Ethiopia: Security and Justice for Tigreans in Ethiopia (SJTE) letter to World Bank President Malpass – Re: Halt financial support to the government of Ethiopia which is committing genocide (01.06.2021)

Ethiopia: Security and Justice for Tigreans in Ethiopia (SJTE) letter to President Biden – Re: Eritrean and Amhara forces deliberately disrupting farming operations throughout Tigray, Ethiopia (01.06.2021)

Ethiopia: WFP reaches over 1 million people with emergency food assistance in Tigray (01.06.2021)

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has provided emergency food assistance to 1 million people since starting distributions in Northwestern and Southern zones of Tigray region in March.

MEK’ELE, Ethiopia, June 1, 2021 – Aster Beyene, a 43-year-old mother of seven, who lost both her home and crops two months ago to conflict, became the 1 millionth person to collect wheat, split peas and vegetable oil from WFP on Monday.

“Up until now I have relied on what little food I can get from my neighbours. At least now we have some relief from the hunger we have been suffering,” said Aster from Adi Millen, a remote rural village 50 kilometres from Shire in Northwestern zone. WFP provided food to the 4,500 villagers, bringing the first round of food distributions – which will be carried out every six weeks in Tigray – to a close.

“I am glad that WFP was able to bring the food to us here in Adi Millen, where we are far and cut off from many towns and markets,” Aster added.

  • WFP is responsible for emergency food assistance across Northwestern and Southern zones of Tigray and will scale-up operations to reach 2.1 million people in need of food assistance across these operational areas. Since April, it has managed to access all 13 woredas (districts) of Northwestern and assisted 885,000 people. In addition, WFP distributions began at the end of March in three woredas of Southern zone where 168,000 people have so far received WFP emergency food, bringing the total to 1.05 million people. In March, before WFP was assigned Northwestern and Southern zones, WFP had assisted 33,000 people in Eastern zone.
  • This week, WFP kicked off a second six-week round of emergency food assistance, starting in Korem and Ofla, two of five new woredas in Southern zone recently added to WFP’s operational areas. Within the first few days of operations, WFP expects to assist about 80,000 people of the nearly 200,000 target population.
  • In addition, WFP leads the emergency nutrition response across all Tigray with partners and is scaling up to reach people in as many as 70 woredas. Access, especially in rural areas, remains the primary challenge. WFP has delivered 315,000 emergency nutrition rations to children and women since February in 31 woredas. In May, WFP reached almost 100,000 children and pregnant or nursing women in all zones except for Western.
  • As well as supporting the overall response, WFP has delivered 40,000 metric tons of food for the Government and partners to Tigray and has transported 22,000 metric tons for National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC) within the region.
  • A total of 5.2 million people, 91 percent of Tigray’s population, need emergency food assistance due to conflict since last November.
  • Ahead of the results of a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) study of levels of hunger across Tigray, WFP is highly concerned at the number of people we see in need of nutrition support and emergency food assistance and is doing all it can to reach 2.1 million people in need in the coming months.
  • However, WFP needs US$203 million to continue to scale up its response in Tigray to save lives and livelihoods through to the end of the year.

Ethiopia: Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) – Eritrean Soldiers are Brutally Persecuting Civilians in Abay Chomen Region of West Oromia (30.05.2021)

Ethiopia: The Global Society of Tigray Scholars (GSTS) – A Call for Urgent Intervention to Stop Deliberate Starvation of Millions to Cause Mass Deah and Enduring Deprivation in Tigray (28.05.2021)

On this day in 1991: The EPRDF ended the ‘Red Terror’ – 30 years later, the Republic is under the ‘Medemer Terror’

In early 1991, the EPRDF, a Tigrean-led coalition of rebel organizations under the leadership of Meles Zenawi, began to achieve real successes and defeated the Ethiopian army, forcing military dictator Haile Mariam Mengistu to flee the country. On May 28, 1991, in the midst of cease-fire talks, EPRDF tanks entered Addis Ababa virtually unopposed. Soon after, a transition government was formed, with Meles Zenawi as its president. In July, a new democratic constitution was drafted, and Eritrean independence was acknowledged without incident” (History.com – ‘Ethiopian capital falls to rebels, ending 17 years of Marxist rule’ 26.05.2020).

On the 28th May 1991 was the end of the Red Terror and the new government was ushered in with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Who ended a war and ended 17 years of the Derg regime in Addis Ababa. Usually, through the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Defence Force (EPRDF) who made a new constitution and a settlement for the government.

This is why we should be worried about the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) and the current day leadership. Who has made the previous leadership and one of the leading parties in the liberation from one dictator. Has created another dictator and warlord. Who is now ushering in his ‘Medemer Terror’.

The Prosperity Party and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali is using the same constitution and powers given to them by the former liberators to usher in the same terror it was supposed to free the public. The same group of people and region is under fire, the Tigray is the target and the party who was leading the rebellious coalition is back to guerrilla warfare. That’s the tragedy here.

The republic have stagnated and gone back to civil war mode. The state has gone to target it’s own citizens like under the Derg times. Now it is ‘Medemer Terror’. It is the era of the Mad King and progressive” dictator. Abiy is the warlord and he will not generate peace in the near for-see-able future. Because, he has open up a can of worms and now he cannot put them back in the can.

All of the policies, use of armed personnel on unarmed civilians, using the scorched earth tactic and starvation as a method. Using arbitrary arrests, political detentions and extra judicial killings. There is so much ill in society and there is no signs of positive steps. This a terror and a horrific time in Ethiopia.

The Derg was its own ill and horrific past, but this generation is now living through their own. The EPRDF and TPLF did their oppressive actions. The EPRDF have their crimes and violations on the citizens during their reign. However, Abiy has been able to kill, destroy and deplete society to another level. He has overseen so many massacres, usage of arrests and politically prosecute his enemies. Therefore, the EPDRF constitution and it’s laws are now used not only on the TPLF who co-founded it, but everyone else who has lived through this era.

The current PP and AAA have no trouble unleashing the dragons, the mother of guns and usage of force, which only cause harm and scorn people for decades to come. When people will remember this time and recollect it, it won’t be with fondness or admiration, but more with heartache and sorrow. As everyone will know about the massacres, the rapes, the starvation and the use of military forces towards civilians. That’s in the Tigray region, but also elsewhere.

As this regime is using military might across the republic. The state is using the police and the authorities to keep the general public in shackles. Keep the opposition and dissidents behind bars. They are keeping or getting rid of anyone who opposes it. This sort of arrangement can only be associated with terror. It is no hope and no direct golden future. Only more devastation and destruction.

The Medemer Terror and its culprits will go down in history. Just like the men who was in-charge of the Red Terror. Abiy might have to flee to Yayah Jammeh and get shelter in Equatorial Guinea. If not ask for help in Harare like Hailemariam Mengistu.

Today isn’t a day to celebrate. It isn’t a day to bash in glory of the past. No, history is repeating itself and the damage is happening now. The state and it’s allies are killing, arresting and hurting civilians as we speak. There is no hope for safe-haven or security. Freedom, justice and liberty is only fancy words. Just like the drop-lets of sovereignty, rule of law, free and fair elections. We all know that will not happen with this regime in-charge.

This Prime Minister wouldn’t care about or even try to have open and credible elections. He just want to ensure by any means, that his Prosperity Party and his “Yes-Men” will be (s)elected in the up-coming election. This party and these “honourable” individuals rather see their enemies suffer, tortured and even die. As long as they are in power and rules supreme. They will throw the book at you. Use all lies and deceptions. They will ensure their “right” even when everyone knows they are wrong.

We are seeing the ‘Medemer Terror’ and we have to hope that it will end. We got to hope someone can make it stop. That someone has the ability and the character to make it end. As there is guerrilla war, state of emergency and command post activities across the Republic. There is all sort of ill behaviour and there is no end in sight. There’s now sort of finalization or possible ending chapter. The lives are taken and we are supposed to move on. People are killed, people are arrested and people are violated by state officers. Still, they promise that the republic will prevail, but to what end? Who is it prevailing for?

It is not prevailing for the Ogaden, Afar, Oromia or Tigray. Maybe it’s prevailing for Amhara and Finfinne. Though that is margin of error and God knows, if they will find enemies there too. The ‘Medemer Terror’ will haunt us and generations will be shocked that we let it happen. Peace.

Ethiopia: UN condemns the arbitrary and brutal arrest of at least 200 IDPs in military-led raids in Shire town (Tigray Region) – (27.05.2021)

The Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, Dr. Catherine Sozi, condemns the arbitrary arrest, beatings and other forms of ill-treatment of more than 200 people by soldiers, which occurred during military raids of IDP settings – Tsehaye (hosting some 8,000 IDPs) and Adi Wonfito (hosting some 4,000 IDPs) – in Shire town in the Tigray region during the night of 24 May 2021.

“International humanitarian and human rights law strictly prohibit the arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment of any person”, Dr. Sozi said, calling on the immediate release of all those who have been arbitrarily arrested. “Serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law must be promptly investigated, and the perpetrators brought to justice”, she underlined. “In addition, anyone who is arrested on criminal charges must be afforded judicial guarantees in line with international law.”

“We reiterate our calls on all parties to the conflict to adhere to human rights and humanitarian law principles, including those relating to IDPs”, Dr. Sozi emphasised.

She added that the United Nations and its humanitarian partners urge enhanced efforts to protect the civilian population. “We are ready to engage with military commanders on ensuring the protection of civilians through regular dialogue and implementation of good practice.”

Ethiopia: Ministry of Foreign Affairs – On allegations of arbitrary arrest of IDPs in Shire (28.05.2021)

Ethiopia: ICRC – Fear and lack of farming supplies risk severe long-term food shortages (28.05.2021)

As fighting in pockets of Ethiopia’s Tigray region continues and food supplies dwindle, local farmers not only lack seeds and fertilizer ahead of the planting season but fear runs high.

Endrias Kidane states: “Our children are suffering. Whenever we hear the sound of a corrugated iron we all run thinking its gunshots. We run everywhere to the hills and mountains.”

Weyzero Haregu Teshale adds: “The land cannot grow crops without fertilizer and the fertilizers we had were looted.”

Without the necessary agricultural supplies, the dramatic food shortages already seen in the region will continue to grow and thousands of people may not have enough to eat during the planting season.

To help farmers who can safely access their agricultural land grow cereal crops for the next year, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in partnership with the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, is distributing seeds and two varieties of fertilizer to 16,000 families in central zone of Tigray Region.

“The farming communities we recently visited are struggling. They can only afford two meals a day instead of three, and the variety of what they eat has become very poor,” said Amila Suriyarathne, who heads the economic security program for the ICRC in Ethiopia. “The farming season in Tigray starts soon, and things can deteriorate very quickly if farmers can’t plant crops.”

Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood in rural Tigray. However, climate and soil in this mountainous area pose significant challenges to farmers, who heavily depend on fertilizer to boost food production. Since armed violence flared up last November, agricultural seeds and subsidized fertilizers on credit from cooperative unions, vital for growing crops in the region, have been unavailable.

At the same time, an estimated one million displaced people have been relying on the support of the host communities who shared their already limited resources and whose food stores are running dangerously low. Many farming communities suffered from looting that further undermined their ability to produce food.

A recent analysis by the ICRC of the food security situation in the region found that families who now can afford to eat two meals a day may soon be forced to eat only one per day. The violence in the region, aside from affecting the agricultural cycle, is also making it difficult for families to find additional work to help them afford more food.

Ethiopia: UNFPA – Urgent funding needed to assist survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Tigray (27.05.2021)

UNFPA is providing medical and psychosocial care to survivors, including a safe space where they can heal.

TIGRAY, Ethiopia, May 27, 2021 – “I was running from place to place without food or shelter. I was in fear all the time… There was no safe place for me until I got to the safe house,” 22-year-old Selam* recounted to UNFPA.

Selam was in an extremely delicate physical and psychosocial state when she arrived. She had been displaced by conflict that continues to rage in parts of the region, and had repeatedly faced harrowing levels of sexual violence.

“Life didn’t have any sense for her anymore,” explained a social worker, who handled Selam’s case.

It is estimated that thousands of women and girls, like Selam, have experienced sexual violence and are in urgent need of supportive services.

“I see women and girls arriving here so traumatized and depressed due to prolonged suffering, distress and horrendous violence that they cry and cannot eat for days,” added the social worker, whose name is being withheld for security reasons.

UNFPA is providing medical and psychosocial care to survivors, including a safe space where they can heal. These services are crucial for survivors, who need not only immediate responses but also longer-term solutions, including security and stability.

Reported sexual violence is just the tip of the iceberg

Nearly six months of fighting, forced displacement and dire living conditions have created a high-risk environment for women and girls. Gender-based violence has become a daily reality for many across Tigray.

Reports of sexual and gender-based violence are numerous, and they likely represent just a fraction of the real incidence. Gender-based violence is largely unreported even under normal circumstances – with only 23 percent of survivors ever seeking assistance, according to a 2016 survey.

“Survivors fear seeking care due to social stigma, further retaliation or limited access to service providers,” said Tesfu Alemu, a UNFPA programme officer. “Silence is a widespread coping mechanism, but survivors must know about the benefits of seeking care and that help is available.”

This care can make all the difference.

“I didn’t know that there were people who can help or do anything, even that women have rights. I found out when I arrived at the safe house,” said Selam.

“They really change here,” the social worker said of survivors at the safe house.

“I have never received such a dignified care in my life,” Selam added.

Need to scale up

As the conflict drags on, UNFPA estimates that tens of thousands of people may end up requiring medical services to address sexual and gender-based violence in Tigray and the neighbouring conflict-affected regions of Amhara and Afar. Yet only 29 per cent of health facilities in Tigray are partially available to provide clinical management of rape; none are fully available.

And while an estimated 1 in 5 people affected by conflict experience a mental health condition, according to World Health Organization researchers, the availability of mental health and psychosocial support is far below the current needs.

“The long-standing impact of the crisis in Tigray on women and girls, and the disruption of systems and services they normally rely on, underscores the acute needs for comprehensive assistance for sexual and gender-based violence, including mental and psychosocial first aid,” said Diana Garde, UNFPA’s humanitarian coordinator.

UNFPA is currently scaling up its support to safe houses, which not only provide clinical management of rape and psychosocial counselling, but also connect women to other sexual and reproductive health services. UNFPA is also expanding the availability of one-stop centres – which provide a wide range of care – and women’s and girls’ safe spaces across the conflict-affected regions. UNFPA is also providing medical supplies and equipment to restore health system services.

UNFPA currently requires at least $12 million to provide this life-saving support, of which less than 40 per cent has been funded.

As for Selam, she says she is determined to move forward. She has found hope and purpose, she said, in part because of the inner strength she summoned while at the safe house.

“When I leave this house, I would like to train and help other women like me in my community,” she said.