Tigray Conflict and the Ethiopian Military War Crimes on the People of Tigray

In this article, Jardar Alai explains this ongoing conflict.

Picture Credit: AlJazeera

Ethiopian refugees from the northern province of Tigray have fled to Sudan. They have reported that Ethiopian military officers have ruined their homes and massacred their families. Over 50,000 people have fled the Tigray province to seek peace and get away from the civil war in Tigray province. 80 ethnicities are found in Ethiopia but the largest are the Amhara and Oromo. Ethiopia is a country with sectarianism, but Amhara and Oromo control most of Ethiopian politics. Many of the leaders of the Tigray province feel unrepresented in Ethiopia and because of the sectarianism in Ethiopia they want to be independent. The Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed has delayed the Ethiopian Election because of the Pandemic and he is getting criticism because of that. After that he ordered the military to go into the Tigray province. Many see this as Ahmed trying to get less publicity about his delaying of the election. The local government of Tigray decided to break away from Ethiopia and they formed the Tigray people liberation front (TPLF). They saw the decision of Prime minister Abiy Ahmed as a coup d'état. The Ethiopian military is not sparing anybody. Every town that the Ethiopians get, the civilians have to pay. Reports from escaped refugees have told that their families are getting massacred, tortured and their homes ruined. One of the refugees named, Zeray Gabrgeorgis, told CNN that the soldiers had beaten them with their rifles and he showed his back where he got hit. Fayouri, another of the refugees said that she was attacked by the military while being 9 months pregnant. She fled with her baby and her mother-in-law to Sudan while her family was killed by the military. Prime minister Abiy Ahmed has blocked communication between Tigray and the rest of the world. That has made it hard to get information of battles, casualties and the new life of the civilians in Tigray. The information that we are getting are testimonies from victims of war crimes brought by the military. The UN are having a debate about humanitarian aid with the Ethiopian government. The Ethiopian government doesn't want to provide aid to Tigray province and the government has detained some of the UN staffers in Tigray. After a few days of discussions, Ethiopian government has made the suggestion that aid can come to the Ethiopian controlled areas in Tigray and the UN staffer got released. Other countries around the region have started supporting which side they want to be in the conflict. Egypt and Sudan are lending their support to the TPLF otherwise has Somalia decided to give their support to the Ethiopian Government. Turkey has a good relationship with the East African nations and Turkey want to get more influence on other countries, so they are siding with Ethiopia. The EU has decided to not involve themselves in the conflict and former aid (109 million dollars) that EU promised to Ethiopia will not be given to Ethiopia after end of the conflict. This a difficult conflict to understand because of a lot of different side of the conflict. The conflict is sign of bad cooperation between the many sects of Ethiopia and where some have more influents than others. The conflict is hurting the civilian population the most where they are experiencing war crimes. Tigray people that live in other provinces are also being discriminated because of their origins. Sources: 1.Die Welle EU suspends budget support over Tigray conflict (16.12.2020) https://www.dw.com/en/ethiopia-eu-suspends-budget-support-over-tigray-conflict/a-55944784 2. Caspian report Ethiopia lurches towards civil war (1.12.2020 )https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=henqcu4-sqc 3.CNN More than two million children in Ethiopia's Tigray region cut off from humanitarian aid, UN says (16.12.2020) https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/16/africa/ethiopia-tigray-un-children-humanitarian-aid-intl/index.html 4. AP Ethiopia’s forces shoot at, detain UN staffers in Tigray(8.12.2020) https://apnews.com/article/africa-ethiopia-united-nations-kenya-f945a81239325a418ee22f123058f39f

Link to a video that visually explains the conflict

https://youtu.be/henqcu4-sqc