Inviting Foreign Countries to Commit Mass Atrocities in Tigray: How Ethiopia is abusing its Sovereignty By Desta, Asayehgn - Sarlo Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Economic Development

As stated in the international humanitarian and human rights law, the United States applying “sovereignty as responsibility” is attempting to apply economic and political sanction against Ethiopian Government because the Ethiopian National Federal Forces in collaborators with other foreign governments has committed crimes of mass atrocities related to genocide, starvation, looting and the raping of underage girls and women in Tigray, Ethiopia.Though the Abiy regime of Ethiopia has voluntarily forfeited its sovereignty by inviting foreign countries to invade its citizens, now it has not only started denouncing the United States for meddling in the internal affairs of Ethiopia but it also anchoring on his power to galvanize his supporters and stage massive demonstration against the United States of America. The central question of this paper is: Can the sanctions imposed by the United States of America on Ethiopia for waging war of annihilation against the people of Tigray amount to the violation of Ethiopia’s sovereignty?

A brief review of studie# Established in thef Westphalia in 1648, state sovereignty was specifically established to give every state an exclusive rights within its domestic jurisdiction. Being equal to one another and having the sole authority, the Westphalia state sovereignty was codified to prohibit the intervention of one state on the domestic affairs of another state (Tan, Oct 9, 2017).Over the thirty and half years, the Westphalia sovereignty remained relevant from the principle of non-interference.

 Nonetheless, as it gave unlimited authority to dictators, it faced challenge from human rights advocates. Thus, without infringing a country’s sovereignty, the 1648 Westphalia state sovereignty was amended in 1948 to make humanistic by incorporate statements that states be given the responsibilities with obligation to hold their citizens’ rights to be free from mass atrocity crimes and human rights abusesFurthermore, under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) of 2005, states were made to know that they could relinquish their sovereignty provided they are found to commit or allow mass atrocities related to genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against their citizens (Etzioni, March 10, 2016, and Glanville, 2011)Over the thirty and half years, the Westphalia sovereignty remained relevant from the principle of non-interference. Nonetheless, as it gave unlimited authority to dictators, it faced challenge from human rights advocates.

 Thus, without infringing a country’s sovereignty, the 1648 Westphalia state sovereignty was amended in 1948 to make humanistic by incorporate statements that states be given the responsibilities with obligation to hold their citizens’ rights to be free from mass atrocity crimes and human rights abuses.Furthermore, under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) of 2005, states were made to know that they could relinquish their sovereignty provided they are found to commit or allow mass atrocities related to genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against their citizens (Etzioni, March 10, 2016, and Glanville, 2011).

To summarize, according to the 1648 Westphalian accord, states were given the exclusive rights within their domestic jurisdiction to calm down various religious types of conflicts. Stated differently, states were made to be exclusively prohibited from intervening into the domestic affairs of other states. However, following World War II, states were further accorded additional responsibility to protect (R2P) the welfare of their citizens from mass atrocity crimes.Provided states fail to uphold their responsibility to protect the human rights of its citizens, the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2005 further endorsed that other states have the obligation to intervene and protect human rights of the then aggressed citizens. Clarifying the dilution of that might exist in the concept of sovereignty as a control, it was ascertained to incorporate responsibility in both internal functions and external duties (Evans and Sahnoun et al (2001).Analysis and ConclusionEthiopia being a member of the League of Nations and the United Nations, it needs to be appreciated for being one of signatory nations that it agreed to protect the welfare of its citizens from internal mass atrocity and see that it agreed to practice sovereignty as responsibility.

Nonetheless, after signing voluntarily that sovereignty cannot be used as carte blanche for states to committee all forms of atrocities (Tan, Oct 9, 2017), it is a disgrace for Ethiopia to see that the Abiy’s regime invited and collaborated with other nations such as, the well-known dictator, Isaias Afework of Eritrea, Somalia’s armed forces, and United Arab Emirates’ drones to wag a full-scale war to annihilate the citizens of Tigray.

Given the various horrible atrocities committed in Tigray, the Abiy regime doesn’t either have the moral nor the legal grounds to act as the guardian of Ethiopia’s sovereignty (Ashenafi (May, 21, 2021). In addition, the Abiy regime should be ashamed to accuse the United States for imposing economic and political sanctions against Ethiopia. After all, the sanctions that United States is intending to impose on Ethiopia is nothing but is in line with the international obligation of the 2005 that each member nation signed to fulfill case of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.

In a violation of the territorial boundaries of regional states established in the

1995 Ethiopian constitution, it was very awful that the Abiy regime organized the Amhara militia forces and the genocidal fano forces to cross their boundaries, enter Tigray and expropriate the Tigrayans from their respective territories and made about 71,000 flee as refugees to the Sudan. Therefore, it is a high time that the international community collaborate together to disparage Ethiopia from abusing sovereignty and attempting to use it as a dreadful formula for the extermination of Tigreans (Security and Justice for Tigreans (SJTE) in Ethiopia, June 7, 2021).

The conclusion that could be reached from the above analysis that the Abiy regime has voluntarily forfeited sovereignty when it invited foreign countries to invade its own citizens. Moreover, now, the Abiy regime is abusing sovereignty against the United States for its decision to impose economic and political sanctions against Ethiopia in order to partially protect the Tigrayan victims. Therefore, given the war crimes being committed in Tigray are unparalleled in human history, the international community has the duty and responsibility to prosecute Abiy as the perpetrator of “heinous international crimes” (See also, SJTE, June 7, 2021).


References:

Ashenafi , F. (March 21, 2021). “Hiding behind the Sovereignty skirt: Ethiopia’s

Foreign Ministry Statement.” aigaforum.com/articles2021/Hiding-under-the- Sovereignty-skirt.htm

Deng, F. etal (1996). Sovereignty as Responsibility: Conflict Management in Africa. Brookings Institution Press, M. (2011).

Desta, A. (Feb. 13, 2021). “Reversing History: Eritrea’s form of colonialism progressing in Tigray (Ethiopia) in the 21st Century. Tigrai online.

Evans, G, Sahnoun et al (2011). “The Responsibility to Protect: Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty.” Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.

Etzioni.A (March 10, 2016). “Defining Down Sovereignty: The Rights and Responsibilities of Nations.” Ethics & International Affairs.

Glanville, L. (2011). “The Antecedents of “Sovereignty as Responsibility.” European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 17, No. 2.

Krasner, S. (1999). Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy. Princeton: Princeton University

Press.

Securities and Justice for Tigreans in Ethiopia (June 7, 2021). “His Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations.”

Tan, S. (Oct 9, 2017). “The Uses and Abuses of Sovereignty.” Foreign Policy.

World Summit Outcome (September 15, 2005). “Draft resolution refereed to High –level Plenary Meeting on the General Assembly, 59th Session.


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ህጹጽ ጻዊዒት ንመንግስታት ዓለምና ንሂወት ሰላማዊ ህዝቢ ትግራይ ንምድሓም!!! ሰማእታትና፣ ወርሒ ሰኔ ጥራይ ዘይኮነ ሙሉእ ዓመት ይዘከሩ!!! ዲሞክራስያዊ ዉድብ ብሄረ ብሌን ኤርትራ

 እዚ ወርሒ እዚ ሰማእታትና ንዝክረሉ ወርሒ’ዩ። ኣብ’ዚ ናይ ሎሚ ዘመን ዝኽርና ግን ንህዝቢ ትግራይ ቐዳምነት ክንህቦ ወሲና። ሰማእታትና ኣዕኑድ ታሪኽና፣ ባና ጽባሕ ናጽነትና፣ ክብርናን ኩርዓትናን ኣብ ዓመት ሓንሳብ ዘይኮነ መዓልታዊ ሕድሪ ናቶም እናፈጸምና’ና ክንዝክሮም’ዩ ዝግባኣና። ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኣዋርቕ ደቑ ‘’ዓወት ንሓፋሽ’’ እናበሉ ዝወደቑሉ ሎሚ ኣብ ሲኦል ክነብር ምርኣይና ዝያዳ የሕርነና ኣሎ። ኣብ ዓዲ ሓቒ መቐለ ቆይማ ዘላ ሃዉልቲ ሰማእታት ህዝቢ ትግራይ ከኣ ካብ ቐደም ንላዕሊ ክደምቕ ሙዃና ንኣምን። ነቶም ምእንቲ ፍትሒ ኣብ ሞቑሕ ዘለዉ’ውን ብጥዕና ሓርነት ሃገሮም ክርእዩ ተዓጢቅና ክንቓለስ 20 ሰኔ ዳግም ቓልና ንሓድሰላ ዕለት ሙዃና ንኹሉ ደላይ ፍትሒ ነዘኻኽር። ክቡርትን ክቡራንን ህዝቢ ኤርትራ፣ እዛ ሎሚ ነበልብላ ዘሎና ምልክት ናጽነትና ባንዴራ ንግደ ሓቒ ንሕና በይንና ኣይወደቅናላን። መንግስቲ ደርጊ፣ ሓዲስ መሳርያታት ካብ ደገፍቱ ተዓጢቑ ፈላጣት ኮምንደርስ ወሲኹ ካብ ገጽ ምድሪ ከጥፋኣና ከምጽእ እንከሎ እንኮ ምሳና ደዉ ዝበሉ ሂወቶምን ግዜኦምን ሞራልን ዝኾኑና ኣሕዋትና ተጋሩ ተጋድልቲ ህወሓት’ዮም። ድሕሪ ደርጊ ምዕናዉ’ውን ዲሞክራስያዊ ሩፑፕሊክ መንግስቲ ኢትዮጵያ፣ ኣብ ግዜ ረፈረንዱም ብናዉትን ብሞራልን ብሕጋዊ መንገዱን ዝደገፉና ንሶም ህወሓት’ዮም። ህወሓት ብሰንኪ እዚ ቅኑዕ መስመሮም ግዳይ ከም ዝኾኑ’ውን ኩሉ ብዓል ህልና ኤርትራዊ ዘይክሕዶ’ዩ።

 እዚ ቅድሚ ሾብዓተ ወርሒ ዝተወልዔ ኲናት ንመንግስትን ህዝብን ትግራይ እንተዘይንበርኪኽና መስመር ትምክሕቲ ኣብ ኤርትራን ኢትዮጵያን ክዕወት ኣይ ክእልን’ዩ ዝብል ኣጅነዳ ናይ ብዙሓት ሽርሒ’ዩ። ብሰማይን ብምድርን ዝጎስዕ ኣጽዋር ዓጢቖሞም ብገንዘብን መዳልያን ድማ መሪቖሞም። እዚ ኲናት ጸረ ህዝብን ጸረ ሰላምን ጸረ ዲሞክራስን’ዩ። ዲዉብብኤ ነዚ ናይ ፋሺሽቲ ኲናት ይኹንኖ። ንሕና ኤርትራዉያን ኣብ ግዜ ጣልያን ብሓይሊ ባንዳታት ጥልያን ኮና ንኢትዮጵያ ንሶማል ንሊብያ ወጊእና’ና። ሃገርና ዶባታ ብመሬት ምስ ስለስተ ብባሕሪ ድማ ካብ ባብ ኤልመንደብ ክሳብ ሱወዝ ካናል ምስ ሓምሽተ ሃገራት ትዳውብ። ምስ እዘን ኩለን ሃገራት ሰላምን ርጉእ ናይ ቑጠባ ዝምድናን የብልናን። ንየምን ክትዓኑ ካብ ዓሰብ ነፈርትን ድሮናትን ክበራ መሬትና ተዋሂቡ። ሰቕ ኢልና። ሎሚ ብኢድና ብእግርና ንጎርቤት ሃገር ወሪርና። እሞ ንህዝቢ ትግራይ። ካብ እዘን ኩልን ሃገራት ዓለማት እታ ብሂወት ደቓ ኣብ ግዜ ቓልስና ዝደገፈትና ትግራይ ከም ዝነበረት መን ይርስዖ። ሎሚ ዝኾነ ፍጡር ወዲ ሰብ ክግብሮ ዘይግባእ ወንጄል ብባንዳታት ኢሰብ ኢሳያስ ኣብ ትግራይ ይፍጸም ከም ዘሎ ናይ ዓለም ዜናን ናይ መራሕቲ ዓለም ሃብታማት መንግስታትን ዛዕባ ኮይኑ ኣሎ። ንትምክሕቲ ስርዓት ኢትይጵያ መንግስቲ ፋሺስቲ ኢሳያስ ዓንዲ ሕቆ ኮይኑ ከም ዘሎ ዓለም ብኹሉ ይዛረብ ኣሎ። ኣብ ጎቦታት ሳሕል ፋሕ ኢሉ ዘሎ ኣዕጽምቲ ናይ ተጋደልቲ ትግራይ ሰማእታት ከይወግኣናን ንታሪኽና ጸሊም ከይንገድፍን ብህጹጽ ኣብ ልብናን ቀልብናን ንመለስ። ዲሞክራስያዊ ዉድብ ብሄረ ብሌን ኤርትራ/ሆደ ናይ ዓለም ሕቡራት መንግስታትን ትካል ጸጥታ ቤት ምኽሪ፣ ብጥሜትን ብጥይትን ብሕሱም ጭቆናን ንዝጸንት ዘሎ ህዝቢ ትግራይ ሽዓ ክርድኦ ንጹዉዕ። በቲ ዝሓሸ ዝብልዎ መንገዲ ንህዝቢ 2 ትግራይ ምስ ወኪላቱ ተሳንዮም ሂወት ሰብ ከድሕኑ ብዕሊ ጻዊዒትና ነቅርብ ኣሎና። ነዚ ጽሑፍና እትድግፉ ኣሓትን ኣሕዋትን ግዲታኹም ክትገብሩ’ውን ንጽዉዕ። ካልእ ክንግብሮ ዝግባእና እንተሎ’ውን ቅሩቡነትና ንገልጽ። ዲሞክራስያዊ ዉድብ ብሄረ ብሌን ኤርትራ/ሆደ እዚ ኲናት ቅድሚ ምጅማሩ ናይ ኢሳያስን ኣብን ምሕዝነት ክሳክሳብ ክንደይ መዘዝ ኣብ ቐርኒ ኣፍሪቓ ከምጽእ ከም ዝኾነ ጺሕፍና’ና።

 ሎሚ ዘሎ ኲናት’ውን ‘’ዶብ ምሕንጻጽን ንሕጊ ምኽባር’’ ዝብልዎ ሸፍጥ’ዩ። አብ ኢትዮጵያ ብናይ ህዝብታት ቃልሲ ንዝተተኽለ ፈደራላዊ ስርዓት አፍሪስካ፡ አብ ክንድኡ ንስርዓት ህግደፍ ዝመስል ብዉልቐ መላኺ እትማሓደር ኢትዮጵያ ክምስርቱ ነዚ መሰለይ ዝብል ህዝቢ ትግራይ ምምብርካኽ ናይ ቐዳምነት ቐዳማይ መደቦም’ዩ። እዚ ግን ሕልሚ’ዩ። ፍሽስታውያን ዕምሮም ሓጺር’ዩ። ንሕና ደጊፍና ኣይደግፍና ህዝቢ ትግራይ ክዕወት’ዩ። ኣብ ድሮ ኣዉድኣመት ዓወት ህዝቢ ትግራይ እንተኾነ ቅድሚኡ ጸሓይና ክትበርቕ ንሕና’ውን ኣብ ጎኒ ህዝቢ ትግራይ ኮና ብመትከል ንቓለስ። መሬት ንርእሳ ኢላ ምስ ወግሔት ጣዕሳ አይጠቅምን`ዩ። ጭዋ ባህልና ብህግደፍ ተብሪዙ ኣሎ። ንድለዮ ንሓድሶ ንተዓጠቆ፣ ንሱ’ዩ ዘሰማማዓናን ዘዕዉተናን ዘኽብረናንን። ባህሊ ዘይብሉ ህዝቢ ኩሉ’ዩ ዝጻወተሉ። መጻወቲ ከይንኸዉን ኣብ ክቡር ባህልና ንመለስ። ካብ ዝፈላልዩና ዘራኽቡና ይበዝሑ፣ ዘባእስ ባህሊ ፋሺስቲ’ዩ ንቐሓሉ ወጊድ ንበሎ። ዲሞክራስያዊ ዉድብ ብሄረ ብሌን ኤርትራ/ሆደ ከም ስሙ ንመሰል ዉጹዓት ይቓልስ። መረበቱ ድማ ምድሪ ብሌን’ዩ። ኣብ ምድሪ ብሌን ብሓፈሻ ድማ ኣብ ምዕራባዊ ወገን ሃገርና ‘’ዓሳ ንምሓዝ ባሕሪ ክንጽፍ ኣለዎ’’ ዝብል ጭርሖ ተከቲሎም ሰራዊት ኢትዮጵያ ሓደ ሺሕ ዝኸዉን ኣብ ሓንቲ መዓልቲ ንሰላማዊ ህዝቢ ናይ ዓድታት ዖናን በስክዲራን ቐቲሎም ገዝኡን ማሉን ግራቱን ድማ ኣንዲዶም። እዚ ቑስሊ ኣሎና። ከም’ዚ ጥፍኣት ግደፉ ናብ ንፈትዎም ንጸልኦም እኳ ክወርድ ኣይንምኔን። ጸሊም ታሪኽ ንደቅና ክንገድፍ ኣይንደልን። ኣብ’ዚ ግዜ ኩሉ ፋታዉ ፍትሒ ምስ ህዝቢ ትግራይ ደዉ ክብል ግዴታ ኣለዎ። ሞት ደቅና ኣብ መንገዲ ስደትን ኣብ ዘይፍትሓዊ ኲናት ደዉ ክብል ቅኑዕ መትከል ህዝቢ ንትዓጠቕ። 

ናይ ውጽዓት አህዛብ ምሕዝነት ንዘለአለም ይንበር!! 

ህዝቢ ትግርይን ህዝቢ ኤርትራን ክዕወት`ዩ!! 

ዉድቐት ንፋሺስታዊ ጥምረት!!! 

ዲሞክራስያዊ ዉድብ ብሄረ ብሌን/ሆደ

Hidden horrors in the Tigray War: The allies` ethos of cruelty By Berhane G

 Since the war begun on November 4, 2020, in Tigray region, the allied forces (Ethiopia soldiers, Amhara Militia and Eritrean soldiers) murdered thousands of civilians, violently raped women and girls aging from 4 to 70s, and destructed all infrastructures of the region. Why?

In November, 2020, religious festival in Mariam Dengelat was turned into a massacre by Eritrean soldiers. The soldiers murdered the priests, old men and women, entire families and a group of more than 20 Sunday school children, some as young as 14 in the church.  Similarly, Eritrean soldiers massacred hundreds of civilians in the city of Axum on 28-29 November 2020, opening fire in the streets and conducting house-to-house raids.

Ethiopian soldiers killed dozens of youths in Mahbere Dego (near Axum). The corpses were thrown to the hill. Videos of the massacres are not time stamped but the massacres are believed to have started on 15 January 2021 and continued for several days. The massacres occurred in a similar way as so many massacres in Tigray. Most massacres in Tigray are not yet reported because of the communication blockage. But to mention few: The massacres of Bora, in southern Tigray, The massacres of Waldba and Maikadra in western Tigray, the massacres in Erop, and Mariam church around Zalambesa, Multiple massacres in central Tigray and many others ….

Wherever the allied soldiers were deployed, they perpetrated barbaric crimes against humanity. Villages of Tigray have been burning for more than half a year, innocent civilians have been burnt/wounded by artilleries and white phosphorus bombs. Civilians have been murdered in every village and town indiscriminately. Besides, the soldiers impeded the distribution of humanitarian aid access to the people who are in need of food assistance. 

Such grim statistics beg questions: Why were the allied forces especially Eritrean soldiers and Amhara militia so deliberately brutal towards the people of Tigray? What were the causes of such behavior? Can we ever understand why they committed crimes that go so far beyond generally accepted military conduct? Let’s see them one by one:

Eritrea’s barbarism had its roots in the nation’s dictatorship history. Since 1991, a hereditary military dictatorship known as Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) has been ruling Eritrea, isolating it from the rest of the world. For more than three decades, the dictatorship Isaias Afeworki has trained, and brainwashed massive military forces whose code demanded rigid loyalty to their liege lord and suicidal bravery when ever ordered, demanding and receiving their subjects’ unquestioning obedience.

There is a way that Farmers in a village train dogs to be tough. At early age of the puppy, they put it in a dark room. They isolate it from contacts even with the family members. They beat it and make it angered. They even cut its ears and tail. A dog trained and treated in such way become the most cruel/tough. In a similar way, Isaias Afework has been training his soldiers in an endless military service in SAWA. The brainwashed soldiers have no mercy for all humans including their comrades if ordered. They only know how to kill people but nothing else.

After the independence of Eritrea, Eritreans had hope and ambition that their country would be one of the democratic and developed countries in Africa. Eritrea has ample natural resource specially the sea and ports it has are the potentials for its development. But unfortunately, the government has no clear development strategy. Leaving all domestic potentials behind, the government has been engaged in exploiting resource from neighbour countries. The government invaded Yemen, Djibouti and Ethiopia. It also engaged in multiple conflicts with Sudan.

In 1998, Eritrean government invaded Ethiopia that resulted in a brutal defeat for itself. The war ended in 2000. Since then, Isaias Afework has been blaming the Tigray Liberation Front (TPLF) for all problems in Eritrea. The only agenda allowed to raise in Eritrea was about how to retaliate TPLF. Asking about economic development or democracy was banned. Because of this blind strategy, most Eritrean youths became desperate and fled to Ethiopia, Europe, middle east and to other countries. But like a lion hiding to hunt a deer, Isaias Afework has been waiting to take retaliation against TPLF.

On the other hand, the current top leaders of the government of Ethiopia including PM Abiy Ahmed have extreme enmity against TPLF that emanates from inferiority complex. Most of the generals including General Birhanu Jula who were soldiers of the Derg regime have also the same problem. Those generals were surrendered by TPLF in war fronts and gave a chance to join Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) a coalition party that includes TPLF and fought the Derg regime. They were trained and grown up under the TPLF generals. As the civilian officials, those generals also have inferiority complex. All were preparing to retaliate TPLF once they get chance

When Abiy Ahmed came to power in April 2018 following the political unrest mainly orchestrated by members of the party EPRDF who had been working clandestinely with the Government of Eritrea and other governments who wanted to overthrow EPRDF, he planned to consolidate the power and form Unitary government. As soon as he seized the power, he sacked TPLF leaders from the Federal level Institutions, removed many of the regional leaders and replaced them by his pupates illegally. He forcefully removed the Somali regional government. But it was not easy to remove the Tigray regional government that has strong support by Tigrayans. He was preparing for more than two years.

Advisors of the PM and some Amhara politicians who are instrumental in hatching the war in Tigray, termed their blind obedience insisting, “It is necessary to have political, economical, cultural, national defense, and everything else all focused on in one being, the united Ethiopia.” Abiy, for his part, believed it to rule the country in one command. He published a book called MEDEMER as a road map. The medias that are propaganda machines of the government reinforced the concepts of MEDEMER. These ideas found especially willing disciples in the Amhara political elites. Amhara Elites are the sole enemy of TPLF and Tigray people. They believed that the project of Unitary Ethiopia which had been bult by mainly Amhara political elites was collapsed and changed to Federal system of governance by TPLF. The new federal system gives the right to self- administration, equality to all Ethiopian cultures, languages and religions. Amhara political elites don`t accept such administration. Due to this, they have been working day and night for the last 27 years to dismantle the federal system and to take revenge against TPLF. 

The governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia, and Amhara regional government allied mainly to target their common Enemy-TPLF. Some innocent Ethiopians and other countries may believe that Abiy Ahmed brought peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea and the potential war between the countries was closed. But in reality, there is nothing done but Isaias, Abiy Ahmed and Amhara region agreed clandestinely to wage war on the regional government of Tigray to over throw TPLF and subdue the people of Tigray.

Led by Abiy Ahmed, the unitary system of governance sought to return Ethiopia to a prosperous country in which the Prosperity party would rule unchallenged and the PM would wield absolute power. The main objective of Abiy Ahmed is consolidating power that helps him to be the king of Ethiopia. He planned to crush all opponents that he believes to be obstacles for his destine. He was sure that TPLF would be the main obstacle and strategized to produce documentaries to label as socially outcast. The state medias produced fabricated documentaries and televised repeatedly. 

Amhara region and Isaias Afework have similar objectives: retake land that they claim and retaliate against their common enemy TPLF. Both have done the same strategy as Abiy Ahmed has done.

From day 1 of basic training, Eritrean military officers taught that the Tigrayans are blood enemies and an inferior race, and that Eritrea would one day retake the land under Tigray. Instructors molded recruits into obedient tools of the officer corps through brutal training regimens that punished even the slightest transgressions with physical violence. Recruits were taught that their officers were infallible and that any order issued by a superior must be treated as an order given by himself.

It was those at the core of Eritrea’s military power, the generals who decided to brutalize civilians, and who made conditions so despicable in the region. Junior officers and soldiers go along with these crimes because they too believe the orders infallible, and that Isaias wishes them to commit such outrages. The generals know that the culturally ingrained respect for authority, coupled with the fear of exclusion and loss of face, meant scant resistance when they ordered Eritrean troops to carry out morally repugnant orders.

As Tigrayans had dominated Ethiopian top military and political positions before 2018, it was they, according to the political elites of Amhara thinking, who had tried to subordinate Amharas and who had degraded the unity of Ethiopia. Amhara political elites blame TPLF for all problems of Amhara where they live. Those political elites preach hatred and enmity among Amhara and Tigrayans endlessly. As Isaias Afework has been doing, they trained special forces, Militias and group of youth called FANO to retaliate against TPLF and Tigrayans. The widespread barbarity and cruelty practiced by Amhara forces were clearly indicative of that hatred and loathing, and perhaps a deep-seated inferiority complex—many Amhara`s soldiers harbored toward their Tigrayan foes.

After well prepared, the allied forces encircled Tigray. Eritrean soldiers crossed boarder towards Tigray. The Northern command post of Ethiopia based in Tigray was clandestinely instructed and was waiting final instruction. Cognizant of the preparations, the Tigray Regional government was also preparing to defend the aggression. Meanwhile,  government of Tigray had conducted discussions with commanders of the Northern command and agreed with majority of the commanders to cooperate with TPLF. When the imminent danger became closer to happen, Tigray Defence Force overhauled the enemies and controlled the Northern command in hours. Few soldiers escaped to Eritrea. The rest were kept in the camps while some of them taken to other safe areas.

When Abiy Ahmed heard this, he ordered his soldiers and the allied forces encircled Tigray started the war in all fronts. The partners in crime waged war on the people and government of Tigray officially on November 4, 2020. Abiy Ahmed immediately cut all communications, power and Transport in Tigray. He called retired generals who have enmity with TPLF. Abiy Ahmed ordered his soldiers to brutally retaliate against TPLF by provoking as such the northern command soldiers were murdered brutally. He said, our soldiers are betrayed. They were murdered while sleeping. They are not yet buried. They are being eaten by hyena. Female soldiers were hut their breast and so on…. While the reality is, all soldiers at the hand of TPLF were safe. The former generals called by Abiy Ahmed joined the operation and continue motivating the soldiers by fabricated propagandas to indiscriminately punish civilians.

The angered soldiers massacred civilians, raped girls as aged as 4 years and women aged 70s, looted private and government properties and destroyed the rest, destructed all infrastructure of the region. The allied forces impeded humanitarian access in order to starve the people. They make fun by killing youth and throwing their corpses in to hills.

The allied forces burn villages and massacre civilians specially when their comrades are killed in the war by Tigray defence Forces (TDF). They take revenge on civilians. They slaughter their cattle, burn their cereals and burn their houses as retaliation. They are as cruel as wild animal. During the massacres of Mahbere dego, as one soldier who witnessed a comrade’s execution of the youths: he says, shoot him, may I come to kill him? It was good if we were Indians to burn their corpses. A senior corporal laugh. Their cruelty is to this extent.

The culture of cruelty of Eritrean soldiers has been nurtured for decades while the cruelty of Amhara forces is inherited from their forefathers. They are doing what their forefathers had done before on the people of Tigray. But the cruelty of the Ethiopian soldiers is unusual. It is because, Abiy and his generals ordered the soldiers not only to kill TPLF leaders but also to humiliate the people.

Though African soldiers are not blameless when it came to the mistreatment and, yes, occasional murder of captured enemy combatants and civilians, such infrequent events pale in comparison to the sheer magnitude and intentional brutality of the allied forces` crimes against humanity. Since the outset of the war, estimates of the number of civilians killed by the allied forces (Eritrean soldiers, Ethiopian soldiers and Amhara) range as high as 50,000 thousand. But the inevitable defeat of the allies will allow Tigrayans to bring many, though by no means all, of the perpetrators of war crimes to justice.

(Source: www.aigaforum.com)