EEPA Report on Horn of Africa Situation on December 24



BRUSSELS (IDN) – Ethiopia took the lead in creating Africa's continental organisation, the African Union (AU). But Alex Dewaal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, believes that its actions are now jeopardising the body's founding principles. "Who Will Call Out Eritrea’s War Crimes in Tigray?" he asks in a blog

He points out that Eritrea has deployed most of its army in Tigray region of Ethiopia. This is no secret. At minimum, 12 divisions have been fighting inside Tigray.

He recalls that at first, the US gave Eritrea a free pass, expressing “thanks to Eritrea for not being provoked” into retaliating after a TPLF rocket attack on Asmara. Later it admitted that Eritrea was a belligerent.

The United Nations Secretary-General repeated Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed’s assertion that Eritrean troops had not crossed the border. The Chairperson of the African Union has carefully said nothing on the issue.

"It is lawful for a state to request the military assistance of another state. The involvement of Eritrea in Ethiopia isn’t illegal per se. But there is mounting evidence that activities of Eritrean troops include perpetrating war crimes on a vast scale," writes Dewall.

Meanwhile, the latest EEPA Report on Horn of Africa Situation points out that the Ethiopian government has not been able to clarify to Egypt when workers will return to work in factories in Tigray, which were closed four months ago. Factories in Tigray have been heavily looted.

EEPA (Europe External Programme with Africa) is a Belgium-based Centre of Expertise with in-depth knowledge, publications, and networks, specialised in issues of peacebuilding, refugee protection and resilience in the Horn of Africa. EEPA has published extensively on issues related to movement and/or human trafficking of refugees in the Horn of Africa and on the Central Mediterranean Route.

It cooperates with a wide network of universities, research organisations, civil society and experts from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and across Africa. Key in-depth publications can be accessed on the website.

The report also points out:

Egypt plans to file an international lawsuit to protect Egyptian investments in Ethiopia, stating $10 million has been lost by Egyptian investors so far in Ethiopia due to the unrest in the Tigray region.
US troops being pulled out of Somalia and redeployed in Kenya and Djibouti, from where US troops would continue to surveil the Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist organisation Al Shabab.
The redeployment of US troops to Kenya comes at a time that Kenya is under pressure of debt repayments to China, related to the Belt and Road Initiative. Kenya faces a risk to lose ownership of Mombasa port which serves as a collateral for the debts to China in ‘debt-for-equity swaps’.
The outgoing US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announces 18 million USD for refugees affected by the Tigray conflict.
The report continues:

Regional situation

President of Somaliland, Bihi, meets President of Djibouti, Guelleh, to discuss peace and stability.

Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ambassador Dina Mufti states Ethiopia and Sudan have agreed to resolve the border issue, blaming ‘enemies of Ethiopia’ for the escalation. In other reports Sudan was accused of an unfruitful discussion with the Ethiopian delegation yesterday.

Reported that the Sudanese armed forces state they recaptured areas and camps in eastern Sudan.

The Committee of the affected lands of Al Fashqa in Gedaref state states that it will reject any negotiation of the Sudanese Government with the Ethiopian delegation to discuss the border until the Sudanese army is in control of all known international border points between the two countries.

Der Spiegel spoke to a witness who stated Eritrean troops killed 81 civilians holded up in the Al-Nejashi mosque; another witness reports shelling and looting by Eritrean troops.

Military situation

Report of targeted attack on civilians in Benishangul Gumuz regional state. An eyewitness stated there were up to 500 gunmen. Over 90 deaths, burning of houses and displacement were reported. Local medics reported treating victims with gunshot wounds.

Report that Sudan has arrested an Ethiopian captain and four soldiers accused of planning assassinations on Ethiopian refugees of Tigray nationality in Sudan.

Reported situation in Ethiopia

Regional government of Benishangul Gumuz in Ethiopia said that five officials accused of orchestrating the killings were arrested. The list of arrests reportedly includes a former social affairs deputy at the Federal ministry of labour and social affairs, the former vice president of Benishangul Gumuz region and the Metekel Zone Prosperity Party office head.

Benishangul-Gumuz, a region in Ethiopia, is populated by Humuz and other ethnic groups, but according to reports, recently farmers and business people from the Amharic region entered into the area, claiming fertile land, according to reports.

Reported situation in Tigray

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Laetitia Bader reports findings of interviews with refugees from the Tigray conflict. Residents of towns in western Tigray report initial heavy shelling, followed by the entering of Ethiopian federal forces and Amhara police forces known as “Liyu Hail” and Amhara youth militia groups known as “Fano.” HRW reports looting by both Amhara forces, as well as ‘unidentified gunmen’.

Refugees told HRW they witnessed extrajudicial executions by federal forces and their allies. Victims were suspected TPLF members, fighters, retired soldiers, but also business people and farmers.

Refugees from Mai Kadra see hundreds of bodies, both ethnic Amharas and Tigrayans, says HRW.

Medical professionals, notably in Humera, were overwhelmed “by the influx of injured civilians and bodies of those who had been killed in the heavy shelling,” during military action in Tigray says HRW.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the two humanitarian assessment teams that entered Tigray on December 21 are headed to Shire and Mekelle. The assessment is estimated to be completed in a week.

The Amhara groups who now administer the region that was Western Tigray, now the provisional "Setit Humera zone" are reportedly politically divided.

New reports of massacres and executions in Adigrat, Tigray. Calls for investigation of what transpired.