Saturday, January 08, 2022
Refugee camp attacked?
56 people killed in air strike in Ethiopia
Fighting between the TPLF and the central government has been going on in Ethiopia for over a year. While 56 people are killed in an air strike, the government releases several opposition prisoners at the same time to “pave the way for a permanent solution”.
According to aid workers, 56 people are killed in an air strike in the conflict region of Tigray. 30 other people were injured, said two helpers, citing eyewitnesses and local authorities. According to the two, the target of the air strike on Friday evening was a refugee camp in Dedebit in the northwest of the region on the border with Eritrea.
Over a year ago fighting broke out in the Tigray region between troops from the People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)-led regional government and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s central government. Thousands of people have already been killed in the fighting, and more than two and a half million people have fled.
Ethiopia is a federation of ten regional states, ethnic affiliations play a very important role. There are often conflicts between the regions, such as Tigray and Amhara arguing about the borderline. The country in the Horn of Africa was dominated by the Tigray region and the TPLF for three decades. When Abiy became prime minister of the central government in 2018, the TPLF lost much of its influence. Their return to power would meet with resistance, especially in Oromiya – the region’s capital Addis Ababa, and the Oromo make up the majority of the population. Abiy herself belongs to the Oromo and also has family roots in Amhara.
Several opposition prisoners released
At the same time, several prominent oppositional prisoners were released as part of an amnesty. Among those affected were several representatives of the opposition and the rebel group TPLF, the exact number of those released was initially unclear. The government surprisingly announced the move on Friday and published a list with the names of several opposition leaders from the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups as well as leading TPLF members. “The aim is to pave the way for a permanent solution to the problems of Ethiopia, in a peaceful and non-violent way,” said Addis Ababa. “The key to lasting unity is dialogue.”
It was initially unclear how many of the people affected by the amnesty had already been released from prison. It was also unclear whether the Ethiopian government had offered the TPLF negotiations. The high-ranking TPLF members who were on the government’s list include party founder Sibhat Nega, the former president of the crisis region Tigray, Abay Woldu, and the former ambassador to Sudan, Abadi Zemu. According to his party, the opposition politician Eskinder Nega has already been released. The Balderas party published a photo on Facebook showing Eskinder and a colleague in front of a prison where both were imprisoned.
Eskinder and other opposition activists were arrested in 2020 after a bloody riot. The Oromo media mogul and Abiys’ former ally, Jawar Mohammed, and his party colleague Bekele Gerba, were also released, according to their lawyer. UN Secretary General António Guterres welcomed the amnesty and said that he was still “actively trying to support Ethiopia” in order to “restore peace and stability”.
USA sees serious human rights violations
The government’s announcement coincided with the celebration of Orthodox Christmas in Ethiopia. On this occasion, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called for “national reconciliation”. In a further statement, however, he referred to the members of the TPLF as “snakes”.
The United Nations accuses all parties to the conflict with serious human rights violations. According to the United Nations, 9.4 million people need food aid. Several opposition representatives were arrested in Ethiopia in July 2020. Previously, there had been violent unrest after the popular singer Hachalu Hundessa from the Oromo ethnic group was killed in the capital Addis Ababa.