ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
A “dirty war” causing suffering for “defenceless” victims is unfolding in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, a general said in a private briefing with diplomats last week, according to an audio recording of his comments obtained by AFP.
The statement from General Yohannes Gebremeskel Tesfamariam,
head of a task force formed in response to the Tigray conflict, represents an
unusually stark assessment of conditions in the region, where Prime Minister
Abiy Ahmed’s government asserts normalcy is returning.
“This is a dirty war because it’s affecting everything. You
don’t see fronts. The cost is immediately to those who are defenceless,”
Yohannes said during the March 11 briefing in the regional capital Mekele
attended by dozens of diplomats.
“On the atrocities, rape, crime… I cannot give you concrete
evidence, but I don’t think we are going to be fortunate to see that such
things have not happened.”
He did not indicate which forces might be responsible for
“atrocities”.
The audio was authenticated by two people who attended the
briefing. The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Abiy, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, sent troops into
Tigray on November 4 after blaming the region’s once-dominant ruling party, the
Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), for attacks on army camps.
A communications blackout made it difficult to verify conditions
on the ground for weeks, though access has improved recently for humanitarian
organisations and the media.
The March 11 visit to Mekele was the first time most diplomats
had any access to the region since fighting began.
But while many expected they would be able to visit a hospital
and sites housing displaced Tigrayans, they were told upon arrival that their
stay would be limited to a briefing at a hotel.
Abiy declared victory in Tigray in late November after federal
forces took Mekele, though TPLF leaders remain on the run and fighting has
continued.
In his comments to diplomats, Yohannes suggested he did not see
how a military approach alone would end the conflict.
“I know very few and exceptional conflicts or violence — or
fightings, let me say — that have ended only by gun. Very few,” said Yohannes,
who formerly commanded UN peacekeeping forces in South Sudan.
He said other “mechanisms” would need to be considered,
potentially including negotiations and calls for a ceasefire, though he did not
put forward a specific proposal himself.
“I believe this is the way out. I don’t think we will escape
this process,” he said.
Abiy’s government has repeatedly said TPLF leaders need to be
detained and disarmed.
At one point in the briefing, South Sudanese ambassador James P.
Morgan questioned why peace talks do not appear to have been pursued so far.
“I don’t know how do you want to bring this situation into an
end, because I believe there’s no… attempt of negotiations,” Morgan said.
“My brothers, the Ethiopians, do you want to end this war?
Through what means?”
Residents of Tigray have told human rights groups and
journalists of massacres, widespread sexual violence and indiscriminate
killings of civilians by security forces.
Aid workers, meanwhile, say the region’s health system has
largely collapsed and warn of possible large-scale starvation.
Agezew Hidaru, a member of the interim government in Tigray,
told diplomats that out of 226 health centres that existed in Tigray before the
war, “not more than 20” were functioning.
Out of 40 pre-war hospitals, only 10 were functioning, he said.
Many of Tigray’s 271 high schools “are totally damaged and
looted,” he said, adding that some schools have been used to accommodate around
700,000 displaced people in the region.
The communications and access restrictions have made it
difficult to estimate a death toll, and Agezew told diplomats that officials
did not have a good figure.
“There are sporadic conflicts here and there. We don’t know how
many people will die or have already died, so a large number of widowed, a
large number of orphans are expected in the coming some months,” he said. - AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment