Oct. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Tigray Liberation Front (TPLF) on Friday accused the Eritrean government, headed by Isaias Afewerki, of committing genocide against the persecuted Kunama minority, who live in the west of the region.
“The systematic campaign to exterminate the Kunama community, like the obvious campaign to annihilate the people of Tigray, is framed by the Eritrean regime’s propensity to eliminate any minority it deems troublesome,” he said in a statement posted on his website. official Twitter profile.
The TPLF has stressed that, as part of this “genocidal madness”, Eritrea has undertaken a “bloody” persecution and “merciless” slaughter against the Kunama community, as well as against other civilians residing in border towns such as Adi Goshu.
“The people and the Government of Tigray once again implore the international community to fulfill its commitment to ‘Never Again’ and bring to an end the campaign against the people of Tigray by the genocidal regime of Eritrea,” he concluded.
The TPLF assured on Monday that it had withdrawn from the Amhara region (north) after nearly a month of deployment in various areas in the framework of the war in Tigray, due to “a tactical geographical adjustment” and to face the “existential danger” that the large-scale offensive by the Eritrean Army entails.
Fighting between the Ethiopian Army, which is supported by Eritrea, and the TPLF broke out in August after nearly five months of humanitarian truce. Asmara deployed troops in support of Addis Ababa after the start of the fighting in November 2020.
The conflict in Ethiopia erupted after an attack by the TPLF against the Army’s main base, located in Mekelle, after which the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, ordered an offensive against the group after months of political and administrative tensions. A “humanitarian truce” is currently in force, although both sides have accused each other of preventing the delivery of aid.
The TPLF has accused Abiy of stirring up tensions since he came to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to take office. Until then, the TPLF had been the dominant force within the ethnically based coalition that had governed Ethiopia since 1991, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, seeing them as an attempt to undermine his influence.
