Briefing prepared for UK parliamentarians in January 2022
The war on Tigray is essentially the revenge of the Eritrean president, Isais Afwerki. It is the outworking of a grudge against the Tigrayan leadership that is rooted in differences in orientation both during the liberation struggle and thereafter, which include the 1998-2000 border war.
Eritrea continues to occupy parts of Tigray close to its border. Eritrean troops are also fighting in Oromia, and are stationed across the rest of Ethiopia, with Eritrean agents operating throughout the country. Through its actions in Tigray, Eritrea has also put on open display the true nature of its secretive ruling regime by exporting the violations Eritreans have suffered for 30 years under a general shroud of secrecy.
Despite the Ethiopian government’s protestations of solely
targeting the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and
its strongholds, it is clear that Tigrayan civilians are being
subjected to collective punishment, having been deemed
guilty by association due to their shared ethnicity with
TPLF leaders. Ethiopian, Eritrean, Somali troops and allied
Amhara militia have attacked civilians and civilian objects
in a manner that indicates an intentional effort to dismantle
and destroy a people group, its history, and its land.