ይህን አጉልተው ከጻፉት ውስጥ፦“The majlis, perhaps the first manifestation of modern Cptic life, was the embodiment of the educated youth’s desire to be accepted by modern Egyptian society. In time this modern waing of the Coptic community would develop its own Ethiopian ideas, quite different from those of the patriarchate, the Holy Synod, and the Coptic Church establishment” (The Cross and the Riverpage page 68) በማለት የነበረውን እያደነቁ ከብዙ ጸሐፊወች Haggai Erlich የተባሉት አንዱ ናቸው፡፡
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. The USA Government didn’t condemn this heinous crime.
The Ethiopian Government deployed force in its Northern Region of Tigray and arrested
some of the leadership of TPLF, those who resisted arrest were killed in shootouts,
but some escaped and went on the run. The USA condemned the Government and
attacked Ethiopia with a barrage of sanctions.
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
WalshandPhotographs by Finbarr O’Reilly, unwittinglyglamorising
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 (Mekonnen, 2021). These international bodies who are
hunting down the Ugandan rebel
leader Joseph Kony,
to this day didn’t want to raise their little fingers on the Tigrayan People’s
Liberation Front (TPLF).
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?
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 (UNICEF, 2022) reported humanitarian
aid was flowing into previously inaccessible areas in northern Ethiopia’s
embattled Tigray region. However, people are saying they are not getting
it. Who is taking it away? Lifesaving aid enough for hundreds of thousands of people in need is reaching Tigray, thanks to the government’s humanitarian truce, but it looks like it is not reaching the starving.The TPLF used the time of the truce,
to arm itself with help of some sympathetic Western and Egyptian Governments and
stepped conscription of more soldiers unabated for the third human wave of attack
and took the food from the people to feed its fighters. That is what has been witnessed
from the captured military fortress.
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(Kulkarni, 2022) reported that the US-backed
TPLF resumes war in northern Ethiopia. Kulkarni
continued to describe that Dismissing the AU-led peace negotiations,
the TPLF called for Western intervention in Ethiopia before resuming the war on
August 24. This ended the five-month-long truce with Ethiopia’s federal
government, weeks after envoys from the US and EU visited its base.
The following picture shows surviving 5 kids, guiding 3 blind men, 2 blind women, an old nun, and others who surrendered to
the Ethiopian Forces when they were abandoned by the fighters of Tigrayan rebels.
They were all carrying explosives, instructed to throw at the Forces. Only one
woman carried out her orders, while the blind men and women and their guiding kids
simply raised their hands to surrender. They were all fed and cared for. They
were relieved their lives were spared. When asked why they decided to accept
the mission, they all said they were denied food, unless they volunteered to
sacrifice themselves for the independence of Tigray. As they were unable to
carry guns, they were given explosives. The children were forced to guide those disabled
individuals carrying explosives, exposing them to danger. Where are the human rights champions now!
Is the USA Impartial?
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
SpecialEnvoy 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!
