Following the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire declared by the federal government, the terrorist TPLF has been launching a fresh attack against Afar and Amhara states using civilian fighters. The group has committed serious war crimes attacking, killing, raping civilians, looting and pillaging communities and have displaced over 300,000 people.
There have been solid evidences that indicate that the terrorist TPLF is extensively using child soldiers in the battle against the Ethiopian National Defense Force and forces of Amhara and Afar regions.
Officials from Amhara and Afar states also confirmed that the terrorist TPLF is enlisting children for war and many children are losing their lives.
Director-General of the Amhara Regional State Communication Affairs Bureau Gizachew Muluneh told local media that the children under the age of 18 are being loaded into trucks and brought to the battlefield. “As a result, many children are dying in the fighting due to TPLF’s conspiracy. It is not propaganda,” he said.
Commander of Afar Special Force Aydahis also told local media that a large number of children – as young as 14 to 16 years old – on the TPLF side are taking part in the war.
Most of the captives are children, he said, adding that they say they were forced into the war by the TPLF.
The captured terrorist TPLF’s child soldiers also said “they do not tell us where they are taking us.”
New video footage and images circulating mainstream and social media demonstrate how children are now being forced to serve as soldiers. While child soldiers in Tigray, Raya area, are reported to be from 9 to 15 years old, some photos show children as young as 5, said Ann Fitz-Gerald and Huge Segal in their article in which they urged Canada to respond to the use of child soldiers in Tigray State.
No one, however, should have been surprised, as last November, TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael (PhD) promised a “people’s war” in which “starting with the children, everyone would be taking part,” the article also stated.
It is difficult to rehabilitate children involved in war and return them to their childhood psychology, said Dr. Dawit Wondimagegn (MD), Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Addis Ababa University’s School of Medicine and Chief Executive Director of Tikur Anbessa Hospital. He added that the problem will have a significant negative impact on the children’s future.
In his interview with the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA), Dr. Dawit said: “Because of this, children find it difficult to return to school and join their peers, so they are deprived of the opportunity to learn and reach a better position,” Dr. Dawit stated.
As to him, the problem will also have a profound effect on the future of the children. That is why recruiting underage children for war is a serious war crime. It is difficult to bring back a child who was once a fighter.
Even if it is possible to integrate armed children into the community to some extent, it is very difficult to understand the pain and suffering of each child, he noted.
He said, “It is very difficult for us to recover from such a situation because our religious and cultural ties are not like that of others.”
We [Ethiopians] have a very high level of care for our children. From this point of view, it is very difficult to make these children a warrior in their childhood, and solving the problem requires a great deal of social work, according to him.
He further stated that no matter what their political interests are, those who recruit and deploy underage child soldiers for war do not escape the guilt of conscience in addition to legal accountability.
Because of the absence of system for the recovery of war-torn children in Ethiopia, teenagers are more likely to be exposed to severe psychological trauma, he said.
The terrorist TPLF’s objective is to prolong its life by sending Tigrean underage children and youths into war zones, and by killing children and innocent people, said Goyoto Gedeno, Representative of Konso Children Parliament.
In his interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Goyoto stated that the TPLF terrorist group’s deployment of child soldiers into battles and its involvement in killing children is about preventing Ethiopia from having a successor generation. The world should condemn the inhumane act of the terrorist TPLF group, he added.
Referring to recent reports about the terrorist TPLF, Goyoto stated noted that the group is working to create genocide in the country. It is forcibly recruiting, deploying, and massacring the children of Tigray. “It is also using heavy artillery in areas where children and vulnerable people, who are displaced by the problem it created, are sheltered,” he said.
According to him, in addition to deploying children to war, the group’s brutal attacks on innocent children and the vulnerable are unforgivable. He also insisted that the government must take appropriate action against the group.
He further explained that Galicoma’s massacre which was perpetuated by the terrorist TPLF group recently in Afar region, in which many civilians including women and children were killed, is a shameful and tragic act that should be condemned by the world.
As to him, the massacre of innocent civilians by the terrorist TPLF group in the Afar region is an act of cruelty and it shows that the terrorist group lacks Ethiopian spirit. This evil act should be condemned by all human beings.
In addition to taking appropriate measures against this terrorist group, the government should intensify its diplomacy and make the international community aware of this atrocity, he said.
He added that the international community’s silence while watching this shameful act of cruelty is part of a conspiracy to destabilize the nation and downgrade Ethiopians.
In Ethiopia, children’s parliaments were established in 2006 by the Ethiopian Institute of the Ombudsman. Members are aged from 12 to 16 years old. Children’s parliaments have been established throughout Ethiopia to facilitate the participation of children in family, societal, community and government affairs and to enable them to voice their concerns. The first children’s parliament was inaugurated and became operational in September 2006.
BY ABDUREZAK MOHAMMED
The Ethiopian Herald 15 August 2021
