Ethiopian Citizen

  Addis Ababa, October 19, 2021 - The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) carried out an indiscriminate heavy shelling of Wuchale and Chifra towns of North Wollo, Amhara region, killing more than 30 civilians. According to Ambasel Woreda Communications office chief, Habte Melese, who talked with the BBC Amharic, 9 civilians were killed in the indiscriminate shelling by TPLF on Chifra town alone. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) released a statement yesterday denouncing TPLF’s random shelling of civilians in Amhara and Chifra after its failure to choke the Djibouti-Addis route. “They have indiscriminately targeted and shelled civilian villages namely Chifra and Wuchale lately and killed more than 30 civilians at Wuchale alone”, said the MoFA. “The Government of Ethiopia is deeply dismayed by the reticence of the international community to condemn the perpetuated atrocities of the TPLF. Adding salt to our injury is the seemingly pro-TPLF resolution of the European Parliament

  Addis Ababa, October 19, 2021 - The Ethiopian Ministry of Education said today that it will start registering students from Universities in Tigray and Woldia to temporarily transfer them other Universities. Since TPLF started the war in Tigray on November 04, 2020, thousands of students were unable to continue their education. Even after TPLF took control of Mekelle, the university in the capital and others are allegedly being used as war colleges. Instead of allowing students to return to their education, TPLF has been investing heavily in turning them into soldiers. The TPLF even went on to invade North Wollo of the Amhara region and parts of Afar region to displace many students from their studies. Those students who left Tigray and the TPLF occupied areas in Amhara have been protesting at the then Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE) head office in Addis Ababa. They have been demanding that the government listen to their plea to enroll them in other institutio

Addis Ababa, October 14, 2021 — The FDRE Ministry of Defense released a statement this evening on current situation. We have the full statement in verbatim below. The Full Statement “We will decisively curb the offensive that the TPLF terrorist group started.”    After the TPLF invaded and slaughtered our army which was based in Tigray, the government took a law enforcement operation which broke the spine of the junta and it was destroyed while those that survived retreated into the caves. After that the government was occupied in stabilizing and reconstructing Tigray for eight months. However, TPLF began to reorganize and started fueling the crisis while at the same time accusing the government and the Ethiopian National Defense Forces. The Ethiopian National Defense Forces left Tigray so that human rights abuses won’t be exacerbated, so that farmers won’t be without harvest in the coming year and so as to grant the farmer an opportunity for planting season. All in all, it was intend

A classroom destroyed, plasma screen and other valuables looted by the TPLF in Amhara region [Picture: Amhara Education Bureau] Addis Ababa, October 14, 2021 — According to Getachew Beyazen, Deputy Head of the Amhara Regional State Education Bureau, during his interview with VOA Amharic, said that more 1.5 million students are forced to be out of school in four zones of the Amhara region such as North Wollo, North Gonder, Wag Himra, parts of South Wollo and parts of South Gonder due to the war spearheaded by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a group branded a terrorist by the Ethiopian parliament. “More than 1.5 million students have dropped out of school as a result of the TPLF invasion”, said Getachew. In addition, 277 schools were completely destroyed by the TPLF and more than 1,300 schools were partially damaged. However, school equipments, supplies and other materials were stolen and/or destroyed. Nevertheless, the Amhara region education bureau said it has created co

Students and parents waiting to be seen at the Ministry of Education [Picture: Social Media] Addis Ababa, October 14, 2021 - Since the TPLF started the war in Tigray eleven months ago with its “ anticipatory self-defense ” act against the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) Northern Command, thousands of students from primary to university were forced to stop their studies.   Early on Monday, October 11, 2021, however, university student representatives from Tigray and parents arrived at the gates of the Ministry of Education demanding solutions from the Ministry which has been turning them away for some time now. “We cannot even continue our studies in other Universities.” Students It has been more than two months since these students were forced to leave their higher education studies due to the conflict. They said the previous Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE) told them that it will provide them solutions but it has not kept its promise. In fact, it has been turn

Dennia Gayle, The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Ethiopia Country Representative [Picture: UNFPA Ethiopia]   Addis Ababa, October 13, 2021 — The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN's sexual and reproductive health agency, has recalled its Ethiopia Country Representative, Dennia Gayle, for criticizing the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and for exposing its influence within the UN.    This is the second such departure this month following the recent leaked interview in which both of UN's higher officials, Achieng and Gayle, complained that Addis Ababa office was being sidelined by UN head office in New York with the assumption that they were "closer to the federal government".   AFP reported Monday that Maureen Achieng, the UN migration agency's Ethiopia chief, had been recalled and placed on administrative leave over the same interview, audio of which surfaced online last week. Maureen Achieng, Chief of Mission to Ethiopia and Repre

  Ethiopian National Defense Forces celebrating flag day, October 12 [Picture: FDRE Defense Forces] Addis Ababa, October 13, 2021 — The newly formed Ethiopian government began an offensive last week to drive out TPLF forces who currently occupy parts of North Wollo and Gonder in the Amhara region. The TPLF terrorist group especially has a strong hold on key towns such as Woldia, capital of North Wollo, and Lalibela, a town holding the distinctive world heritage rock-cut churches dating from the 12th and 13th centuries. More than a million citizens have been displaced due to the TPLF's invasion of this parts of Amhara as well as its constant incursions into the Afar region. Although, the Ethiopian government has not officially announced the offensive, the TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda posted on twitter a statement from what seemed as the Tigray Government's press release on the Amhara region offensive. The statement from Tigray labelled the recent Ethiopian government's act i

  Addis Ababa, October 12, 2021 — TPLF’s deliberate destruction of the economic foundations of the people in North Wollo and Gondar of the Amhara region needs to be denounced by the international community says a press release shared this morning by the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the press release, the Ethiopian Foreign Affairs office said that the TPLF has continued with its dangerous attempt of holding on to political power by subjecting people to fear and want. "The sheer number of people still under a safety net program in Tigray, despite its leadership of the country for the last 27 years, is a demonstration of its utter disregard for the welfare of the people of Tigray", read the press release.    According to reports from the Ethiopian government, reports from the occupied North Wollo and Gondar adjacent areas indicate that the TPLF is intent on devastating the economic lives of many households.      As farmers in occupied territories recently reporte

  Maureen Achieng, Chief of Mission to Ethiopia and Representative to the African Union and UNECA [Picture: UNECA Social Media] Addis Ababa, Ocotber 12, 2021 — International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nation’s agency on migration, has put its Chief of Mission to Ethiopia and Representative to the African Union and UNECA, Maureen Achieng, on administrative leave, quoting "unauthorized interviews" in which she criticized the UN higher-ups who she said were sympathetic to the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF), a group that ruled Ethiopia viciously for three decades and recently labeled a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian parliament. In a leaked audio interview with pro-Ethiopia writer Jeff Pearce, Maureen Achieng expressed her anguish and disdain towards the TPLF terrorist group which she called “vicious”. In the recording, she also said the TPLF had installed its agents within the UN. Dr Kwesi Sansculotte-Greenidge, the UNDP Country Manager f

Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (Picture: Ethiopian News Agency ENA) Addis Ababa, February 10, 2021 - Demeke Mekonnen,Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, conducted a briefing with ambassadors from African countries on the humanitarian situation in Tigray, the status of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and the border crisis with Sudan.   The Humanitarian Situation in Tigray "There are 26 international humanitarian organizations with legal documentations that are delivering assistance in Tigray", said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs . Ambassadors from African countries being briefed on current events in Ethiopia (Picture: Ethiopian News Agency ENA) "The Ethiopian government will not give permission to those who want to operate in Tigray in the name of humanitarian assistance without bringing proper evidence", said the deputy prime minister. He also said that Tigray region has

  Addis Ababa, January 19, 2021 - Humanitarian response in Tigray Region is underway said Ethiopia's Ministry of Peace on its press release . The statement comes after the European Union (EU) suspended budget support for Ethiopia worth 107 million USD saying until after "humanitarian agencies are granted access to people in need of aid" in Tigray region. " I also stressed that, under the current circumstances, in particular in the absence of full humanitarian access to all areas of the conflict, we have no alternative but to postpone the planned disbursement of €88 million in budget support", said Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the European Commission. But the statement from the Ministry of Peace (MoP) said that Ethiopian government is already handling the humanitarian crisis from the start and that it is continuing to expand the support by including diverse stakeholders