US lawmakers advanced a new sanctions legislation on Tuesday, amid lingering congressional concerns that the Joe Biden administration lacks a comprehensive plan to end the violence in Northern Ethiopia. The bipartisan Ethiopia Stabilisation, Peace, and Democracy Act and other bills addressing human rights concerns
GENEVA —
World Health Organization officials say insecurity and bureaucratic difficulties continue to prevent medical supplies and other crucial relief from reaching millions of beleaguered civilians in conflict-ridden northern Ethiopia. An estimated 9.4 million people in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
Note to the Reader: This article was written in January 2021, when we were in the fields of Tsaei and Tsedia(Central Zone). As we were in communication and Internet blackouts, it didn't publish on time.
Tilahun Kiros 2-8-22 -Tigrai is a region found in the northern part of Ethiopia. It is at the heart of Ethiopian history. The making of the country - Ethiopia - started in Tigrai. Tigrai is a land of history, a land of antiquity, and a land of tolerance and hospitality. Tigrai is also a land of religions - both Christianity and Islam.
Paulos Irgau. 2-8-22
Note: this piece is about an Eritrean minor soldier who was captured in Tigray sometime in May or June last year and what he said during an interview.
One can get tempted to take it for a philosophical aphorism where Plato's "Forms", Cartesian Mind-Body duality and Kantian Noumenon come to mind but the reality is an antithesis to anything that is a refined philosophical postulate or discourse. To be more precise, it is vulgar, decadent and a product of Orwellian un-person instead.
Ethiopia has committed a wide range of human rights violations in its war against Tigrayan rebel forces, including mass killings, sexual violence and military targeting of civilians, according to a landmark legal complaint submitted to Africa’s top human rights body.
African Union appeal for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, urging all parties involved in Ethiopian conflict to find a long-term political settlement. Conflict in Northern Ethiopia has prompted the African Union (AU) to appeal for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, urging all parties involved in the conflict to find a long-term political settlement on Sunday.
TEAO 2-04-22 -It has been about 15 months since the commencement of the genocidal war on Tigray. During this period, the Ethiopian, and Eritrean militaries as well as forces belonging to expansionist Amhara elites have committed unimaginable atrocities against the people of Tigray. These genocidal forces set out to decimate Tigray’s socioeconomic institutions, plunder private and public wealth...
The Lancet 2-3-22 -Armed conflict has been raging in Tigray, a region in northern Ethiopia, since Nov 4, 2020. Some of the defining characteristics of this armed conflict are a total blockade of humanitarian aid, wanton destruction of health facilities, and the displacement of millions of people. These weaponized actions have exposed children in Tigray to preventable severe and moderate acute malnutrition.
GSTS 2-7-22 -Since the onset of the war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia on the 4th of November 2020, we have been striving to bring to light the excessive and brutal war unleashed against the Tigrayan people. This violence includes gross atrocities identified by international organizations and experts as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing which combined amount to acts of genocide
Kenya 2-2-22 - As President of the Republic of Kenya and friend of the brotherly people of Ethiopia, I join the Secretary General of the United Nations, H.E. Antonio GUTERRES, in appealing to all parties to cease hostilities in the ongoing conflict in our neighboring country of Ethiopia.
2-2-22 -[ Ethio-Italy] Agreement in a specific sector was signed on the 10th of April 2019, as you mentioned. The Agreement's parliamentary ratification process has already been
completed by both parties, confirming their common will to strengthen the bilateral cooperation. In light of the deteriorating situation in Tigray, I report that the Dicastery has ceased all types of activities under the Cooperation Agreement. In this delicate context, the MAECI (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) continues to follow the developments of the crisis with the utmost attention and extreme concern.
Paulos Irgau. 2-2-22 - This piece is an attempt to put the recent interview of the Peace Nobel Committee chairwoman with CNN in a broader context when she tried in vain, I must add to defend the committee's decision to award Abi Ahmed the Peace Prize in 2019.
The Danish Physicist Niels Bohr once said ...
(CNN) - Yohannes and Gebremeskel knew it would be freezing cold inside the bulk cargo area of the Airbus A350 plane on the long flight from Ethiopia's capital to Belgium. But the two ground technicians with Ethiopian Airlines, both of Tigrayan origin, said they felt a threat from the Ethiopian authorities
Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Career Minister, will serve as Charge' d'Affaires, ad interim, at the Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ambassador Geeta Pasi plans to retire to pursue other opportunities. The Secretary of State selected Ambassador Jacobson to continue the work undertaken by Ambassador Pasi to press for an immediate cessation of hostilities, an end to ongoing human rights abuses and violations, unhindered humanitarian access, and a negotiated resolution to the conflict in Ethiopia. Even though the past year was disastrous and the US has nothing to show for, it makes little sense not to have a full ambassador now unless the US is giving up to resolve the conflict?
(BBC) - The leader of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in Ethiopia, which has been at war with federal government forces for over a year, says shuttle diplomacy has led to some progress.
In a rare interview, Debretsion Gebremichael told the BBC that indirect talks with the government had been taking place and that the TPLF wanted a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Listen
Tigray Government Statement on Current Developments Tigray Govt 01-25-22 - It is a matter of public record that, over the past few weeks, we had withdrawn our forces from Amhara and Afar regions so as to give peace a chance. Be that as it may, despite repeated claims by the federal government that the Ethiopian military has been ordered to halt its advances into Tigray, our forces have been on the receiving end of numerous provocative acts.
Paulos Irgau. 1-30-22 - The resurgence of "going back" to the roots particularly among Eritreans who hail from the Highlands has become one of the tectonic shifts the war has wrought where one cannot afford to see it as a benign symptom on the side when it is the real deal in its own right. Unexamined history is not worth knowing is the new motto if I can paraphrase Socrates which is firing up the new Eritrean generation. A generation that has been cheated and robbed of its history during the last thousands of daylights.
Since its independence three decades ago, Eritrea has been involved in international conflicts, ranging from minor border skirmishes with its neighbors, such as Sudan, Djibouti and Yemen, to a full-fledged conventional war with Ethiopia. Its notoriety as a regional troublemaker had resulted in the imposition of crushing sanctions lasting several years.
Paulos Irgau 1-26-22 - Here is one of those "once upon a time" stories where one is taken back to a memory lane of childhood, but the takeaway is intellectually robust, nonetheless. You're forewarned though for I am going to take you for a long haul and bumpy road in between and I suggest you buckle up. Hope it is worth your time.
Elias Dawit 01-09-22 Buddha says there are three things that cannot be hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth.
Beginning with his declaration of victory over Tigrayan Defense Forces (TDF) just weeks after the fighting began in November 2020, Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed has mastered the art of dealing with ferenjis (foreigners). He lies and then he lies again. This is the fundamental misunderstanding of the international community when dealing with Ethiopia's leadership, particularly Abiy Ahmed.
NAIROBI - Newly obtained photographs of missile fragments provide the first material evidence that Ethiopia used a Turkish drone this month in an attack that killed 58 civilians sheltering in a school. ... any indication that a Turkish aircraft targeted civilians in Ethiopia's 15-month-long war will intensify international pressure on the NATO country to stop arming Addis Ababa. .
Turkey was forced to relocate its Ethiopian embassy to Kenya after increasing threat out of its involvement in the country’s clashes with the Tigray rebels by supplying combat drones to Addis Ababa. Kenya should not harbor any one who participated on a Genocidal war. Perpetuators and supporters of genocide should be held accountable everywhere in the world.
theglobeandmail - Ethiopia, Eritrea & Somalia denied their covert military alliance. But the Globe's investigation has provided, for the 1st time, extensive details of civilian killings by Somalia soldiers in Tigray.
For the first time, images filmed clandestinely, testimonies of those who managed to flee the country, show what is really happening inside the "North Korea of Africa". (Reader's comment: "...video describing the worst treatment of Eritreans in prison?
It was just published in Le Monde. We are not expecting any good to come out of Isayas's mind. He is the sadist and butcher of the Horn of Africa. Imagine the Amhara extremist and delusional Abiy took the instruction to attempt exterminating the Tigrayan people.
The video is narrated in French , but one can sense the brutality of Eritrean people in prison. The lady who was interviewed talked in English)
GENEVA (Reuters) -A World Health Organization (WHO) official cut off Ethiopia's envoy on Monday as he attempted to deliver a speech. Further discussion of the matter is not germane and is therefore out of order under the relevant rules of procedure," said Amoth, who is from Kenya which is one of 28 countries that nominated Tedros for a second term as WHO chief...." The Abiy regime is so much despised it is slowly loosing the blind support it was getting from the African countries also.
NAIROBI - The United Nations secretary-general said Wednesday he was delighted to hear "there is now a demonstrable effort to make peace" in Ethiopia after more than 14 months of war, but he gave no details. Antonio Guterres' statement on Wednesday came after a call with African Union envoy Olusegun Obasanjo following the envoy's latest visit to Addis Ababa and the capital of Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region. Time is of the essence. The international body should understand Tigrayans cannot sit idle while their children are dying for lack of medicine and by bombardment carried by hired international mercenaries stationed in Addis and Asmara. Time is running out!
Paulos Irgau. 01-22-22 - When the past keeps changing, it is not an anomaly within the Law of Entropy but mendacity at play pure and simple. History [capital H], however, replaces the past for it is true to itself, a verdict to itself and judge to itself as well and that is precisely the difference between Tigreans and the expansionist Amhara elites when the latter clings to the past and the former to History instead.
(Aigaforum) Jan 4, 2022 - For over two decades Aigaforum has been owned by a dedicated owner and managed by wonderful volunteers. The requirement to provide balanced information was a priority. The intention of the website was to inform, educate and create a civil discourse for the development and prosperity of the Ethiopia that espoused the diverse background of its people. The dawn of a new era in the Ethiopian history required a platform for the expression of the new emerging landscape of its diverse people...... (More)
Paulos Irgau. 01-15-22 - Attila the Hun, a product of a typical chauvinist world should be excused when he said, “Sacrifice is the passion of all great men” when it is equally true that it is the passion of all great women as well. Before getting ahead of ourselves though, I like the reader to consider this: Enter "Inclusive Fitness" and "Reciprocal Altruism" -- We all share fifty percent of our genetic makeup with our siblings when we inherit half from each of our parents and it is logical that we share equally what had passed on to us from our parents with our siblings...
W. Yilma January 21, 2022 - Since November 4, 2020, Tigray is the epicenter of war and conflicts. Abiy Ahmad Ali and his associates namely, the despotic regime of Eritrea, Isayas, and the Amhara extremist groups who works tirelessly a propaganda campaigns since Ali came to power prepared the ground for the military invasion of Tigray, with the aim to destroy totally the social fabrics as well as the livelihoods of the people of Tigray. This coordinated and well-planned conspiracy which was designed both internally and externally is not secret for many foreign as well as domestic politicians who...
Abrham Berhane 12-26-21 -This short article covers a brief history of Dr Mikael Tessema a Tigrayan who shaped early Ethiopian politics. Dr. Mikael was an intellectual that suffered at the hands of Italian fascists and was also home imprisoned by Haileselassie. It is too sad to see imposters and pseudo nationalist rewriting history hoping to belittle the role of Tigrayans.in shaping Ethiopia The fact is: Tigrayan elites were at the forefront of the struggle to build a peaceful and prosperous Ethiopia then as now.
