

Michael Dunford, WFP’s Corporate Response Director for Tigray, also appealed for a ceasefire so that food and other emergency supplies can be delivered before it is too late.

“People in Tigray are suffering due to lack of humanitarian support over the past month – we need to reach them now before they fall into famine,” he warned.

“Others in neighbouring regions are also falling deeper into hunger as a result of the conflict and WFP is working with the Government to reach communities in Afar and Amhara with life-saving food as soon as possible,” he added.

Ethiopia: Office of the Prime Minister – Statement on Current Affairs and a National Call (10.08.2021)

Ethiopia: Amhara Director of Communication Muluneh says they “need to stop the storm”

Any steady body of water must be in a tidal wave to move from its original position. To be a storm, it must be caused by volcanoes or hurricanes” (Muluneh, 09.08.2021).

The Amhara Regional Director of Communication Gizachew Muluneh published today a piece called “If we stop the storm, we won’t be afraid of the storm”. It was published at the Amhara Communications Facebook Page and at the Ethiopian Press Agency.

We know that the Tigray Defence Force (TDF) is advancing within the Amhara region and therefore, the Amhara Regional State who has been so invested in the conflict. It has to show force and release texts to defend it’s war. They had first the war in Tigray region with the Amhara Regional Special Forces and “Fano”. Both working for the cause of the Regional State and annex parts of it too.

This is why the piece was released today, as the roads are besieged and the propaganda needs to revitalize the new recruits ahead of warfare in the nearby area of bigger and centralized areas of the Regional State.

As he states: “Most of the waves in front of us, which are against our very existence, have been hit hard by our common arm; If there is a tidal wave left, it can only be called a tidal wave. The Amhara Special Forces: Militia, the Coalition of Nationalities and the National Defense Forces, retaliated. As a result of their self-defense measures, TNG was forced to lose its manpower to invade the Amhara region” ((Muluneh, 09.08.2021).

We know the advances are hitting hard and it is showing the force of the TDF. As several of armies has attacked it and they are still able to get further into the region. The Amhara and ENDF should have the capacity to stop this. However, they have been losing and the brigades haven’t been prepared for what is meeting them. This is why the Amhara regional government sounds the horn and the “wave” have to be hit now.

He continues: “The whole people of Amhara must continue their struggle to survive where they are, recognizing that we have no choice but to prevent the storm of catastrophe that has come to destroy us. It does matter” (Muluneh, 09.08.2021).

They are now calling it all destructive force. That’s how powerful the TDF is… and the storm will clearly take everything in its way. We know it has shown restrained and played by the rules. Even when all the government propaganda machinery claims it to be the vicious and vindictive. As the projection of their own acts in Tigray region comes home to haunt them. While the continues vilifying of the enemy continues. That is a never ending cycle and the leaders of Amhara continues with it.

He further says: “Therefore, in order to summarize the threat to our existence as a nation and as a people, our main goal should not only be to bury the melt-in-your-mouth, but also to fight the hurricane that caused the storm. Because without a hurricane, there is no such thing as a storm” (Muluneh, 09.08.2021).

Here his stating that they have to go to the “root” and stop the waves before they occur. This is meaning they want to kill and get rid of the Tigrayan before they even step on the soil of Amhara. That is something the Amhara has been doing since November 2020. They have worked on this and this sort of message is the defence of the massacres and the annexation of Western Tigray. Therefore, the Director says it metaphorically and we should all be aware.

In the end he says: “The first option is to pay the price for the risks and fight together to sustain our existence, uplift our history, and build a region and a country where true democracy and peace are guaranteed” (…) “There is no doubt that the hero will always be the first choice for our people and our fighters. And in order to be successful in our first choice and to be the proud people on the world stage, we must unite to eradicate the erroneous terrorist weed and the common enemy and cancer of our people. And it will happen. Victory for our heroes !!!” (Muluneh, 09.08.2021).

Here we see the same symbolism as the state has done before and the genocidal narrative of “cancer” and “weed”. That is how the Tigrayan people is called by the Amhara and the Prosperity Party. They have no qualms calling them that… and we know the ones fighting the genocidal war is heroes, while the other is terrorists. That is just how their rhetoric goes and its a never ending story.

It shows the intent and what the state is willing to public. This warfare in Ethiopia is showing the sinister side of the Republic and it’s current leadership. When they are promoting propaganda like this and uses state media to push it too. Peace.

Ethiopia: WFP Delivers Food to Another 1 million People in Tigray During June and July but is Only Reaching Half of Those it Should Be (09.08.2021)

WFP aims to reach 2.1 million people with emergency food assistance from August onwards and needs at least 6,000 metric tons of food each week to do so

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, August 9, 2021 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) delivered food to over a million people in the north-west and parts of southern Tigray in June and July under the second round of distributions, despite numerous challenges. But severe shortages of food, cash, fuel and functioning telecommunications equipment mean WFP has only reached half of those it planned to reach, including communities on the verge of famine.

WFP aims to reach 2.1 million people with emergency food assistance from August onwards and needs at least 6,000 metric tons of food each week to do so. Due to insecurity and operational constraints, it has been unable to bring these quantities into Tigray in recent weeks.

More than 175 trucks arrived in the Tigray region, via the Abala corridor, during the first week of August. This included 90 trucks loaded with over 5,000 metric tons of life-saving food. An additional 90 trucks are expected to arrive in the coming days to further replenish stocks of food, fuel, nutrition, health, WASH and shelter items in the region.

But with 5.2 million people in the region (90% of the Tigray population) in need of humanitarian food assistance – WFP and partners require at least 100 trucks to be arriving daily to meet the vast needs.

“People in Tigray are suffering due to lack of humanitarian support over the past month – we need to reach them now before they fall into famine. WFP is calling for all parties to agree to a ceasefire and guarantee an unimpeded flow of humanitarian supplies into Tigray, so that we can deliver lifesaving food and other emergency supplies safely before it’s too late,” said Michael Dunford, WFP’s Corporate Response Director for Tigray.

“Others in neighbouring regions are also falling deeper into hunger as a result of the conflict and WFP is working with the Government to reach communities in Afar and Amhara with life-saving food as soon as possible,” added Dunford.

The June IPC results indicate that up to 400,000 people will be facing famine-like conditions by September due to conflict, lack of market access, missed planting season and insufficient humanitarian support. To date, WFP has reached 2 million people with emergency food assistance across Eastern, Southern and Northwestern zones of Tigray.

The agricultural planting season has been missed in many parts of Tigray and estimates show -only 25% to 50% of the normal cereal production will be available this year. As a result, people in Tigray are expected to rely on food assistance up to the next year’s harvest season in October 2022.

Preliminary nutrition screening data shows Global Acute Malnourishment (GAM) rates near 30% for children under five years old and up to 80% for pregnant and breastfeeding women. UNICEF estimates 100,000 children in the region could die from complications of severe malnourishment. To date WFP has reached more than 400,000 vulnerable mothers and children with nutritionally fortified food, including 120,000 in July across 43 districts.

An additional 300,000 people are facing emergency levels of hunger in neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, where over 250,000 people have been displaced due to continued conflict. WFP plans to support up to 80,000 people in Afar, working closely with the regional Disaster Risk Management Bureau and the federal National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC).

WFP also plans to work with the NDRMC to provide relief food in Amhara region.

There have been 3 United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) flights carrying 143 humanitarian staff to and from Tigray, but these flights need to be operating at least twice a week to rotate humanitarian passengers in and out of the region.

Across Ethiopia, WFP aims to reach 11.9 million people in 2021 with food, nutrition and cash support and delivering activities to boost communities’ self-reliance and food security.

WFP needs US$79 million to continue to scale up its response in Tigray to save lives and livelihoods to the end of the year. For all activities under its Country Strategic Plan, WFP has a funding shortfall of US$288 million. Additional funding is vital to allow WFP to keep saving and changing lives in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia: Statement of the Government of Tigrayan the Worsening Humanitarian Crisis (08.08.2021)

Ethiopia: Abiy will not have dialogue with anyone [because his the next emperor]

There been some diplomatic moves where the Sudanese has tried to hold talks or even send messages the leadership in Addis Ababa. However, the Ambassador and Diplomats of Khartoum haven’t gotten anything fruitful and the project should just get dismissed.

We know that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and his allies within the Prosperity Party will not have talks or mediation with anyone. It doesn’t matter if it is his Sudanese counterpart Abdalla Hamdok, who happens to be the current Chair of The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which he has had since February this year.

Hamdok and the Sovereign Council would like the political capital of participating and having direct mediation in Ethiopia. That would boost his role on international scene and make him look even better. As there are enough trouble brewing in Khartoum and in Darfur as is. Not like the transitional government in Sudan is over the hurdle. There is still revolutionaries and dissidents who wants to topple this current regime as well. They are not seeing the civilian transition they aspired too. So, a mediation success in Ethiopia would buy the Sovereign Council and Hamdok time.

However, Abiy and PP has no interests in talks. Their handlers, the close associates and everyone rather vilify anyone. If it is the United States, United Nations organizations, Civil Society Organizations or Humanitarian agencies. Anyone is an possible enemy, as long as they act independently and not following direct accords with majesty in Addis.

This is why Abiy will not talk to Hamdok. Last few times they been close to each other. It has been pleasantries, but short-lived meetings. Hamdok have travelled to Addis Ababa only for an hour or two, before the host dipped to Tigray. Neither was there any sincere talks in the IGAD meeting of head of states. Therefore, asking for Hamdok to invite and do this was a foolish enterprise.

The Ethiopian has already grievances and they will cry out loud. They will claim Sudanese territory and not take accountability for the skirmishes inside Sudan. Neither, will the Ethiopian pay amends for the killed soldiers or anyone else. They will just claim Sudanese is in the wrong and that this isn’t an extension on the conflict in Tigray.

So, we are here… and the Sudanese has already asked for the Ethiopian peacekeepers to leave the Abyei region. Where they are residing. There has also already been reports of arms confiscated from the Ethiopian army to Sudanese rebels. This is why the Sudanese doesn’t trust the Ethiopian consignment to the peacekeeping operation.

Hamdok and the Sudanese might have all the best reasons for the mediation or dialogue within Sudan. The Ethiopian parties might get served well with these outsiders looking in. However, the Sudanese has given up and even recalled the ambassador from Addis Ababa. That shows how fickle and why nothing will work.

Abiy just have to have his way, as his the anointed emperor and seventh king of Ethiopia. The warlord who will not negotiate or talk with anyone. His enemies either just have to die or linger as treasonous people behind bars. That’s what he does and the “peace agreement” with Eritrea seems more like a war-pact, than a peace agreement with each passing moment. This is why the Eritrean forces been so active and destructive in the months of warfare within Ethiopia.

While Abiy and PP speaks of sovereignty, but still let foreign forces invade and murder citizens. This is why the asking of a diplomatic mission and dialogue would make sense. However, then Abiy have to meet others halfway and he has to give up his consolidation of power. That is a “reform” he is not willing to loose. He has already invested everything. Even the death of the youth and the army to get his objective. This is why he will not give way and give-in. That is already long time gone. He needs to win this and by all cost. Doesn’t matter if it is genocide, hyper-inflation or possible shortages of basic commodities. No, it is all worth it for the throne and the rise to power.

Prime Minister Abiy as awaiting his coronation and swearing-in. He is awaiting the grandeur of his growing empire and everyone dancing to his tunes. That is what his goal and it doesn’t matter what it cost. It doesn’t matter how much blood that is sacrifices and many lives who was touched to get there. No, they are casualties for the greater good and his prestige. Everyone is supposed to sing psalms of glory and praise the king for his ways.

That is why Hamdok could never succeed. The Sudanese was on a fools mission and there was never hope of this succeeding. It was meant to fail and it was by no coincidence. Abiy wanted it this way and Khartoum shouldn’t worry about this failure. That was inevitable. Nobody would have made it through. When there is no will, there is no way. Peace.

Ethiopia: The Global Society of Tigray Scholars (GSTS) – The Fate of Tigrayan Military and Security Personnel and Civilians Languishing in Ethiopia’s Detention an Concentration Camps (07.08.2021)

Ethiopia: The Government of the National State of Tigray – Press Release by the Government of the National State of Tigray (07.08.2021)