Ethiopia's allies in Tigray Looting, forced removals plague despite truce – witnesses

 

A damaged Eritrean military tank is seen near the town of Wikro, Ethiopia, March 14, 2021.Picture taken March 14, 2021.REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File Photo

Ethiopia's allies are looting towns, arresting and killing civilians and relocating thousands of people from a disputed part of Tigray despite a truce between the government and local forces, witnesses and aid workers in the northern region told Reuters.

 

The violence raises fresh concerns about whether the ceasefire signed on Nov. 2 by Ethiopia's federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) - the party that dominates the restive province - will end two years of fighting that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

 

Although they fought alongside Ethiopia's military in Tigray, troops from Eritrea to the north and soldiers from the neighboring Ethiopian territory of Amhara to the south were not parties to the truce.

 

However, the agreement calls for the departure from Tigray of all foreign and non-Ethiopian National Defense Force (non-ENDF) personnel.

 

When the TPLF controlled the central government in the years 1998 to 2000, Eritrea and Ethiopia engaged in a border conflict, and the two countries continue to be bitter enemies.

Eritreantroops have been seizing food, vehicles, gold, and even doors and windows from homes in at least a dozen towns in northern and northwestern Tigray since the ceasefire, according to four humanitarian workers and one resident, who like other people interviewed by Reuters asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

 

The troops also carried out extrajudicial killings and mass arrests in territory they control in northern Tigray, two residents and five aid workers said.

 

Yemane Gebremeskel, the minister of information for Eritrea, accused Tigrayan forces of "endless lies" in a text message to Reuters while avoiding directly addressing the allegations of looting and murder.

 

Since the violence began in November 2020, U.N. agencies, Ethiopia's state-appointed human rights commission, independent relief organizations, and media outlets including Reuters have all documented human rights crimes committed by all parties, including extrajudicial executions, rapes, and looting. The accusations have been refuted by either party.

 

According to two villagers and two internal reports created by relief organizations reviewed by Reuters, Amhara fighters have carried out widespread arrests in western Tigray and loaded thousands of ethnic Tigrayan civilians onto trucks before taking them east of the Tekeze River.

 

Amhara leaders consider the river a borderline between Tigray and territory they say historically belonged to them to the west. Tigrayan officials say the area, which has fertile lands, has long been home to both ethnic groups and should remain in their region.

 

During the conflict, forces and militiamen from Amhara have been accused of moving Tigrayans elsewhere to change the ethnic make-up of the disputed area.

 

Gizachew Muluneh, spokesperson for the Amhara regional administration, did not respond to requests for comment. The administration has previously rejected claims that Tigrayans had been threatened or forced to leave their homes.

 

William Davison, senior analyst for Ethiopia at the International Crisis Group think tank, said the reports of abuses by Amhara and Eritrean forces could delay plans for the TPLF to disarm.

 

"Any serious failure in implementing the agreements raises the risks of a disastrous return to large-scale war," he added.

 

Requests for reaction from a representative of the African Union, which is in charge of upholding the truce, went unanswered. Neither did the TPLF's Getachew Reda, the military's Colonel Getnet Adane, the government's Legesse Tulu, or Ethiopia's national security adviser Redwan Hussien.

 

Reda claimed in a tweet on Sunday that Eritrean forces had been killing women and children while plundering and destroying property.

 

Will our peace partners in Addis fulfill their obligation to safeguard civilians and take whatever steps are necessary to persuade the "external and non-ENDF forces" to leave Tigray?

 

Both Eritrea and Amhara have not said if they will leave Tigray. They have previously refuted allegations of human rights violations in the area.

 

It is not yet clear how Ethiopia will deal with Eritrea and Amhara if their forces do not withdraw from Tigray, three diplomats close to the peace talks said.

 

The United States has said it will use sanctions to ensure the truce is respected and will hold to account those responsible for human rights violations.

 

FORCED REMOVALS

The Amhara regional government has welcomed the ceasefire but said nothing about the future of territory it seized in western Tigray, which Amhara officials previously said they would seek to annex formally.

 

A Nov. 16 report prepared by an aid group for six humanitarian agencies - including the World Food Program, the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross - said that on Nov. 10 more than 2,800 men, women and children held for over a year in five detention centres in western Tigray were taken in trucks by an Amhara militia known as Fano.

 

They were released in a town called Adi Aser, before making their way on foot to Sheraro, outside the area that Amhara claims, according to the note, reviewed by Reuters.

 

Fano does not have a formal leadership structure so it was not possible for Reuters to seek comment.

 

An aid worker, who asked not to be identified, said thousands of displaced residents from western Tigray had arrived in the northern city of Shire in recent days, including women and children as young as three.

 

Most of the men had broken limbs, said the worker, adding that some of the men said they had been beaten while in detention by Amhara and Fano forces.

 

Reuters says it was not able to confirm independently his account.