BY ADDISALEM MULAT
The government of Ethiopia has granted unimpeded access to local and international media outlets in the Tigray State despite the latter have been perplexing the international community with cooked-up stories and getting off track that could bewilder the international community. In so doing, Ethiopia has become the center of attention.
Talks related to the presence of Eritrean troops in Ethiopian boarder have been one of the talking points of most media outlets of the world despite nobody knew the reality on the ground. Moreover, they were mentioning the fact that a considerable amount of girls were gang-raped and human rights violations were perpetrated. However, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has provided some explanation regarding the issue while addressing members of the House of Peoples Representatives.
The premier said regarding the presence of Eritrean troops in Ethiopian land borders, “Ethiopian people will never forget the way the Eritrean people and government have cared for our army who were attacked by their own. However, we do not allow any force to cross borders and attack our people.
We have had extensive discussions with the Eritrean government in this regard. The response from the Eritrean military to the fortifications is that those forts have been used by the destructive group for the past 20 years and could be used to attack them again if unguarded.
The Ethiopian army evacuated due to the rule of law operation. The Eritrean government has asked for assurance from the Ethiopian government which we have not been able to do as we are in the middle of the operation. Once we have controlled the destructive power that fights us, we can immediately guarantee that. The Eritrean government has also announced its decision to punish any perpetrators on their side.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said, “In our March 26, 2021 discussions with President Isaias Afwerki during my visit to Asmara, the government of Eritrea has agreed to withdraw its forces out of the Ethiopian border. The Ethiopian National Defense Force will take over guarding the border areas effective immediately,”
He went on to say, “On November 4, 2020, the TPLF criminal clique treasonously attacked the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) in a foiled plan to seize power by destabilizing the nation. Attacking the Northern Command where the nation’s largest weapons depot was stationed and mercilessly killing and kidnapping members of the ENDF has drawn the federal government into a military engagement it has been provoked into,”
It is to be recalled that following the attack on the Northern Command, the TPLF fired rockets into Bahir Dar and Gonder cities. Similarly, they fired rockets into Asmara, Eritrea thereby provoking the Eritrean government to cross Ethiopian borders and prevent further attacks and maintain its national security.
“Ethiopia and Eritrea will continue strengthening their bilateral relations and economic cooperation ambitions. We will continue building on the spirit of trust and good neighborliness between our two countries as embarked upon in 2018. In particular, restoring trust-based people to people relations among our citizens in the Tigray region and fellow Eritreans across the border is essential,” he wrapped up.
Despite explanation from the Ethiopian government regarding alleged human rights violation and Eritrean troops presence in the state, some media outlets still continue to spread false information and mischaracterize the law enforcement operation. To countries this smear campaigns, Ethiopian missions abroad have been briefing pertinent bodies about the operation and current undertaking to rehabilitate the state.
A case in point, on 23 March 2021, Ambassador Mulu Solomon addressed members of the German Parliament (Bundestag) on pivotal issues in Ethiopia.
As learnt from the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mulu Solomon Bezuneh, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the Federal Republic of Germany briefed members of the German Parliament (Bundestag) working group on Economic Cooperation and Development of CDU /CSU-group.
Over 32 Member of Parliament and the working group were present on the WebEx-meeting that focused on current situations in Ethiopia, the law enforcement in Tigray, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the Ethio-Sudan border issue, and the upcoming Election. Furthermore, the ambassador highlighted that the government saved the Horn of Africa by neutralizing the TPLF attack and its wider plan of destabilizing the country. She also mentioned that the region, otherwise, would have been a breeding area for terrorism due to TPLF’s destructive roles.
With regard to human right violation in the state, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pledged an independent investigation while warning those who perpetrated any crime be it member of Ethiopian Defense Forces and others would be held accountable and face punishment.
Similarly, the government has been working by the sweat of its eyebrow intending to take the sought-after inquiries of human rights. Moreover, the incumbent is vowing underlying investigation to bringing aggressors to justice.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has also been examining and reporting multifarious matters revolving around sexual violence, civilian causalities, humanitarian crises, and things of that sort. And, lately UN Human Right and the Commission have agreed to conduct joint investigation in the alleged atrocities that have happened in Tigray state.
His speech was followed by announcement that Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have agreed to conduct a joint investigation into the human rights violations and abuses allegedly committed by all parties in the context of the Tigray conflict as part of the much-needed accountability process for the victims.
According to the joint press statement, the EHRC and OHCHR have been monitoring closely the human rights situation since the start of the conflict on 4 November 2020. Both organizations remain concerned about the reports of serious human rights violations and abuses and the devastating impact of the conflict on the civilian population. With multiple actors involved in the conflict and the gravity of the reported violations, an objective, independent investigation is urgently required.
The agreement to collaborate in a joint investigation is the result of an ongoing partnership and engagement between the two organizations, founded on shared objectives to advance and strengthen respect and protection of human rights as well as accountability for violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed by all parties in the context of the Tigray conflict. Such investigations are within the existing mandate of both organizations. The deployment will start as soon as possible for an initial period of three months. Though there have been positive progress, some international organizations and countries have been trying to unleash maximum pressure on Ethiopia in various ways. Ethiopians and Eritreans residing in various parts of the world have been staging demonstrations in connection with disinformation as a result.
Of late, Ethiopians and Eritreans residing in the Greater Seattle Metropolitan Area have condemned the propaganda campaigns waged by remnants of the defunct TPLF clique and called upon their elected representatives in both Houses of the United States to carefully analyze the situation in Ethiopia.
The organizers of the rally are the “Ethiopian Public Diplomacy Team” and “Allen LeAbbay, “a Coalition of Ethiopian Women in Seattle. In a coordinated joint public rally, the demonstrators vehemently condemned the high treasonous crimes and crimes against peace perpetrated by the TPLF clique back in November 2020.
The participants of the rally also strongly denounced the propaganda campaigns, waged by the remnants of the defunct junta that has attacked Ethiopian National Defense Forces stationed in the Tigray Region of Northern Ethiopia, for more than two decades in defense of the sovereignty of the Country and peace of its People.
The demonstrators further deplored the undue diplomatic and political pressures attempted against their country of birth, by politicians of some western countries, unjustifiably influenced by the organized defamation campaigns and lobby works, financed by the resources illegally embezzled from the Ethiopian people, in the last three decades, by some core members and supporters of criminal clique and their cronies living luxuriously within the Ethiopian diaspora.
The marchers also called upon the international community to carefully analyze the situation in Ethiopia and submitted their statements, with twelve demands, to the Offices of Honourable Patty Murray and Honourable Maria Cantwell, the two Senators representing the State of Washington in the US Senate.
The Ethiopian Herald March 31/2021
