Eritrean troops not fighting in Ethiopia: UN chief

By Xinhuanet 

Dec. 9 – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that there is no proof of Eritrean troops inside Ethiopia, where government forces are fighting rebels in the northernmost region of Tigray.

“We have no proof of the presence of Eritrean troops inside Ethiopia. I confronted the (Ethiopian) prime minister with that question, and he guaranteed to me that they have not entered the Tigrayan territory, that the only area where they are is the area that corresponded to the disputed territory between the two countries that in the peace agreement was decided to give back to Eritrea,” Guterres told reporters.

“So this was the testimony that was given to me by the prime minister when I confronted him exactly with that question.”

There are media reports saying that Eritrean troops have crossed into Ethiopia to help Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s military campaign against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Since Nov. 4, the Ethiopian government has been undertaking military operations against the TPLF, which rules Ethiopia’s northernmost Tigray state. The federal government’s operations followed the TPLF’s attack on a command base of the Ethiopian Defense Force in Mekelle city, capital of Tigray.

The United Nations has information of sporadic fighting in different areas of Ethiopia. But it also has information that there was in the last few days a progressive increase of security and control, said Guterres. “But again, these are information that I am not in a position to fully confirm.”

On humanitarian access to the Tigray region, Guterres said the United Nations and Ethiopia are in a second agreement.

“The only thing I can say is that, after the first agreement that was not possible to implement immediately, we have now a second agreement for joint assessment missions in relation to humanitarian needs between the UN and Ethiopia, to make sure that there is full access to the whole of the territory and full capacity to start humanitarian operations based on real needs and without any kind of discrimination,” said Guterres.

A UN convoy was shot at by Ethiopian troops in Tigray on Sunday, triggering the alarm at the world body. The United Nations has not provided details of the incident.

“The UN has seen the reports of a UN convoy being shot at in Tigray province. These are alarming reports, and we are engaging at the highest level with the federal government to express our concerns and avoid any such incidents in the future,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Guterres, on Tuesday.  

A Chinese-made Wing Loong II drone is on display during the 2017 Dubai Airshow. (Karim Sahib/AFP via Getty Images)

Expert: No Evidence UAE Drones Are Being Used in Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict

By Salem Solomon | VOANews

Forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray region have accused the federal government of partnering with the United Arab Emirates to use weaponized drones stationed in Eritrea. A security analyst tells VOA the drones are in an Eritrean port city but there is no evidence they are being used in the Tigray conflict.

Wim Zwijnenburg, a humanitarian disarmament project leader for PAX, an organization that studies global conflict and researches the use of military technologies, has been analyzing satellite imagery collected by the U.S. company Planet Lab. He determined that drones operated by the UAE are stationed in the Eritrean port city of Assab. The 20-meter wingspan, Chinese-made drones known as the Wing Loong II are capable of dropping bombs or shooting missiles.

“It's true that there are Emirati drones based in Eritrea,” Zwijnenburg told VOA via Skype. “However, the next question is whether they have been used in Ethiopia. And, in that regard, we couldn't find any indication that the Emiratis would fly drones in Ethiopia.”

Fresh reports this week suggest that Eritrean troops are involved in the conflict in the Tigray region. Citing five unnamed diplomats, Reuters reported this week that “evidence of Eritrean involvement cited in the U.S. view of the month-long war includes satellite images, intercepted communications and anecdotal reports from Tigray region.” 

The report comes after repeated claims by the Tigrayan side of the use of UAE military drones by the Ethiopian military.

Tigrayan politician Getachew Reda tweeted last month that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed “is now enlisting the support of UAE drones based in Assab in his devastating war against the people of Tigray.” A regional media outlet, Tigray TV, reiterated the claim on its Facebook account, saying “highly sophisticated weaponry, which included drones and other technologies that cannot be found on the African continent, were extensively used when attacking the people of Tigray.”

Ethiopia said it has conducted “targeted strikes” against strategic targets in the Tigray region. Major General Yilma Merdasa, chief of the Ethiopian Air Force, told VOA Amharic the air force is attacking with warplanes, missiles and UAVs—unmanned aerial vehicles. He added: “We have trained and armed ourselves and we are doing the work from the center [from Ethiopia] and other assertions are deception. We are destroying the enemy with a force we built ourselves.”

Zwijnenburg noted that Ethiopia has the fourth-largest air force in Africa, flying MiG-23 and Sukhoi-27 jet fighters. He said mobile phone video uploaded to Facebook appears to show fighter jets flying over the city of Mekelle, in northern Ethiopia.

“We could not find any indication that those drones have been used by the Ethiopian Air Force but only found indications that piloted aircraft jet fighters have carried out targeted strikes,” he said. “So, in that sense, it's good to look at the statements made and fact-check those with what we know from the ground and from open-source information and satellite imagery.”

Claiming victory, the federal government said the Tigray incursion is a limited military action against some members of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) after it attacked a military base. But the TPLF calls it a war against Tigray, one that its forces continue fighting.

UAE drones involved in Libya

There is precedent for the UAE piloting weaponized drones on the African continent. According to the U.N., the UAE has conducted drone strikes in favor of the Libyan National Army led by rebel General Khalifa Hafter, while Turkey has conducted drone strikes in support of Libya’s Government of National Accord.

“States have an interest in drones because it removes the risk from the pilot, they're relatively cheap and they can stay over a large area for a long time,” Zwijnenburg said. “Making them very, sort of, a seductive way to use lethal force in operations where you otherwise wouldn't expose your own troops to risk because [they] could have been killed.”

The militaries of Nigeria and Algeria also operate armed drones, Zwijnenburg said. The U.S. has operated drone bases in Niger and in Somalia in recent years, and previously had one in southern Ethiopia that was shut down in 2016.

Any outside drone intervention in the Tigray conflict is not likely to slip by unnoticed by international observers, Zwijnenburg says.

“Our concern,” he says, “is that this could lower the threshold for the use of lethal force in disputed areas or conflict disputes, [where] military drones are operated in those kinds of proxy wars or shadow wars, in areas where we don't have access to, where it's hard to control, to fact check claims they make.”

Ethiopia: Post-TPLF Part I “Militarily Defeated”

By  Worku Aberra 

Now that the military operation against the TPLF’s rebellion has successfully concluded, Ethiopia must embark on a democratic order free from the vestiges of the TPLF. The first order of business in creating the new Ethiopia is outlawing the TPLF as a terrorist organization. The government has the legal, moral, and political obligation to ban the TPLF for its terrorism, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and breach of the constitution.

The TPLF has engaged in terrorist activities in Ethiopia for more than 45 years. During its guerrilla years, it used terror to subdue its opponents, to extract food from the farmers, to fight the military government, and to eliminate internal dissent. In the 1980s the US State Department rightfully labelled it a terrorist organization. During its stay in power, it practiced terrorism selectively and broadly. The Prime Minister acknowledged in 2018 that the EPRDF government, a government dominated by the TPLF, was a terrorist state. He apologized to the Ethiopian people for the TPLF’s brutalities.

Caches of explosives, satellite cell phones, training manuals in Arabic, and audio instructional material, reportedly for undertaking international terrorism, have been discovered in one of the TPLF’s underground bunkers in Mai Kadra. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told parliament on November 30 that  from 2016 up to now, the TPLF has participated in all of the 113 conflicts that have taken place in Ethiopia, most of which were terrorist acts,  along with staging the unsuccessful rebellion against the government.

The TPLF has been militarily defeated, but it has vowed to continue its armed confrontation by resorting to terrorism. In the coming weeks and months, as the military relaxes its control over Tigray, the TPLF will most likely start targeting civilians, institutions, and infrastructure in Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia. An organization with such atrocious history of terrorism deserves to be outlawed.

It is unclear as to why the government is hesitant to declare the TPLF a terrorist organization. The evidence is compelling. Members of parliament have demanded that the TPLF be declared a terrorist organization and that its leaders be brought to justice, individually or collectively, for all the crimes the TPLF has committed against the Ethiopian people.

The government may be concerned about the political ramifications of declaring the TPLF a terrorist organization. It may wish to protect the previous members of the TPLF who are still in the government or are now active in the Prosperity Party, some of whom are charged with leading the provisional government in Tigray, but such individuals should face the consequences of their actions.

The government may also be anxious about other previous or current government officials, at the regional or national level, who may have abated, facilitated, or committed terrorist acts. If such persons exist, they should face the court of law. Whatever political computations the government may be considering, it doesn’t excuse its reluctance to declare the TPLF a terrorist organization. Failing to do so is a serious dereliction of responsibility.

Declaring the TPLF a terrorist organization will weaken its standing with the international community, prevent it from using its looted financial assets stashed away in and outside Ethiopia, block it from legally participating in Ethiopia’s political affairs, and curb its support in Tigray and the rest of Ethiopia.

The TPLF’s Treasonous Act

Before the war started, Mesfin Seyoum, one of the founders and current leaders of the TPLF, ascertained on November 1 that foreign governments would invade Ethiopia if Eritrea intervened in the impending armed conflict between the TPLF and the Ethiopian government, and that Ethiopia would become another Libya, Syria, or Yemen.  He guaranteed foreign intervention, but his certainty raises a few questions.

Why was he so sure about foreign intervention in Ethiopia? Did the TPLF agree to foreign intervention in a quid pro quo arrangement with a foreign government, possibly with the Egyptian government? We don’t know the answer for now. We may find out the truth in the future, but any political organization that has expressed its willingness to collaborate with a foreign invader engages in a treasonous act and must be proscribed.

The TPLF’s aborted revolt brought Ethiopia to the brink of a civil war. The TPLF tried to destroy the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF). Had its plan to annihilate the ENDF succeeded, it would have rendered Ethiopia vulnerable to foreign aggression. It also violated Ethiopia’s current constitution, a constitution written by the TPLF itself.

When the TPLF-dominated EPRDF government was in power, since it was impossible to oppose the regime peacefully, some political organizations, including the OLF, Ginbot 7, and The Ogaden People’s Liberation Front, were forced to resort to armed struggle to effect change, but the regime outlawed them because they advocated the use of violence to overthrow the government, in violation of the EPRDF’s constitution.

Article 9.3 of the constitution reads, “ It is prohibited to assume state power in any manner other than that provided under the Constitution”. Further, article 31 states, “ Organizations formed, in violation of appropriate laws, or to illegally subvert the constitutional order, or which promote such activities are prohibited”.

The objective of the TPLF’s failed rebellion was to replace the current government with a provisional government. In staging the rebellion, the TPLF violated the constitution and should therefore be prohibited from functioning as a political entity.  That is what its own law specifies.

All political systems, democratic or non-democratic, defend themselves against political groups that espouse violence to achieve their objectives: they outlaw such groups. Democracies respect freedom of expression and freedom of association, but reject violence as a means of obtaining political objectives. In Spain, the separatist Basque party Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) is banned. In Canada, the Front de libération du Québec (the FLQ) was outlawed.  Systemic survival requires systemic self-defense. Ethiopia’s nascent democracy should defend itself from a TPLF assault in the future, by banning the TPLF.

There is ample evidence that the TPLF has committed war crimes. Media reports indicate that the TPLF has forcefully recruited underage children and the elderly to fight in the armed conflict. Its youth wing massacred 600 civilians at Mai Kadra, according to the Ethiopian Human Rights Council. Survivors tell stories of how the TPLF executed the soldiers it “captured” during its assault at night on the bases of the Northern Command. Mass graves of TPLF victims have been discovered in Humera, Mai Kadra, and other places.  Forceful enlisting of child soldiers, massacres of civilians, execution of captured soldiers constitute war crimes. A political group that has committed war crimes must be outlawed.

The TPLF has been inciting hatred against the Amharas for more than 40 years. No government in history has carried out such a concerted hate propaganda against an ethnic group that it rules as the TPLF has done against the Amharas. In its program, political discourse, every pomp and circumstance political event, the TPLF has vilified the Amharas as “chauvinists”.

In all of his political speeches, Meles Zenawi routinely condemned the Amharas as “chauvinists”. The EPRDF’s program identifies “chauvinism” as the enemy that must “be dealt with successfully” (see articles 1.5 and 4.8). The TPLF’s hateful propaganda against the Amharas for more than four decades has resulted in their mass killings.

The TPLF has also committed acts of genocide and crimes against humanity. There is evidence that the TPLF deceitfully sterilized Amhara women and underfunded development projects in the Amhara Killil (I will discuss the issues in a subsequent installment). It planned and executed the displacement of millions of Amharas, Gedeos, Oromos,  Somalis, and other Ethiopians. A political group that incites hatred against an ethnic group and has committed genocidal acts must be banned.

An Independent International Inquiry

While the Ethiopian people are familiar with the TPLF’s atrocities, the international community is largely unaware of the TPLF’s crimes thanks to the propaganda work of its supporters in the western media, academia, and thinktanks; and the efforts of its lobbyists in influencing the attitude of NGOs, Western governments, and multilateral organizations in its favour.

The government should invite multilateral human rights organizations such as The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Amnesty International, the European Commission of Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, and the UN Commission on Human Rights to investigate the TPLF’s crimes. A comprehensive International investigation will demonstrate to the world the TPLF’s crimes and why it deserves to be outlawed.

__

Worku Aberra

Worku is a professor of economics at Dawson College, Montreal, Canada. He did his graduate studies in development economics at McGill University; currently he is doing research on child labour in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia: Tigray Provisional Administration Cabinet To Take Office Tomorrow

By FanaBC

Cabinet of the Provisional Administration of Tigray is to take office starting from tomorrow, Chief Executive Dr. Mulu Nega stated.

Dr. Mulu Nega, Chief Executive of the Provisional Administration of Tigray has today briefed media on what is currently undergoing in the region.

Dr. Mulu urged government employees who were shocked by the actions of the TPLF Junta to return to work by Monday.

He also said that if there is a government employee who does not return to work on that date, he will be considered to have resigned voluntarily.

The government jointly with concerned bodes has been undertaking activities to restore services in all public institutions and private business organizations in the region, Dr. Mulu noted.

He said the provisional administration is exerting efforts to ensure that all service rendering organizations are open to the public and residents return to their daily activities safely.

Saying that the interim administration has set up its cabinet, Dr. Mulu noted that cabinet that has been set up so far will take office as of tomorrow, and public servants who quitted job due to shocking belligerent act of the TPLF Junta will return to work by Monday.

Most of towns of Tigray including Mekele city have returned to normalcy, said Dr. Mulu calling all business entities to start operation from tomorrow.

He also urged any armed individuals in the region to disarm and handover their weapons to nearby office of government security bodies till Tuesday December 15, 2020.

Home to home raid will be carried out, he said, adding that anyone found bearing weapon will be accountable by law.

Saudi Arabia’s Delegation Led by Foreign Minister Arrive in Asmara

By Yemane G. Meskel | MoI

President Isaias Afwerki met this evening at State House Saudi Arabia’s delegation led by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. The delegation delivered messages from King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud as well as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to President Isaias.

The two sides held extensive talks on bilateral ties and regional issues of mutual importance. Affirming that the two countries hold convergent views and positions on all these matters, they agreed to bolster their ties and to establish a Joint Committee to implement the common vision.

President Isaias Afwerki met this evening at State House Saudi Arabia's delegation led by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. The delegation delivered messages from King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud as well as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to President Isaias pic.twitter.com/CXmhPulZOI

— Yemane G. Meskel (@hawelti) December 15, 2020

The two sides held extensive talks on bilateral ties & regional issues of mutual importance. Affirming that the two countries hold convergent views & positions on all these matters, they agreed to bolster their ties & to establish a Joint Committee to implement the common vision pic.twitter.com/mgH5UvGmIL

— Yemane G. Meskel (@hawelti) December 15, 2020

Ethiopia Offers A 10 Million Birr Reward In Hunt For Whereabouts Of TPLF Clique Members

By FanaBC

In a press conference held on Friday, Community Information Department Head at the National Defense Force, Let.-Gen Asrat Denero announced an offer amounting 10 Million Birr in rewards for information on the whereabouts of members of the TPLF Clique members.

The reward is be offered to anyone who discloses the whereabouts of members of the TPLF Clique who are being hunted amid the law enforcement operation underway following the atrocity the renegade group committed against the national army troops and nation at large.

The government is working to bring culprits to justice, restore infrastructure and rehabilitate affected people following the completion of the law enforcement operation in Tigray.

Mekele City and several towns in Tigray region are returning to normalcy and getting back to the previous day to day activities.

 A Sequel to the Tekle Berhe’s Rebuttal Open Letter to Esat  News Analyst 

It is my considered opinion that using any metric for measuring authenticity and professional journalism in the dissemination of none print media  information in Ethiopia,  Esat news Channel would easily top the list. And I can testify that for many of my contacts, Esat is one of their reliable source of credible information in respect the current developments in Ethiopia. Given the proliferation of disinformation and unethical reporting, the diligence and professionalism of the staff at Esat is laudable. Because of my belief in their sense of fairness and exactitude of truthful reporting, I enjoy their show and would not miss the Esat’s daily streaming. Good flow of ideas and clear language.  Need I say telling the truth and insightful topical analysis makes one’s work admirable! 

However as the African proverb puts it subtly, ‘Every Market Place Has its own Mad Man’ so does Esat has its weakest link in the person of the gentleman by the name Ato Gizaw Legese. What he said about the future relation between Eritrea and Ethiopia is extremely immature and insensitive. I do not believe that his contribution meets the standard of the very informative, constructive and educative Esat’s daily show. But thanks God the rest of the team members do not share his illogical and outrageous thoughts. Sisay has the wisdom and intellectual grounding to put things right.

When I read the very eloquent rebuttal open letter written by my compatriot Tekle Berhe, I thought enough was said to expose the reprehensible comment of this gentleman. But then I realised he is not alone in harbouring such infantile and regressive dreams of securing access to the Red Sea by invading Eritrean sovereign territory because Ethiopia has a population 20 times greater than that of Eritrea.  What an incredible logic! If so, then why not annex Djibouti which is 104 times smaller than Ethiopia in terms of population? 

1. What Ato Gizaw said was not a simple guff but a deceptive red-sea syndrome that afflicts some Ethiopian elite notably the few Amhara ethnic chauvinists uncleansed from their archaic mind set. It is also worthwhile that the following former TPLF members should be included in the above category of war mongers.


2. General Tsadikan  who ones asserted in Tigrigna that Ethiopia has unfinished business of war with Eritrea - ምስ ኤርትራ ዘይተዛዘመ ውግእ ኣሎናGenral Abebe Teklehaimanot  who has been advocationg with impunity for the acquiring the Eritrea Port of Assab by all means including military power 


3. Siye Abraha ( not sure of his tiltle) but one of the drivers of the  invasion of Eritrea in 1998 


4. Gebru Asrat one of the exponents of the agenda of  annexing the Aseb Port of Eritrea and  known for his resentful stance on Eritrean independence hooked as he is  to disiformation and falsification of events of the Eritrean struggle of liberation. This man is also very hostile to anything Eritrean.

Sibhat Nega, founding father of the TPLF, apprehended

By EthiopianCitizen

 Sibhat Nega, one of the founding father of the TPLF rebel group, was apprehended, reported Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew to Ethiopian News Agency (ENA).

"Sibhat Nega was caught hidden in a cave where he was carried by his men who were with him", said the army's Head of Operations, Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew.

Sibhat Nega, born 1934 and affectionately called as "Aboy" meaning "Father" by his followers, is the founding father of the Marxist Leninist group Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in 1975. A hardline Tigrayan nationalist, his original stand against the leader of the DERG, Mengistu Hailemariam, was that the country should be broken up into ethnic states. 

Head of the TPLF from 1979-1989, he was replaced by the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at its Third Congress. Since then, he has been at the periphery but remains respected. He was the ruling party’s economic department chairman, a major supporter of Meles Zenawi during the war with Eritrea and its aftermath.

Sibhat Nega's wife was also reported to have been caught yesterday by the ENDF along with Seku Toure, a founding member of the TPLF who publicly admitted TPLF assault on the ENDF on November 04, 2020.

Sibhat Nega's son Tekeste Sibhat Nega also took arms to defend TPLF but was killed in the conflict in Tigray on December 19, 2020.

"Aboy" revered family loyalty to maintain tight grip on the party's leadership and its business conglomerate. 

Abay Woldu (right) was the former president of Tigray State and is a senior member of the TPLF junta. He is described as a hardliner who desired to end Eritrea's independence through direct military occupation. He was behind the June 2016 failed military attack against Eritrea that resulted in 200 Ethiopian soldiers and 18 Eritrean soldiers losing their lives.

More Top TPLF Leaders Captured

By FanaBC

Addis Ababa, January 10, 2021 (FBC) – The National Defence Force has captured seven more top leaders of the terrorist TPLF Junta.

Head of Defence Force Deployment Department, Birg.Gen. Tesfaye Aylew, said actions were also taken aganist military officers who defected to the junta.

The defence force accused them of exposing the army for attacks with a view to dismantling the country.

Accordng to Birg.Gen. Tesfaye , the following top leaders of the junta were arrested:

1. Abay Woldu -Former President of Tigray regional state

2. Dr Abrham Tekeste- Former Deputy President of Tigray

3. Dr Redai Berhe- Former Head of Tigray Auditor General

4. Dr Mulugeta Yirga- Former Head of Tigray Statistics Agency

5. Equbay Berhe- Former Religious Affairs Monitering Head

6. Getachew Teferi- Former Head of Tigray President Office as well as Head of Peace and Security

7.Kiros Hagos- Former Head of Tigray Social Affairs Bureau

Birg.Gen. Tesfaye further said actions were taken aganist the following officers:

1. Maj. Gen Ibrahim Abduljelil- Former Head of Logistics of the defence force and also head of logistics of the junta

2. Birg. Gen Gebrekidan Gebremariam- Former Head of indoctrination of the Defense Force who joind the junta after retirement

3.Ten senior officers

4. Two line officer

5. One Deputy Commissioner of the regional state

Birg.Gen. Tesfaye added that more members of the TPLF group were captured in the operation.

Ethiopia warns Sudan over military build-up amid border tensions

By Aljazeera

Ethiopia has accused Sudanese forces of pushing further into a contested border region that has been the site of deadly clashes in recent weeks, warning that its “peaceful” approach to the dispute “has its limit”.

Sharing a 1,600km (994mile) frontier, the two neighbouring countries have long feuded over the al-Fashqa region, where Ethiopian farmers cultivate fertile land claimed by Sudan.

The border tensions come at a time when Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt are also trying to resolve a three-way dispute over the controversial dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

“The Sudanese side seems to be pushing in so as to inflame the situation on the ground,” Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told reporters on Tuesday. “Is Ethiopia going to start a war? Well, we are saying let’s work on diplomacy.”

“How long will Ethiopia continue to resolve the issue using diplomacy? Well, there is nothing that has no limit. Everything has a limit,” he told a media briefing in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Spokesperson of @mfaethiopia, H.E. Amb.@mufti_dina, gave the Ministry’s biweekly press briefing today to the media. #Ethiopia-#Sudan border issue,#GERD, diplomatic activities of missions & collaboration w/ citizens in #Europe are covered, among others. https://t.co/WFZaslns1Bpic.twitter.com/MPt6FDnllN

— MFA Ethiopia🇪🇹 (@mfaethiopia) January 12, 2021

In early December, Sudan accused Ethiopian “forces and militias” of ambushing Sudanese troops along the border, leaving four dead and more than 20 wounded.

Ethiopia, for its part, said last week that Sudan’s military had “organised attacks by using heavy machine guns” and that “many civilians have been murdered and wounded”.

Sudan’s information minister and government spokesman Feisal Mohamed Saleh said the country did not want war with Ethiopia but its forces would respond to any aggression.

“We fear that these comments contain a hostile position towards Sudan. We ask of Ethiopia to stop attacking Sudanese territory and Sudanese farmers,” he told Reuters news agency.

Multiple issues

Sudan said on December 31 it had taken control of all of the Sudanese territory in the area. Ethiopia says Sudan took advantage of its forces being distracted by the conflict in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, to occupy Ethiopian land and loot properties.

The United Nations said in a report last week on the humanitarian situation in Tigray that there were reports of a military build-up on both sides of the border around the area.

The Tigray conflict has spurred tens of thousands of Ethiopian refugees to cross into Sudan.

Separately, Ethiopia and Egypt said on Sunday that they reached a new impasse in the dispute over GERD. Egypt and Ethiopia separately blamed Sudanese objections to the framework for the talks.

Ethiopia sees the dam as key to plans to become Africa’s largest power exporter.

Egypt, which gets more than 90 percent of its scarce freshwater from the Nile, fears the dam across the Blue Nile could devastate its economy.

Sudan worries the project would affect its own dams, though it stands to benefit from access to possible cheap electricity.

On Tuesday, Ethiopia’s Dina criticised both Egypt and Sudan for delaying the negotiations. “Are the two speaking the same language? More or less. The two are speaking the same language when it comes to stalling it.”

TPLF Clique Top Officials Seyoum Mesfin, Asmelash Woldeselassie And Abay Tsehaye Neutralized

By FanaBC

January 13, 2020 (FBC) – Members of the TPLF Clique high level leadership, Seyoum Mesfin, Asmelash Woldeselassie and Abay Tsehaye have been killed, the ENDF’s Deployment Department Head, Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew said.

ENDF’s Deployment Department Head, Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew underlined that the national army and other security forces of the country including the federal police have continued their gallantry and victory in their mission.

Refusing to surrender to ENDF, Seyoum Mesfin, Abay Tsehaye, Asmelash Woldeselassie & Col Kiros Hagos have been killed in fire exchanges undertaken with the criminal clique’s personal security. Five key TPLF affiliated former army commanders have been apprehended.

— Ethiopia State of Emergency Fact Check (@SOEFactCheck) January 13, 2021

Tigray: Ethiopian army kills ex-Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin

By Aljazeera

Ethiopia says its forces have killed three members of the conflict-hit Tigray region’s former ruling party, including ex-Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin.

The three Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) officials were killed after they refused to surrender to the military, the government’s task force for the crisis in Tigray said on Twitter on Wednesday. Five other TPLF members were captured, it added.

Seyoum was Ethiopia’s foreign minister from 1991 until 2010. The two others killed were former Federal Affairs Minister Abay Tsehaye and ex-parliamentary chief whip Asmelash Woldeselassie.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government declared victory in its conflict with the TPLF, a political party that previously governed the province, on November 28 after it regained control of the region’s capital, Mekelle.

Fighting started after the TPLF allegedly attacked federal military bases at multiple locations in the region, triggering a war that has shaken the Horn of Africa.

Operations continue

Fugitive leaders of the TPLF had promised to continue to fight from the mountains of the region in northern Ethiopia, but their whereabouts are still unknown.

The military said last week it had captured Sebhat Nega, a founding member of the TPLF.

At the weekend, it said it had killed 15 TPLF members and captured eight others, according to state-run TV.

Those captured reportedly included the region’s former president Abay Weldu, who was also a former chairman of the region’s ruling party.

Air raids and battles since early November in Tigray are believed to have killed thousands of people. Fighting is continuing in some parts and more than two million people need aid, the United Nations said this week.

Media have been unable to verify claims by either side since phone and internet connections to the Tigray region are down and access to the area is strictly controlled.