Part Two
Courtesy
of unknown artist who shared it on social media
Wondimu Mekonnen, England 11 September 2022
Introduction: For the
Record.
On 3 November 2020, Tigray Special Forces and
allied local militia attacked the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF)
Northern Command headquarters in Mekelle, the Fifth Battalion barracks in
Dansha, and other Northern Command bases.
On 21 June 2021, the ENDF withdrew
from Tigray to give peace a chance and let farmers till the land peacefully. The
USA Government did not give credit for the good gesture of the Ethiopian
Government.
The surviving Tigrayan leadership
came out of the bush. Rather than seizing on the chance to rebuild the 9-month
war-torn Tigray region, the TPLF chose to reorganise itself, drafted new recruits that
included child soldiers, and invaded Amhara and Afar regions.
On 12 July the TPLF launched a series of massive offences, in the Amhara and Afar Regions, dubbed “Operation Tigray Mother,” using underage children. The UN, USA, and its allies watched the development in silence. The USA was advertising the imminent fall of Addis Ababa, day in and day out, and urging American and European citizens to leave. Very few fell for their propaganda and left. The majority ignored them.
Starting on 01 December 2021, as the TPLF forces reached Debre Sina and Shewa Robit, the Ethiopian Defence Force launched a counterattack. The Prime Minister, whom the American Government and Allies exerted pressure to leave the country to make the way for the TPLF, to their horror, announced he was joining the fight. TPLF's invading forces started fleeing. They were driven from Shewa Robit all the way to Alamata. That was when the USA and Western Governments became so nervous. They started exerting pressure from all sides. While the Ethiopian National Defence Force and Amhara and Afar Special Forces and local militia were able to go all the way to Mekelle, for reasons unknown to many, the Government decided to stop chasing them at Waja and announced a unilateral ceasefire. The devastated TPLF leadership was relieved, and it too declared a ceasefire. Aide started flowing into Tigray. African Union stepped in for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The Government accepted unconditional negotiations. However, the TPLF was preparing for the third human wave invasion. It put in an unattainable condition. The USA and their allies did not pressure them to remove the conditions. Rather, their envoy was traveling to Mekelle and taking memorial selfies with the terrorists.
After looting 750,000 liters of fuel from the WFP depot, on 24 August 2022, the TPLF violated the truce and launched attacks on the Amhara territory, taking over the town of Waja and in a matter of hours the city of Kobo too. It also launched its Sudanese-based exiled army called “Tedros Adhanom Brigade” from the west. The Ethiopian Government’s response was swift and harsh. The Ethiopian Defence Force did not only halt the invading TPLF forces from all fronts (although they gained some territories in Raya) but ousted them from territories they occupied in Amhara and Afar regions for more than a year and repelled the force that was coming in from Sudan. UN and USA restarted their discriminatory actions. The USA’s warning message was laughable. Ignoring the fact that the TPLF restarted the war and gained territories, the USA condemned Ethiopia, Eritrea (for nothing), and the TPLF for resuming the war. They demanded Ethiopia and Eritrea to leave Tigray and the TPLF to leave Amhara! Hasn’t it occurred to them that every inch of Tigray territory belongs to Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Government has the right to access Tigray anytime, anywhere? Pathetic! The TPLF was using child soldiers. No mention of that.
Now Back to the Child Soldiers
In Part I, it was
revealed that on 14 July 2021, The New York Times
published a report by Declan
Walsh and Finbarr O’Reilly, unwittingly glamorising
the “gallant” children of Tigray, fighting enthusiastically for the
independence of Tigray[1]. Jeff Pearce[2] was the first to indicate to the
world that contravened the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child[3].
The silence of the authors of the Convention, the United Nations (UN), The United States of America (USA), The United Kingdom
(UK), and The European Union (EU) was deafening
The TPLF, which escaped any
punitive measure went ahead with
deploying child soldiers in tens of thousands that are now perishing on the
battlefield. What a double standard! Mothers of Tigray, cry for your children!
One Fighter from Every
Household
On the 2nd human wave of invasion, the TPLF deployed children above 12 years old. They were lined up before the adult fighters so that the Ethiopian army would either kill the children or retreat rather than shoot at them. In most instances, the latter was the case. It did work for them for some time. Drug-crazed children kept on charging at the well-trained national army fighters with Kalashnikov. The army tried to avoid unnecessary death by withdrawing and letting the TPLF capture territories. This strategy enabled the TPLF to invade the Amhara land to Debre Sinna, 190.7 km or 118.5 miles from Addis. No one in the so sold called “international community” condemned this act of barbarism. Therefore, the determined counter-offensive of the national army drove the invading rebels from Debre Sina to Alamata, a town in Northern Wollo, capturing alive as many children as possible. That doesn’t mean there were no dead children. Besides, any retreating child shot on the spot would be witnessed later in this paper. The following video shows the account of children captured in the Afar region.
The children were saying, the
world should have come and seen them. They were the lucky ones spared by the National
Defence Force. Many of their friends were killed in the battle. There are no
children of the rich or the TPLF leaders among them. They were all children from poor families, drafted on one person from one household rule, and forced to fight and
die. The UN, the EU, the USA, and the UK are turning
their heads away. Who would cry for them?
Another wounded child at the
Amhara front was picked up by the army, talks. She was so lucky. From her hospital
bed, she was heard sending messages to her mum. She said: “Mum! Don’t worry! I
am not dead! I am alive. We shall meet again”[4].
Most of the children are all
talking about being forced by the rebel fighters, under the diction of one fighter from a household! Some were even rounded up while playing football on
the field. Journalists Araya Tesfamariam and Abebech
Kahasay[5],
both Tigrayans, went to visit the camp where the captive child soldiers were
kept. They were horrified by what they had to witness from the children and
could not keep their tears back. Now,
where is the UN, where is the EU, where is the USA and the UK to protect the
right of the child? They scream above their voice to stop the war, without
condemning the use of child soldiers. Would they be quiet had this been
done by the Government of Ethiopia?
There is one shameful act we saw
from the so-called international community. Whenever the rebels push, you don’t
hear a sound from them. When the Government starts pushing the invaders back,
they start exerting pressure on the Government of Ethiopia to stop. There is
ample evidence that the United States was helping the rebels with information
about the national army’s movements. It has been confirmed by the rebel leaders
themselves. The TPLF is abusing the children because it has the approval from
these superpowers.
The Third Human Wave!
The Government of Ethiopia is
concerned about TPLF’s use of child soldiers and civilian suffering both in
Tigray and the northern part of Ethiopia. Therefore, it declared unilateral
ceasefires twice to give peace a chance. The Government allowed more aid to freely flow
into Tigray. On 04 July 2022, UNICEF
The UN, EU, the USA, and the UK were
pressuring the Ethiopian Government to start negotiating with the rebels under
the umbrella of the African Union (AU). The Government let both Obasanjo and
delegates from the US and the other Western countries travel to Mekelle to
convince the rebels to come to the negotiating table.
While
the Government of Ethiopia agreed to sit for negotiations without preconditions,
the TPLF put unacceptable conditions and snapped it. Debretsion Gebremichael was
heard on television that he would drag the Government by the nose and bring it
to its knees to accept TPLF's preconditions[6].
If not, they would crush them. The rebels launched the third-round human wave of attack and captured the city of Kobo in the Northern Wello region in just less than a day.
Their advance to Woldia was met by fierce resistance from the Ethiopian
Defence Force. Kulkarni
The answer to the above question is emphatically NO! They were helping the TPLF with strategic information and diplomacy on the 2nd human wave. They kept on pressurising the leadership of the Ethiopian Government to flee. They turned bling eyes then and now on the use of children and disabled people as cannon fodders.
Ethiopians are fed up with the deceit of the TPLF. The Government’s defence strategy is now robust. They are still battling to stop the rebels from advancing forward. A military expert estimates the TPLF launched its third-round human wave with 250,000. The Ethiopian Defence Force, Amhara militia, and the “Fanos” are resisting with just 44,000 forces[7]. Unable to move forward and lose some of the territories they held before, the aggressors are now acting like victims as usual and calling the UN and Western countries to intervene by force. The USA is the first to respond. Seeing that the Ethiopian Force cannot be defeated by the rug-tag rebels, they are renewing their sanctions. Will they jump into the war, like they did in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya … to save their terrorist friends? Time will tell. For now, they have sent, Mike Hammer, their Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa who is still in Addis Ababa. He is probably waiting to travel to Mekelle for another selfie.
In the meantime, according to reports reaching the media, the rebels have lost more than ten thousand fighters half of them were child soldiers. More than 50,000 fighters have been taken prisoner [8]. The nervousness of the USA and its allies is understandable.
A piece of shocking information emerged from the war front. Tigrayan commanders are ordering the execution of their own retreating fighters. The news came first from the captured fighters
and kids at first. Their story has been corroborated now by an intercepted radio message.
Orders were given out by a certain very highest-ranking officer (1) to other
subordinate high-ranking officers to fire at the retreating fights at every level.
Below is a close translation of the exchanges for the benefit of English readers.
No 1 – “Whose
force is breaking up? Shoot them down. execute them!”
No 2: “OK,
OK. It is a crowd from all over. Mine, yours, and others”.
No 1: “Let
it be. Any Tigrayan that doesn’t want to fall for Tigray must be shot down on
the forehead. Shoot them all by them the bullet.”
No. 2: “Accepted.
65, are you listening?”
No 1: 65
are you listening to me? 65 are you listening to me? 65 are you listening to
me? 65! 65! Are you listening to me?
65: “Yes,
yes Sir!”
No 1: If
there is any Tigrayan unwilling to fall for Tigray, Shoot him on the forehead.
65: “Merhaba!”
(an Arabic word to say alright)
65: “There
should be no hesitation. They fear death. That is why they are abandoning their
position. Show him there is death here too. What does that mean? Why are they
running away?
65: “68,
are you there?”
68: Yes
N0 1: “Gun
them down! Shoot them all”
68: “Alright,
alright!”
No 1: “Shoot
them all by the bullet, shoot them by the bullet”.
N0 1:
65?
65: “Yes,
yes!”
No 1: I
am telling you, just to shoot them all. The defence lines are all falling apart.
65: “Alright!
Alright!”
No 1: “Things
have fallen apart! Things have fallen apart! All is lost” (with a withdrawn voice
to himself).
The
highest-ranking officer (No 1) is totally heartless. He is ordering to shoot
children, young men, and women, mostly less than 20 years old. They are not only dying by
charging at the battle-hardened well trained National Defence Force, but by
their own leaders. Is it not a war crime?
Who is
coming to save these children? The UN? The EU? The USA, The UK? They don’t
care. The children are perishing to save the neck of the Western-backed terrorist
TPLF[9].
Conclusion
The
people of Tigray are taken hostage by the terrorist TPLF. Tigrayans are all
Ethiopians, except those separatists who want to break Tigray from its 3000
years old constituent Ethiopians. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the
Ethiopian Government to free its citizens from the clutches of these heartless
terrorists who wouldn’t hesitate to kill their own people.
Today, the TPLF has just issued a notice that it is now ready to negotiate to stop the war without any preconditions! Excuse me? Why now? From their history, the TPLF never observed negotiants. They always went back on their words.
Negotiated settlement of the conflict with terrorists only prolongs the suffering of the people. Imagine
what would have happened to Europe had the Nazis and Fascists were not
defeated. An outright defeat would force the vanquished to surrender. After
that, the negotiations will only be on the terms of surrender. This is the historical truth. That was what had happened to the Dergue in Ethiopia, to the
Nazis in Germany, and to the fascists in Italy. The lasting settlement of conflicts
between a legitimate government and rebels can be achieved through an outright
defeat of the culprit. It is not only defeating the terrorists but freeing the people
from such tyrants. Once disarmed, the people will have a breathing space to
rebuild their lives and economy. Again, Germany and Japan are two good examples. Prosperous
Germany and Japan would never have been imagined without the victory of WWWII by the allies.
Therefore,
there should be no negotiations with child-killing terrorists, TPLF, but going
all the way to defeat them and disarm them and let the people of Tigray breathe the fresh air
of freedom. Let the people of Amhara and Afar sleep in peace without the fear
of being slaughtered by TPLF anymore. Saving the children of Tigray from the nightmare of war is only possible after the removal of the TPLF.
Let us
join the mothers of Tigray to cry for justice for their children!
