Eritrean troops - The African Mirror

Jun

2021

‘Eritrea troops to leave Tigray soon’

MICHELLE NICHOLS ERITREAN troops in Ethiopia's Tigray region are expected to "definitely leave soon," Ethiopia's U.N. envoy said after a top U.N. official told the Security Council that Eritrea's soldiers were using starvation as a weapon of war. Outgoing U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock told the 15-member council in a private briefing that "no one should be surprised to see a rerun" of a devastating 1984 famine if violence in Tigray does not stop and Eritrean troops do not withdraw. "Rape is being used systematically to terrorize and brutalize women and girls. Eritrean soldiers are using starvation as a weapon…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Eritrean troops withdraw from Tigray

NEWS

ERITREAN forces have started withdrawing from the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said, following mounting reports they are responsible for human rights abuses including rape, looting and killings of civilians. The United States, Germany, France and other G7 countries called on Friday for a swift, unconditional and verifiable withdrawal of the Eritrean soldiers, followed by a political process acceptable to all Ethiopians. In a rejoinder issued late on Saturday through the Foreign Ministry, Ethiopia said that the G7 foreign ministers' statement had not acknowledged key steps taken to address the needs of the region. "The Eritrean…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

EU slaps sanctions on Eritrea

NEWS

THE European Union has imposed sanctions on Eritrea over human rights violations and blacklisted the country's National Security Office which is tasked with intelligence gathering, arrests and interrogations. At the beginning of March, the United Nations said Eritrean troops were operating throughout Ethiopia's northern Tigray region and reports suggested they were responsible for atrocities. "The National Security Office is responsible for serious human rights violations in Eritrea, in particular arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances of persons and torture," the EU said after foreign ministers of the 27-nation bloc agreed the measures. The sanctions mean an asset freeze in the…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Eritrean troops killed hundreds of Ethiopian civilians’

NEWS

AMNESTY International has accused Eritrean forces of killing hundreds of civilians in northern Ethiopia over 24 hours last year, an incident it described as a potential crime against humanity. Eritrea rejected the accusations. But an Ethiopian state human rights body issued a statement that also described such killings, though with fewer details. It was a rare official acknowledgment from Ethiopia that Eritrean troops participated in the conflict during the government's crackdown in the Tigray region last year. Amnesty said it had spoken to 41 witnesses who described the mass killings of "many hundreds of civilians" by Eritrean troops in Axum,…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia closes camps after reports of attacks

NEWS

TWO camps in Ethiopia's Tigray region housing Eritrean refugees have been shut and the occupants relocated, after the United Nations said residents had reported attacks, including by suspected Eritrean troops, authorities said yesterday. The UNHCR refugee agency has called for protection for the residents of the Shimelba and Hitsats camps, which it says were attacked by armed men who killed and abducted refugees. On February 1, it said residents had reported that Eritrean troops had forced some refugees back into Eritrea. Accusations of an Eritrean military presence are one of the most contentious issues in Tigray, where the central government…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

“Eritrean troops entered Tigray uninvited”

NEWS

A senior Ethiopian general said in a video clip posted on social media this week that Eritrean troops had entered the country uninvited while his soldiers were battling a rebellious force in the northern region of Tigray. The video, whose authenticity Reuters could not independently verify, shows Major General Belay Seyoum addressing a meeting in the Tigrayan capital Mekelle in late December. "An army that we don't want has entered. Are we the one that invited them? No," he said. "They just entered by themselves, and this has to be made clear." Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's spokeswoman, the head of…