Born in Cape Town I am a proud African and I have spent my life trying to help understand my native continent. Here are some of the books I have worked on
Dr. Debretsion and other top leadership of the Government of Tigray have returned to Mekelle and seen singing the National Anthem of Tigray, probably in a stadium.
#Tigray
Reports circulating that Debretsion and Getachew have been killed or captured are untrue. An international source has spoken with them this morning and they are alive and not taken by Ethiopian or Eritrean forces.
I am delighted and humbled to now have 100,000 people who follow me.
It is a responsibility, which I take very seriously.
My focus will remain on Africa - the Horn of Africa and Southern Africa in particular. Apologies in advance for any mistakes that I make
#Tigray
TDF captures
#Mekelle
and I understand the jubilation but what about northern Tigray? What of the people of
#Irob
? What of the other border towns and villages under Eritrean troops? What about the West? Let’s not forget their plight
#Breaking
:
#Tigray
Senior Tigrayan source says another four divisions of the ENDF have been defeated by TDF around Abi Adi. This is being described as a "game changer"
Tigrayan leader, Getachew Reda, in conversation with Kjetil Tronvoll described PM Abiy' statement that Eritrean troops would withdraw from Tigray as "a ploy for international consumption only."
#Tigray
Gen. Tsadkan Gebretensae in a phone call on Friday: Engagement on the road from Chercher to Mille inside Afar region was successful. The TDF can move swiftly to control the Addis Ababa-Djibouti road and will be in a position to accept humanitarian assistance directly.
I have received this photograph which - I am told - shows women from Raya district greeting General Abraha - TDF commander of the Southern Front. I am told that the town of
#Alamata
is now in Tigrayan hands
Report: some of the cities/areas liberated by TDF :
Adwa
Axum
May Mekden
Adi Guyem
Freweyni
Samre
Gijet
Negash
Agula
Idaga Hamus
Hagere Selam
Abi Addi
Ambalage
Hiwane
Enda Medhane Alam
May Keyih
Shire
Mehoni
Maychew
Wukro
Adigrat
Raya
Humera
Alamata
According to diplomatic sources, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken spoke to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy twice and told him that Eritrean and Amhara forces must be withdrawn from Tigray within 72 hours.
Report of hate speech and mass arrest of
#Tigrayans
in Addis Ababa. Specially in 22 area. Many arrested by police & taken to unknown location. Youth & business owners targeted - labelled 'traitors' and 'agents of junta'. Ethnic profiling is a scourge
This photograph - from a video from the Tigray Defence Forces - shows thousands of Ethiopian prisoners of war. Good to see them alive and apparently well. A huge responsibility.
#Tigray
As I make my breakfast I think of the people of
#Tigray
trapped by the
#Ethiopian
and
#Eritrean
blockade. Food running out. Children fainting from hunger at school. The old quietly starving. I ask myself what I can do to help end this tragedy
Ethiopia's
#Tigray
crisis: Why is the BBC calling the elected government “rebels”? This is a value judgment. They were elected. This is adopting the government’s perspective in this conflict
#Tigray
I hear that a European Union delegation is flying to Mekelle tomorrow at the invitation of Eth MoFA. They are due to be visiting a hospital and an IDP camp. I hope they manage to collect evidence and can then make public what they see and hear.
Report that Eritrean President, Isaias Afwerki, has deployed 6 additional mechanized military divisions in the southern part of Tigray, Samre. He has also deployed 4000 troops in the outskirts of Bizet and Mugulat and more than 2000 troops around Feresmay.
#Ethiopia
- reports that the Tigray Defences Forces have taken the town of Dessie and that there's heavy fighting around Chifra. If accurate then Prime Minister Abiy's gamble in launching another offensive against the Tigrayans has blown up in his face
I am honoured and (frankly) astonished to have over 200,000 people following this Twitter feed. I can only say how humbled this makes me feel. I appreciate your support and will do all I can to report accurately, while accepting that any author makes mistakes! Thank you
Genet Reda Kahsay, the younger sister of Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray government, was abducted by eight gunmen at 6.00 am this morning from her home in Addis Ababa. She has no political role and her abduction is being seen as purely revenge for her brother's role
The war in
#Ethiopia
intensifies with Ethiopian and Eritrean forces attacking
#Tigray
along southern,western & north-western fronts. PM Abiy throwing in everything he can, with Ethiopian Airlines transporting troops and weapons. So many will die. Yet only talks can end this war
Tigray Defence Forces report: Have conducted more than 15 insurgent operations and ambushes killing and wounding more than 12,535 enemy combatants. Of these, 5795 have been killed and the rest wounded.
Tigrayan regional forces have attacked an Ethiopian government logistical operations centre in the Tigray capital, Mekelle. A tank was destroyed in the fighting. The attack came on the eve of a European Union delegation visit to Mekelle - the first such visit since the war began
How is it possible that someone who can take such controversial stand on the tragic war in Tigray is given a starring role in a film? Surely wrong for
#TiffanyHaddish
to get this part
Dedebit Media reports that there was fierce fighting in Gerhu Sirnay, bordering Eritrea, where Tigrayan forces mounted a major offensive on EDF. TDF is claimed to have scored a huge victory resulting in deaths of thousands of Eritrean soldiers and capturing ammunition
Report: Eritrean Troops engaging in a mass killing people Selekleka, Tigray.
Hearing 300+ civilians rounded up and taken by Eritreans to May-Hargets area in Selekleka, some 30km east of Shire. Could be another civilian massacre
Report: Eye witness say over 20 trucks carrying food and aid, sent by the international community via Djibouti to the 4.5 million of people in Tigray, were instead distributed to local people in the Afar region
The teddy bear protest by
#Tigrayan
children reaches Washington. They took their toys to the headquarters of
#USAID
- calling for President Biden not to allow their families to starve. Then they went to the Norwegian embassy with their toys and messages
Ethiopia's official news agency announces "Hands off Ethiopia" campaign.
Surely a bit desperate?
Why not just stop the war in Tigray, end the presence of foreign troops on Ethiopian soil and allow aid to the starving?
#Tigray
: A call for the Nobel Prize Committee to take responsibility for awarding the Peace Prize to Ethiopia's PM Abiy: take a stand and resign as a group
As the world watches Ethiopians vote another story unfolds in Tigray. Claims that Tigray army has encircled Mekelle from 3 sides from a distance; ENDF units airlifted into Mekelle unable to move to Adigrat or the south. The battles continuing. Agulae said to have fallen to TDF
Report from Eritrean opposition sources: "2 Eritrean divisions (11th and 22nd) along with several Ethiopian contingents have been completely surrounded by TDF around Dessie"
The Catholic Church in Eritrea has asked its faithful not to purchase any of the things coming from Tigray after the widespread looting. Goods are being stored just outside of Asmara at Ashagolgol, a military area
The Ethiopian government has decided to move more than 6000 Internally displaced people from Axum university to the prison centre in Shite in just two days without any preparations.
One thing appears certain in the war in
#Tigray
: it was a joint strategy by PM Abiy and President Isaias. They are in this together and the defeat in
#Mekelle
is a blow to them both. What will follow as their armies retreat, bloodied, from the battlefield?
One thing is clear: Ethiopia’s sovereignty has been compromised.
Eritrean troops are deep inside Ethiopia. They are killing Ethiopian citizens.
What is the Ethiopian Prime Minister doing? Absolutely nothing. Why?
Congratulations to the
#Tigrayan
community in Norway who brought the story of their people so forcefully home at the
#NobelPeacePrize
ceremony! Their people are suffering, but their voices were heard
The Tigrayan plane the Ethiopian military say they shot down flying weapons in from Sudan. Ask yourself how many weapons a light aircraft like this could carry.
The Tigray leader Debretsion Gebremichael gives his first interview for weeks. Describes the suffering of the people of Tigray, especially women, and the determination to fight on
TMH has just confirmed that its satellite TV transmission has been blocked by the lobbying/pressure of Ethiopian government and it is working to restore its service. Its radio service is still working.
How does one explain the collapse of the Ethiopian and Eritrean armies in the face of the Tigrayan onslaught in June? Still something of a mystery. But here’s a thought: Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one.”
This is
#Tigray
. In red: areas that can’t be reached by aid agencies.
This is a siege or blockade.
It’s designed to wipe out the population.
The old and very young die first.
Horrific, painful deaths.
This is the policy of the
#Ethiopian
and
#Eritrean
governments
Tigray: Report of a massacre of close to 200 in town of Esret, between Gijet and Yechila by Ethiopian and Eritrean troops. A 92 year old nun, children and a whole family said to have been killed. Other atrocities in area of Gijet following fighting with Tigrayan forces
#Breaking
:
#Tigray
Senior Tigrayan source says another four divisions of the ENDF have been by TDF around Abi Adi. This is being described as a "game changer"
Report: Maryam Tsiyon Church in Axum has been attacked. Locals fear the aim is to take the Ark of Covenant to Addis Ababa. As many as 750 hiding in the Church were taken outside and shot in the square.
Reports that Tigray army inflicting serious reverses on the Ethiopian military in what TDF calls "operation Alula Abanega". Large numbers of ENDF reported killed or captured, including senior officers. Sources suggest as many as 15,000 troops put out of action. To be confirmed
The TDF completed a three-day battle and destroyed divisions of the ENDF in the Kobbo-Weldiya area and also destroyed Presidential Guard forces
“The balance of forces is now completely in our favor. We are in a position to march into Addis Ababa with no real opposition.”
Tigray leader, Debretsion Gebremichael: "Our enemies have mobilized to destroy us as a people"...But TDF has been restructured into a larger force and is planning "a new chapter," i.e preparing more aggressive engagements beyond insurgency. 12/06/21
#Ethiopia
: Kibrom Berhe, a member of the leadership of the National Congress of Great Tigray Party,
#Baytona
, was attacked in Addis Ababa, while drinking tea with friends after attending a hearing. He was hit on the head and a friend arrested by 5 gunmen
#Report
: Eye witnesses are reporting Eritrean & Ethiopian forces attacking Hawzen town & its environs - home to over 100, 000 people with rockets, missiles and heavy artilleries right now. Many children & other civilians have been killed
Reports that Ethiopian government has closed its embassies in Washington, Brussels, Paris and Berlin, Canberra, the Hague and Stockholm on the orders of PM Abiy. Ethiopia turning in on itself? Nairobi and Cairo open for the moment, but for how long?
Congratulations to the Eritrean youths who protested outside the London embassy. They didn’t take the dictatorship back home. Why should they accept the long arm of the dictatorship in Britain? They were bold but peaceful. Respect ✊
Is independence from Ethiopia the TPLF’s endgame in Tigray? Getachew Reda says he can't decide outcome of the war: it's up to the Tigrayan people. "I am not ruling out an independent state - it's probably the most viable option."