Musings From Abroad

United States indicts all sides of war crime in Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict

Published

2 years ago

March 22, 2023

After a review of facts around the recent Ethiopian war which involved the Tigray region, the United States has said that all parties are guilty of a war crime.

The US through its Department of State Secretary, Anthony Blinken who is currently on a visit to Ethiopia said that Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), Eritrean Defense Force, forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and regional forces from Amhara were all culpable.

Blinken made the position that the fault in the crises must go around based on the fact available to the US regarding the conflict that killed tens of thousands of people, left hundreds of thousands facing hunger, and displaced millions.

He said members of the ENDF, Eritrean forces, and Amhara forces also committed crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, and other forms of sexual violence and persecution.

Blinken said he discussed with both sides in his meetings in Addis Ababa last week that there must be acknowledgment for the atrocities committed by all parties, as well as accountability.

“The conflict in northern Ethiopia was devastating. Men, women, and children were killed. Women and girls were subject to horrific forms of sexual violence. Thousands were forcibly displaced from their homes. Entire communities were specifically targeted based on their ethnicity. Many of these actions were not random or a mere byproduct of war – they were calculated and deliberate.

“In terms of what happens next in Ethiopia, including what process they established to provide for justice, for accountability, we’ll see. I don’t think that’s been determined,” he said.

The Ethiopian government began military operations in the Tigray region against the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in 2020.

However, the warring sides formally agreed to a permanent cessation of hostilities, after intervention by the African Union in November 2022.

Meanwhile, neither of the indicted parties has responded to the US revelation as Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s spokesperson Billene Seyoum, Ethiopian Army spokesperson Colonel Getnet Adane, Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel, TPLF official Getachew Reda, and Amhara regional government spokesperson Gizachew Muluneh all did not respond to requests for comment.

Related Topics:Anthony Blinken ethipia Featured Tigray

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Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

19 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.