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By Medihane Ekubamichael @Medihane
Addis Ababa, January 4, 2021 – Ataklti Haileselassie, acting mayor of the city of Mekelle, appointed by the interim administration of the regional state of Tigray, admitted the presence and participation of the Eritrean forces in the armed conflict of Tigray.
In a video televised by Tigray TV, which is currently under the control of the federally appointed interim administration in Tigray, Ataklit responds to questions from community members participating in a meeting. According to Ataklit, the question of the presence of the Eritrean forces in Tigray was “a daily question of the interim administration” and that “the relevant military leaders have been asked to provide explanations.”
The Tigray TV YouTube channel no longer loads Tigray TV shows that are televised locally. Therefore, the video clip was recorded from the local Tigray TV broadcast and posted on Facebook.
“Why did they come in?” Ataklti asks and continues to explain “the largest command in the country [the Northern Command], who was supposed to protect the country, was stabbed in the back and [Eritrean forces] went in because there was no other defense. But it was also announced that they would be withdrawn from the country in a short time. It is a mistake to associate this with the interim administration, ”he said.
The people of Tigray should not be hurt three or four times in “such an unforeseen and senseless war,” laments the acting mayor, “we have had a lot of shame. When will it be enough for Tigraway to enter endless war and death? It is a pity that every ten years Tigraway dies due to war. We don’t have any problems at the moment, so we don’t have to ask why they came in now, but how to get them out. We are here to discuss what we can do to stabilize the situation outside our city. “
Atakliti became the first senior government official to admit the presence and involvement of Eritrean forces in the Tigray armed conflict, which is categorically denied by officials in both Addis Ababa and Asmara despite mounting evidence.
In a press conference held on December 9, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, said that he “confronted Prime Minister Abiy with that question and assured me that they have not entered Tigrayan territory. The only area where they are corresponds to the disputed territory between the two countries that it was decided to return to Eritrea ”.
However, citing US government sources, humanitarian agencies, and satellite imagery, several leading international media outlets, including the New York Times, Reuters, and Bloomberg, have reported the presence and involvement of Eritrean forces in the armed conflict in Tigray, which began exactly two months later. ago on November 04/2020.
The Ethiopian government continued to refer to the conflict as a “law enforcement operation in Tigray” and said it was completed on November 28 after its forces “captured” the city of Mekelle, the capital of Tigray. However, a latest report from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network revealed that “the conflict has been ongoing at relatively lower levels, predominantly in some central and eastern areas.”
The Network, which is a USAID-funded leading provider of food insecurity analysis, also warns that “the conflict in the Tigray region resulted in a marked decrease in food security among poor rural, urban and displaced households despite the harvest in progress ”. AS
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