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‘People are under siege’: why Ethiopia’s war in Tigray isn’t over
Despite a peace deal last November, Eritrean troops remain in some border areas, and the Irob community is paying the price
www.theguardian.com
I posted a thread regarding the conflict in Tigray last year about the various warcrimes and genocides taking place in the conflict for those interested.
For those who don't know here is a short context from BBC with my own additions:
The conflict started on 4 November [2020], when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a military offensive against regional forces in Tigray. He said he did so in response to an attack on a military base housing government troops. The escalation came after months of feuding between Mr Abiy's government and leaders of Tigray's dominant political party. For almost three decades, the party was at the centre of power, before it was sidelined by Mr Abiy, who took office in 2018 after anti-government protests. Mr Abiy pursued reforms, but when Tigray resisted, the political crisis erupted into war [after elections were postoned citing COVID19].
So far total number of civilian deaths ranging from 162,000 to 378,000 with both sides committing mass rapes, mass killings, and generally treating the geneva convention like a checklist (though the Ethiopia government forces were certainly worse).
When the peacefire came into effect, an area of Tigray was still under occupation by Eritrea (who sided with Ethiopia in the conflict). If you don't know anything about Eritrea, all you need to know is it is basically Africa's North Korea they have very well documented concentration/torture camps with thousands of people in them. You can watch the Frontline doctumentary "Escaping Eritrea" for more info on that.
With all that context out of the way;
[snip/]
Eritrean troops block the one good road into Irob, preventing aid agencies from bringing in humanitarian supplies, so the Roman Catholic priest must take a treacherous back route through the mountains to avoid their checkpoints.
“They want to kill me,” says Father Tesfaye. “Several times I was almost shot down.”
The Irob are a small community of about 35,000 people who speak their own language – Saho – and mostly live in the north-eastern pocket of Tigray to which they give their name. It is a remote border area that has long been claimed by Eritrea.
...
Eritrean troops withdrew from much of the region shortly afterwards, but nine months later they still occupy several areas along the border, including four of Irob’s seven subdistricts. Even though an implementation accord signed shortly after the ceasefire states that “foreign” forces should leave Ethiopian territory.
...
With Irob cut off by Eritrea’s continuing occupation, aid groups have been able to deliver only a handful of supplies. The area’s schools and hospitals are closed, and farmers were unable to buy seeds and fertilisers for the recent planting season.
...
Rita Kahsay, its executive director, says the occupation threatens to wipe out the Irob as a minority ethnic group, since it is fuelling the displacement of the Irob to other parts of Tigray, where they assimilate and stop speaking their own language.
“The war hasn’t stopped for Irob at all,” says Rita. “It’s ongoing and it’s completely forgotten about.”
[/snip]
Very little good news has come out of this region in the last few years. A humanitarian ceasefire already broke down once before current peace deal and who knows how long this one will last. What little global aid has made it to the region is at work preventing starvation and rebuilding critical infrastructure in Ethiopia and parts of Tigray, but Eritrea has functionally isolated this small ethnic group and seems intent on genociding them.
I've been disapointed for some time how little attention the humanitarian cricis in Tigray has gotten globally considering it's scale (arguably the worst humanitarian distaster in the world currently) and Eritrea of course has been mostly left alone for years.
