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This story was co-reported by a journalist in Addis Ababa whose name is withheld for security reasons.
The fighting between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) came as no surprise to the Tigrayans living in Addis Ababa – they had seen it coming for years. What they didn’t expect was living in fear so far from the front lines.
Speaking to The New Humanitarian in a series of interviews over the past month, half a dozen Tigrayans living in the nation’s capital described ethnic discrimination and growing harassment. Such abuse and discrimination by neighbors, strangers and government officials could, analysts and others warn, widen the gap between Ethiopia’s increasingly polarized ethnic groups, sparking renewed conflict.
“The drums of war have been beating for years,” said Million Gebremedhin, a Tigrayan restaurant owner who has lived in Addis Ababa since 2014. “The war is not a surprise. But what came after the war, the way [Abiy] he’s doing it, it’s a surprise. “
A month of clashes between government forces and fighters loyal to the ruling party in the Tigray region has displaced an estimated one million people, according to the UN, and killed thousands.
Telephone and Internet connections were partially restored in Tigray on December 14, and the first international humanitarian convoy (seven trucks carrying medicines and supplies from the International Committee of the Red Cross) headed to Mekelle, the capital of the region, on December 12. from December.
The country’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has insisted that the military efforts are a “law enforcement operation” targeting TPLF leaders, which he refers to as a “clique. criminal “, and not to the Tigray community in general.
But Tigrayan refugees who have fled to neighboring Sudan have accused the Ethiopian army and allied militias of targeting civilians.
Read more → Refugees from Tigray relate the horrors of the new conflict in Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s state-appointed Human Rights Commission said it was “deeply concerned” by reports of ethnic discrimination against Tigrayans, “most notably manifested in forced leave from work and preventing people from traveling. abroad, even on work missions, for medical treatment or studies ”.
Some of the Tigrayans who spoke to TNH said the abuse started before the recent conflict. Most said they had stayed home for the past month for fear of arrest and charged with supporting the TPLF. One has completely left Ethiopia. All were concerned for the safety of their relatives in Tigray, which is hundreds of kilometers north of the capital.
“The war is not a surprise. But what came after the war, the way [Abiy] he’s doing it, it’s a surprise. “
A man in his thirties said he was having coffee in Addis Ababa with a group of friends, some of whom spoke Tigrinya, the language spoken in Tigray, when a neighbor he had known for two years passed by and yelled : “Tigrayan troublemakers, why? are you congregating? “
“I couldn’t believe he told us that,” the man, who asked that his name not be revealed for fear of retaliation, told TNH.
Analysts say anti-Tigrayan discrimination might unify the community – which does not uniformly support the TPLF – against the central government. It could also increase tensions between Ethiopian communities, some of which are pushing for greater power and autonomy. The TPLF and allied militias have also been accused of attacks against ethnic Amhara during the recent fighting.
“The ethnic profiling shows that despite the government’s stated intention to target only TPLF leaders, this conflict is also having a much broader negative impact on Tigrayans outside of Tigray,” said William Davison, International Crisis analyst. Group.
In an email interview with TNH, Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa director for Human Rights Watch, said her organization has received reports of Tigrayans outside the northern region being harassed on the street, profiled in airports and cafes. , and that they have their homes arbitrarily. registered by Ethiopian security forces.
“Discrimination from state agents could fuel further discrimination or harm,” Bader said. “The government must immediately investigate these incidents, hold those responsible to account and make it clear that any violence, discrimination or hostility against the Tigrayans or any other group will not be tolerated.”
Media reports claim that Tigray soldiers serving an African Union peacekeeping mission fighting Islamist insurgents in Somalia have had their weapons taken away. And Tigrayan employees at Ethiopian Airlines, including pilots, caterers, technicians and security guards, have reportedly been instructed by their superiors to stay home until further notice.
High-profile Tigrayans have also been accused by the government of supporting the TPLF. In November, Ethiopia’s army chief said, without providing evidence, that the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was trying to obtain arms and secure diplomatic support for the Tigrayan party. Tedros denied the accusations.
Frozen bank accounts, registered houses
Only six percent of Ethiopia’s more than 100 million people live in Tigray, but officials in the region have dominated the country politically since the TPLF led a guerrilla struggle that defeated the country’s Marxist regime in 1991.
The party was at the center of a political coalition called the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which ruled the country with an authoritarian apparatus for nearly 30 years.
Abiy came to power in 2018 following massive anti-government protests that channeled popular discontent with the authoritarian government of the EPRDF and the power wielded by the TPLF, which had a disproportionate influence on civil and security structures and key business sectors.
Since then, TPLF officials have been arrested on corruption charges and removed from federal offices and state institutions, fueling a sense of discrimination among party members.
“In order to capture the main criminals of the TPLF, the government breaks the hopes, lives and dreams of so many.”
The Tigrayans, who said they had no connections to the TPLF, told TNH that they had also felt attacked. Some said they have found it more difficult to find work in recent years due to their ethnic origin; others said they have fought with their neighbors and friends.
The situation has worsened in the last month. Several of the Tigrayans said that police officers have harassed them on the streets of Addis Ababa after checking their identity cards, which indicate their region of birth.
Citing looting and corruption, the National Bank of Ethiopia ordered the suspension of bank accounts opened in Tigray from mid-November to December 3, according to local media reports. He also ordered the closure of bank branches in the region.
The frost affected three of the six Tigrayans in Addis Ababa. One provided a photograph of the bank teller’s computer screen, which confirmed that the account was down.
Fearing arrest or physical assault if they leave their homes, some of the residents of Tigraya told TNH that they have not worked for weeks and fear that their savings will run out.
One woman, originally from Tigray, said armed men searched their homes for members of her family who work for the government, who took inventory of her valuable household items, including her refrigerator, sofa and jewelry, shortly after the fire broke out. conflict.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said her Tigrayan-sounding last name now “terrifies her.” He worries that his family will be asked to leave the house they live in, which is provided by the government.
“In order to capture the main criminals of the TPLF, the government breaks the hopes, lives and dreams of so many,” he said.
READ MORE: As tensions rise, a restaurant closes its doors
Gebremedhin, who left Mekelle six years ago to establish his business in Addis Ababa, said his life has gotten more difficult since Abiy took over.
The restaurant owner, who is in his 30s, recalled an incident in 2018 when Abiy labeled opponents of his reform agenda as “daytime hyenas,” a phrase that Gebremedhin and many others argue has been used to vilify the Tigrayans. , regardless of whether Abiy did or not.
Gebremedhin said his friends began distancing themselves from him after that point, and loyal customers began boycotting his restaurant, which is located in the Haya Hulet neighborhood of Addis Ababa, where many restaurants are owned by Tigrayans.
“I was doing well, but … after Abiy came to power, there was some pressure from my neighbors, my friends, everywhere,” Gebremedhin said. “They [asked], ‘Are you with the government?’ “
Despite explaining that he was a businessman, not a politician, Gebremedhin said that his friends accused him of supporting the old regime. “You do not [seem] to support this government … you, we do not trust, ”Gebremedhin recalled that his friends said. “You [are] always with the old system, with the TPLF “.
The restaurant owner said events took a turn for the worse after the June murder of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular Oromo singer and activist, sparked violent protests in the Oromia region that claimed more than 200 lives.
Read more → In Ethiopia, the death of a musician and a troubled transition
The government accused the nationalists TPLF and Oromo of fomenting the protests. Shortly after, Gebremedhin said that young people who were going to drink at his restaurant began breaking bottles and refused to pay, forcing the establishment to close.
“As for security, I couldn’t keep working,” Gebremedhin said.
Trapped relatives
While worrying about their lives in Addis Ababa, the Tigrayans who spoke to TNH have also worried about the well-being of their family and friends trapped in Tigray.
Read more → Unaided Eritrean refugees threatened by ongoing conflict in Ethiopia
The government claimed victory after capturing Mekelle late last month, but the TPLF has said its forces continue to fight and the UN says clashes persist on multiple fronts.
In its latest humanitarian update, the UN’s emergency aid coordination agency, OCHA, describes shortages of food, water, fuel and cash, and the lack of medical supplies that is disrupting critical health services.
Gebremedhin, the restaurant owner, who sobbed when asked about his relatives in Mekelle, said the war could push the Tigrayans in the north to want to separate from Ethiopia, a constitutional right granted to each of the country’s 10 regions. .
He said that it used to be that between 10 and 20 percent of Tigrayans thought so, while more than 80 percent considered themselves Ethiopians. “But now after the war … I’m sure if I tell my people there that I’m Ethiopian, they will hate me.”
In addressing the alleged discrimination she has suffered, the woman whose address was searched said: “O [the government] They are doing it without knowing the consequences, or they really want to take the Tigrayans across the country and create a new enemy. “
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