Notwithstanding the fact that the government of Ethiopia has been pulling out all the stops to restore peace in the northern part of the country in a peaceful atmosphere, the terrorist TPLF group has continued perpetrating atrocities with impunity in the Afar region.
As the group is not ready for peace and has never drawn lessons from past mistakes, it has been playing a part in extreme looting, property destruction, and what have you. Apart from killing thousands of innocent civilians, the terrorist group has ended up displacing thousands of people in the Afar region.
As a matter of fact, the invasion of the terrorist group has been accompanied by extreme looting and property destruction. On the basis thereof, this has been creating a manmade humanitarian crisis mainly disregarded by the inappropriately named media outlets and other stakeholders.
Following the Ethiopian government’s unilateral ceasefire decision, the terrorist TPLF group has been mystifying the broader international community as if it is determined to a non-violent resolution.
However, the group has been launching an intensified offensive in various parts of the Afar region and making an incalculable harm happen. Disappointedly, as a consequence of the unrelenting atrocities of the terrorist group, the number of displaced people in the Afar region has dramatically been on the way up. Despite the terrorist TPLF group’s evil deeds, the international community has been giving the cold shoulder to the unvarnished truth surfacing in the region.
By choosing silence, the groups have proven their discrimination and unfairness. In a similar vein, the terrorist TPLF group has been sending civilian fighters into Afar region with the purpose of assaulting and ransacking the possessions of the community. As a matter of fact, since the onset of the law enforcement operation, the so-called international media outlets, have been taking sides with the terrorist TPLF group turning a deaf ear to the existing reality on the ground in Ethiopia. This is a clear manifestation of their partisan stance.
As usual, some media outlets move heaven and earth to put the terrorist group into power and camouflage the carnages, plundering, and other actions in violations of law. In recent times, on the subject of the issue, Afar People Party head Mussa Adem, stated that the terrorist TPLF has continued blocking humanitarian aid routes, attacking innocent civilians in the Afar region using heavy artillery.
In a telephone conversation with local media, Afar People Party Head said the terrorist group has reinvaded Megale, Abala, and its environs, blocked humanitarian aid routes towards Tigray state merely to employ hunger and social chaos as war. He went on noting that the terrorist TPLF group remnants have been seriously attacking innocent civilians in Afar, Abala, and others making use of heavy firearms. On top of that, the terrorist TPLF group is highly waging war in Afar and Amhara states merely to make Ethiopia weak and hold its journey towards development and prosperity.
He said, “The people of Tigray and Afar regions have had long-lasting relations, fraternity, and inestimable neighborhood. However, the terrorist group is simply running to quench its power thirst and hit the ill-intended mission it has developed for years, which is impossible and unacceptable at all.” “As the terrorist leftovers have blocked the route to Tigray at Afar border, the humanitarian aid is not right now delivered to northern Afar let alone to Tigray region.
This is a clear exhibition of the Terrorist group’s irresponsibleness and deep-rooted hostility against its people,” he added. The international media have even witnessed what is really happening in the country by prepetrated the terrorist group, and start denouncing its evgl deeds. For instance, citing regional administration’s serious compliant over TPLF’s wrong deed, TRTWORLD recently stated that more than 300,000 people have been displaced by warfare in Ethiopia’s Afar region since December. In an article titled, “Ethiopia blames TPLF for Afar region ‘massacres’, 300,000 displacements, Tigray rebels massacred innocent people, looted and destroyed various institutions,” Afar administration says, while the UN calls for end to fighting which it says is blocking aid to neighboring Tigray region. Officials in the Afar region further said in a certain statement that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (or TPLF) had intensively invaded the region.
“The terrorist group has massacred innocent people, looted and destroyed various institutions, and displaced more than 300,000 innocent people,” the statement cited. As learnt from the statement, Tigrayan rebels were advancing towards a checkpoint at Serdo, on the highway that links landlocked Ethiopia to Djibouti, the region’s main port. Fighting was raging in five districts and in the town of Abala. The United Nations has said that the fighting in Afar was blocking the delivery of food to neighboring Tigray region, where several hundred thousand people are living in famine conditions.
“People are fleeing in absolute fear in all directions,” said an aid worker in Afar, who asked not to be named. The aid worker told that one of her colleagues had been killed in the fighting and two were missing. In the present climate, the evil deeds of the terrorist TPLF group have been coming to light on the grounds that a number of people have been paying homage to the conflict affected areas. Bringing the evil deeds of the terrorist group into the light helps the international community to know more about the destruction, and stand by the side of the victims at the earliest possible time. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy-Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) is one among many that managed to pay a visit to the widespread destruction that took place in the war torn states such as Afar.
In a media briefing, the deputy secretarygeneral said, “I was in the field visiting with the AU special envoy to see the effect of the war in the war-torn states. I have seen the tragedy of the conflict and the problem in Ethiopia has been causing a serious humanitarian crisis, particularly to women, and children.
As ENA reported earlier attributing the Deputy-Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Amina J. Mohammed, the UN will provide the necessary humanitarian support to people displaced in Afar region of Ethiopia.
During the occasion, the UN Deputy Secretary-General said the problem in Ethiopia has been causing serious humanitarian crisis, particularly claiming the lives of women, children and elders. She has also affirmed UN’s readiness to provide the necessary humanitarian support to the people displaced due to the conflict and other related challenges.
President Sahlework Zewde, on her part said that the conflict had claimed the lives of several innocent people including women and children appreciating the people of Afar for the courage they demonstrated to defend the sovereignty of Ethiopia. The Chief Administrator of Afar Region, Awol Arba said the existing partnership with the UN has been contributing a lot to the development and expansion of social infrastructures in the region. However, he pointed out that the livelihood of the people in the region has now been worsening due to the invasion of the terrorist TPLF as the group is engaged in killing and attacking innocent people and animals.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Demeke Mekonnen, received in his office the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed, and discussed the current situation in the country. She said her recent visits to the Amhara and Tigray regions helped her see the cost of the conflict on human lives and property, according to information obtained from MoFA.
Underlining the need to give proper attention to rehabilitation efforts in areas affected by the conflict, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations further appreciated the ongoing peace initiatives in the country. She has also appreciated the Ethiopian government‘s commitment to engage with the United Nations while passing through difficult times.
Generally, the international community is expected to stretch helping hands well comprehending the reality on the ground in Ethiopia in general and in Afar state in particular as acting accordingly is a call of urgency, indeed.
BY ADDISALEM MULAT
The 12 February 2022
