One Day Seyoum Opposes Impending War in Ethiopia
Following the recent developments in the region, One Day Seyoum strongly opposes the impending war between the Ethiopian national government and the regional government of Tigray. The Eritrean army is reportedly already involved, as Dr Abiy Ahmed and Dictator Isaias Afewerki long have cooperated against their common enemy in Tigray. On Thursday (6/11/2020) Dr. Abiy vowed that “there will be airstrikes”. By Friday, the national government had already bombed Tigray’s regional capital, Mekelle, resulting in 5 deaths and 105 people injured.
In addition to the devastating effects this potential war will have on Ethiopian society, we urge you to also consider the effects that it will have on Eritreans. Among the most vulnerable groups in Tigray are over 100,000 Eritrean refugees who inevitably will be impacted. In Eritrea, national service conscripts are reportedly already being gathered to be sent to fight in Ethiopia. The complete lack of freedom of expression and press in Eritrea has made it very difficult to confirm exactly what is happening on the ground.
Eritreans have long warned the international community that the celebrated 2018 Eritrean-Ethiopian peace agreement never brought peace and only united two political leaders (Dr. Abiy and Isaias Afewerki) against their common enemy (regional government of Tigray). This impending war is a culmination of the tensions between these three actors.
One Day Seyoum strongly believes that our community needs to be vigilant when following the progression of this declared war. We believe that Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s decision to deploy troops to Tigray as well as shut down internet and phone line access on the night of the U.S. elections was deliberately done to evade international attention.
This war is not inevitable - we therefore call on individuals and the international community to make noise about the situation in Ethiopia and do everything in your power to resist the impending war.
We have listed resources to learn more about the conflict below - please contact us for any additions.
Resources:
To learn about TPLF and Eritrea’s potential war in the regional war:
To learn about why Abiy Ahmed would wage civil war: ihttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/world/africa/ethiopia-abiy-tigray.html
Conflict overview + U.S. support reported https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/05/africa/ethiopia-abiy-unrest-explainer-intl/index.html
Reports of airstrikes in addition to internet and phone blackout https://www.dw.com/en/ethiopia-has-entered-into-war-with-tigray-region/a-55514089