UN says government was aware of plane carrying 11 aid workers as year-long conflict with TPLF escalates in Tigray and Amhara
An Ethiopian government airstrike on the capital of the northern Tigray region has forced a UN aid flight to abort a landing in midair.
The UN has suspended its twice-weekly passenger flights to Mekelle for humanitarian personnel after the plane with 11 passengers had to abort the landing on Friday and return to the capital, Addis Ababa.
Continue reading...The offensive marks the end of a ceasefire declared in June in a political conflict that has claimed thousands of lives
Tigray forces say Ethiopia’s government has launched its threatened major military offensive against them in an attempt to end a nearly year-old war.
A statement from the Tigray external affairs office alleged hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian “regular and irregular fighters” launched a coordinated assault on several fronts. It blamed Ethiopian forces and those from the country’s Amhara region, where much of the recent fighting has occurred after Tigray forces retook much of their own region in June.
Continue reading...Whistleblower Frances Haugen adds to long-held concerns that social media site is fuelling violence and instability
Whistleblower Frances Haugen’s testimony to US senators on Tuesday shone a light on violence and instability in Myanmar and Ethiopia in recent years and long-held concerns about links with activity on Facebook.
“What we saw in Myanmar and are now seeing in Ethiopia are only the opening chapters of a story so terrifying, no one wants to read the end of it,” Haugen said in her striking testimony. Haugen warned that Facebook was “literally fanning ethnic violence” in places such as Ethiopia because it was not policing its service adequately outside the US.
Continue reading...Seven senior officials responsible for ‘delivering lifesaving aid’ told to leave amid de facto blockade of food, medicine and fuel
The Ethiopian government has told seven senior UN officials to leave the country, accusing them of “meddling in internal affairs”.
A statement from the foreign ministry said the officials – who include staff from the UN humanitarian agency, the UN human rights office and the children’s agency, Unicef – must leave Ethiopia within 72 hours.
Continue reading...A roundup of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Germany
Continue reading...An estimated 2.2 million people have been forced from their homes and thousands have been killed in the civil war that broke out in Ethiopia last November when government troops entered Mekelle, capital of the Tigray region. Witnessed by photographer Sergio Ramazzotti, the city was retaken by the Tigray Defence Forces in June, but peace in the region seems a long way off
Massacre was perpetrated by fighters loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, officials say
Rebel forces in northern Ethiopia have been accused of killing more than a hundred civilians during fierce battles.
Local government officials said the massacre in a village 6 miles (10km) from the town of Dabat took place just over a week ago and was perpetrated by fighters loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
Continue reading...Data analysis highlights the human cost if thousands of overseas projects lose funding
Experts have warned of “devastating” consequences of the UK’s foreign aid cuts after Guardian analysis revealed the UK is cutting funding at a time when major recipient countries are at risk of becoming more politically unstable.
Thousands of activities providing life-saving support are being cut due to the government’s decision to reduce aid spending to 0.5% of gross national income.
Continue reading...A round-up of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Thailand to Mexico
Continue reading...Mutilation, slavery and torture of women and girls detailed in accounts published by Amnesty, in what organisation says could amount to war crimes
Ethiopian government forces have been systematically raping and abusing hundreds of women and girls in the current conflict in Tigray, according to a new report from Amnesty International.
Adding to a growing body of evidence that rape is being used as a weapon of war in the northern region of Ethiopia, Amnesty’s research offers a snapshot of the extent of the crimes in an area where communications with the outside world have been deliberately restricted by federal authorities.
Continue reading...Abiy Ahmed issues call for all eligible civilians to ‘show your patriotism’ amid fighting with Tigrayan forces
The Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has issued a call for all eligible civilians to join the armed forces as fighting rages in multiple regions of Africa’s second-most populous nation.
“Now is the right time for all capable Ethiopians who are of age to join the defence forces, special forces and militias and show your patriotism,” Abiy’s office said in a statement released less than two months after he declared a unilateral ceasefire against Tigrayan rebels.
Continue reading...Government says it will ‘deploy entire defensive capability’ and Amhara region threatens attack against Tigray forces
Ethiopia’s spreading conflict has escalated after the government warned that it could deploy its “entire defensive capability” against the restive Tigray region after advances by rebels into neighbouring regions.
After the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebuffed calls on Friday to withdraw from the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, the government in Addis Ababa said the rebels were testing its patience and threatening the ceasefire called in June.
Continue reading...Médecins Sans Frontières and Norwegian Refugee Council, active in war-torn Tigray, in talks over ban
The Ethiopian government has suspended the work of two international aid organisations for three months, including in the conflict-hit Tigray region, accusing them of spreading misinformation.
Ethiopia Current Issues Fact Check, a government-run website focused on Tigray, accused Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) of violating several rules.
Continue reading...Nearly 400,000 have died since it won independence 10 years ago. Now violence looms again, within and beyond its borders
Independence isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Recent additions to the family of nations, such as Kosovo and East Timor (Timor-Leste), have struggled to find their feet. In 2017, Catalonia’s secessionists split their homeland in two. Scottish referendum voters took a pass in 2014. The uncomplicated glory days when “third world” liberation movements ousted colonial regimes seem a long time ago.
South Sudan, which marked its 10th birthday on Friday, came late to Africa’s independence party – the product of a complex 2005 deal to end Sudan’s decades-old civil war. Barack Obama, seeking the credit, waxed lyrical. “Today is a reminder that after the darkness of war, the light of a new dawn is possible,” he declared.
Continue reading...A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Chile to Cambodia
Continue reading...Since the interim government of Ethiopia’s Tigray region fled after rebel fighters advanced into Mekelle, a ‘unilateral ceasefire’ has been announced. More than 7,000 captive Ethiopian soldiers walked from Abdi Eshir for four days
Continue reading...Call for withdrawal of Eritrean forces from war-torn region and restoration of rebel government
Rebels in Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region have accepted a ceasefire “in principle” but posed strict conditions for it to be formalised.
Notable among those conditions was the withdrawal from the region of Eritrean forces as well as fighters from the neighbouring Ethiopian region of Amhara, who have been supporting the Ethiopian army during the eight-month long conflict.
Continue reading...Another 1.8 million people are on the brink, officials say, and 33,000 children are severely malnourished
Top UN officials have warned the Security Council that more than 400,000 people in Ethiopia’s Tigray are now in famine and that there was a risk of more clashes in the region despite a unilateral ceasefire by the federal government.
After six private discussions on Friday, the Security Council held its first public meeting since fighting broke out in November between government forces, backed by troops from neighbouring Eritrea, and TPLF fighters with Tigray’s former ruling party.
Continue reading...Lack of phone and internet hampering humanitarian efforts in war-torn Ethiopian province, UN warns
Humanitarian organisations in Ethiopia are demanding that phone lines and internet are restored to the troubled northern province of Tigray, warning that the ceasefire declared by Addis Ababa this week will only help alleviate famine if aid workers can operate safely.
Since the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) withdrew from Mekelle, Tigray’s capital, on Monday, all telecommunications have been down, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha). Unicef said ENDF personnel had entered its office and dismantled crucial satellite equipment.
Continue reading...Warning comes less than 48 hours after unilateral ceasefire declared by Addis Ababa
Ethiopian military and diplomatic officials have threatened to send troops back into Tigray less than 48 hours after announcing that Addis Ababa had declared a unilateral ceasefire in the devastated northern province.
The announcement on Wednesday that Ethiopian federal forces would withdraw from Tigray caught many observers by surprise, and signals a major shift in strategy. However, the new threat underlines the fragility of any current calm.
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