Ethiopia. Democratic forces retreat to Tigray and Oromia, but the war is set to continue.
Democratic forces: TPLF and OLA are forced to withdraw in Tigray and Oromia due to pressure from the Eritrean army and drones. Despite the withdrawal, the Civil War is far from over. The role of international NGOs is heavy. For reasons of economic convenience have chosen a complicit silence on the crimes against humanity committed by the fascist Amhara regime.
The Tigray Defense Forces, the armed wing of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) party, and the Oromo Liberation Army are withdrawing from the Amhara after suffering heavy losses of both men and armaments: tanks, multiple missile launchers, artillery. In mid-November, democratic forces were a few tens of kilometres from Addis Ababa and are now forced to defend their Tigray and Oromia regions and populations while the genocide in Tigray and ethnic cleansing in Addis Ababa continue.
Aerial bombardments of civilians, with extensive use of drones, have intensified in Tigray. Most affected the capital: Mekelle and the cities of Maychew and Korem. A drone strike yesterday in Mlazat, on the border with the Afar region, targeted a public transport minibus killing 30 civilians. Two days ago, government forces took control of the streets of Woldja, Kobo and Kob-Almata. Yesterday their presence was recorded in the city of Almata, in southern Tigray. It seems that the fascist Amhara regime wants to continue military operations. A second invasion of Tigray is not excluded or, alternatively, the strengthening of the siege that has lasted since last June.
How was this military reversal possible since the Ethiopian Federal Army (ENDF) was destroyed in the previous fighting in May in Tigray and between June and October in the Afar and Amhara regions and the Amhara and Afarine militias do not represent a real military force?
In fact, the ENDF and the Ethiopian militias did not play any important role in this latest offensive, despite the TV shows of Premier Abiy immortalized with the camouflage suit on the front, obviously very far from the fighting in progress.
The offensive was only possible thanks to the intervention of the Eritrean army associated with an intense use of drones supplied by Turkey, the Arab Emirates, Iran and China. The top two Islamic nations also offered mercenaries to remotely fly drones as Ethiopian Amhara pilots were found unable to master this new technology.
Eritrean dictator Isaias Afwerki sent over half of his army to Ethiopia (150,000 out of 200,000 Eritrean armed forces) to fight in place of the ENDF. Eight divisions are engaged in Afar and Amhara, about 120,000 men. A division (15,000 men) is committed to supporting the Amhara FANO militias in the various invasion attempts of Sudan to annex the Al Fashaqa region which should be part of the Great Amhara together with southern Tigray and part of the northern territories of Oromia. A other division (another 15,000 men) was sent to Addis Ababa to defend the capital and accelerate ethnic cleansing against citizens of Tegaru and Oromo origin. The goal is to make the capital a metropolis inhabited only by Amhara.
The presence of Eritrean troops, confirmed by various civil society sources, foreign intelligence and diplomatic sources, has been omitted by the main Ethiopian actors of this horrible civil war and by the majority of the international media. Only a belated confirmation comes to us from TPLF spokesperson Getachew K Reda (@reda_getachew).
“Asmara regime has been heavily involved in the recent clashes in Afar and Amhara. While we will continue to do our utmost to defend our people from any threats, it is now appropriate for the international community to seek to exert pressure on these repeat offenders who are preparing for yet another round of genocide in Tigray. They need to be told that they can’t get away with yet another military adventure ”, says Reda in a recent Twitter.
Emirati, Turkish, Chinese and Iranian drones aerial support was essential to avoid the fall of Addis Ababa and turn the tide of the conflict now in favor of the fascist Amhara regime. Islamic extremist newspaper Yeni Safak says TB-2 drones have changed the balance of power in favor of Ethiopian government forces and that Ethiopia intends to buy another 20 Turkish drones in the coming days.
Yeni Safak Turkish newspaper is owned by Şahap Kavcıoğlu, banker and senior executive of the AKP (party of the Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) recently appointed director of the Central Bank after the sacking of Naci Agbal critical of the financial measures taken by the Ottoman sultan to try to resolve the deep economic crisis that is destroying Turkey.
US and NATO last week managed to stop the flow of weapons for drones from the Emirates and Turkey. This had allowed the democratic forces to stop the various offensives in Amhara and to liberate the cities of Gashena and Lalibela again. Unfortunately Ankara and Abu Dhabi have found a way to evade the surveillance of the western democratic countries resuming the refuel of missiles for drones. Yesterday Gashena and Lalibela were again occupied by Eritrean troops.
There is no doubt that TPLF and OLA have suffered a heavy defeat and are now committed to saving the majority of their soldiers to defend their populations and resume the war with different military tactics. For political reasons, the TPLF presents defeat as a withdrawal presented as an opening to dialogue. “We are confident that our bold act of withdrawal will be a decisive opening for peace,” said Debretsion Gebremichael, President of Tigray and leader of the TPLF in a letter on Monday addressed to the United Nations.
Getachew Reda, spokesman for the TPLF, confirmed that Tigray troops are withdrawing from the Amhara and Afar regions. “We have decided to withdraw from these areas in Tigray. We want to open the door to humanitarian aid. We are not interested in taking over the province of Afar. We are not interested in making a deal with Addis Ababa. We are only interested in ensuring that the siege. which has been ruthlessly imposed on our people, be taken away”, says Reda.
In its statement addressed to the United Nations, the legitimate government of Tigray has set 4 conditions for starting peace negotiations. Imposition of a No Fly zone on the Tigray. Arms embargo to Ethiopia and Eritrea. Withdrawal of the Amhara militias and the Eritrean army from western and northern Tigray. Demilitarized corridor of the Tigray — Amhara and Tigray — Afar borders to facilitate aid and humanitarian assistance to the Tigrinya population.
The Ethiopian regime in the classic primitive and barbaric mentality that characterizes the Amhara leadership and under pressure from the Eritrean dictator Isaias Afwerki, considered the opening of the TPLF as a sign of weakness. Bilene Seryoum, spokesman for the Ethiopian Premier, said that the “terrorists” announcement of the withdrawal was nothing more than a cover-up of the military defeat suffered. “The TPLF has suffered large losses in recent weeks and therefore is claiming a” strategic withdrawal “to make up for the defeat,” he told AFP news agency.
The envoy of the Amhara regime to the United Nations said that there is no possibility of dialogue with “the criminals of the TPLF who must be disarmed, demobilized and their leadership brought to justice”. To clarify its warmongering position, the regime yesterday heavily bombed the capital of Tigray: Mekelle.
In Oromia, the Oromo Liberation Army has recorded other military victories but will soon be confronted with the Eritrean troops and the drones of Abiy’s Arab and Chinese friends. According to some regional military experts, the OLA will not be able to resist and will be forced to return to guerrilla tactics due to the loss of the territories conquered up to now.
So the Nobel Peace Prize Abiy Ahmed Ali won over “terrorists”? Some Westerners are convinced of this. “I believe that the government’s victory will not be celebrated for our Christmas but for sure for Gennà “ declared an exultant humanitarian worker contacted by telephone. The Gennà, Ethiopian Coptic Christmas is celebrated on the night between 6 and 7 January.
The majority of international NGOs (including almost all Italian NGOs operating in the country) have since November 2020 decided to apply the tactics of silence and silence by refusing to denounce the crimes against humanity committed in Tigray, Addis Ababa and Oromia, despite that many NGOs have suffered arrests, persecutions and murders of their expatriate and Ethiopian staff. Only the NGOs Doctors Without Borders and the Norwegian Refugee Committee reported these crimes and for this they were expelled from the country.
The reasons for this complicit silence are to be found in the economic convenience. The majority of foreign NGOs are afraid of being expelled from the country if they dare to criticize the regime. This would amount to a net financial loss as they would not be able to access the millions of euros destined for post-conflict humanitarian assistance which certainly will not be in favor of the populations of Tigray and Oromia.
It should also be noted that the regime has ensured strong control of international NGOs thanks to Amhara collaborators who are NGO employees. They provide confidential information relating to internal humanitarian positions and ensure that the line of complicit silence is respected within the NGOs in which they work. Many Ethiopian and foreign aid workers have been registered on the black lists of “terrorist sympathizers” thanks to these Amhara collaborators on the humanitarian staff. The Eritrean and Ethiopian secret services are only waiting for a misstep by the humanitarians to arrest them, killing those of Ethiopian nationality and deporting foreigners outside the national borders.
So the January 2014 (Ethiopian year corresponding to 2022) will be celebrated with the absolute victory of the Eritrean dictator Isaias Afwerki, and his slaves Abiy Ahmed Ali, Agegnehu Teshager and Temesgen Tirune?
Not at all. The war is destined to continue. Ethiopia risks becoming another endless forgotten third world war as in Syria (conflict started on March 11, 2011) and Yemen (September 16, 2014).
