Ethiopia defence demands apology from UNHCR, calls Tigrayan UN peacekeepers mercenaries of the “junta”

Following the incident in Juba (South Sudan) where Tigrayan members of UN peacekeeping who refused to return to Ethiopia fearing for their lives, the Ethiopian ministry of defence has posted, in Amharic, a message on its Facebook. We present a verbatim translation of the message here because we believe it also gives a context for the estimated more than 16,000 Tigrayan members of the army that have been purged and placed in internment camps across the country. Many fear that their lives are in danger.

February 23^rd, 2021

 Major General Mohammed Tessema, Director of the Indoctrination Directorate of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, said that the national defence force of the FDRE has been honourably discharging its duties as part of regional and international peacekeeping missions.

He said that 15 Tigrinya-speaking (Tigrayan) members of the 15^th Motorized Peacekeeping battalion, which had finished its deployment in Juba and was being rotated out, had recently refused to return and caused a scene at Juba Airport. These mercenaries of the ‘junta’ sought to defame the good name and reputation of our country and military and in collusion with other Tigrinya speakers employed at the UN and other places, attempted to bring this incident to the attention of the International community by arranging for the Non-Governmental Organization called UNHCR to get media coverage, he said.

Therefore, said Maj Gen. Mohammed, the UNHCR should admit it had spread disinformation and apologize. It should be noted that the fact that  some individuals acted in this manner at time when our heroic FDRE defence forces are hunting down the ‘remnants’ of the ‘junta’ with high morale and gallantry is only representative of those individuals and not our forces he said.

He explained that these Tigrinya-speaking members of the military do not represent other Tigrinya speakers and that they had acted in a disreputable manner.

He also added that media outlets and paid columnists featuring this incident with more consequence than it merits should understand it in the proper light and show balance in their reporting. 

This was tranlated by Meron T. Gebreananaye

A copy of the Amharic post is below.

የካቲት 16 ቀን 2013

የኢፌዴሪ መከላከያ ሰራዊት በአህጉር አቀፍና በአለም አቀፍ የሰላም ማስከበር ግዳጅ አኩሪ ተግባር እየፈፀመ እንደሚገኝ የመከላከያ ኢንዶክትሪኔሽን ዋና ዳይሬክቶሬት ዳይሬክተር ሜ/ጄ መሃመድ ተሰማ ገለፁ፡፡

ከሰሞኑ የ15ኛ ሞተራይዝድ ሰላም አስከባሪ ሻለቃ በጁባ የሚገኘውን ቆይታውን ላጠናቀቀው ሰላም አስከባሪ ሀይል በመቀየር ላይ እያለ ፣ አብረዋቸው ከሄዱት አርባ አንዱ ውስጥ አስራ አምስት ትግሪኛ ቋንቋ ተናጋሪ ሰራዊት አባላት የጁንታው ተላላኪዎች ወደ ሀገራችን አንሄድም በማለት ጁባ አየር ማረፊያ ላይ በመንከባለልና በመጮህ ሁከት ለመፍጠር ሞክረዋል ብለዋል ፡፡

በመሆኑም እነዚህ የጁንታው ቅጥረኞች ፣ የሰራዊታችንን እና የሀገራችንን መልካም ስምና ዝና ለማጠልሸት ፣ በዩኤን የተለያዩ ቦታዎች ተቀጥረው የሚሰሩ ትግሪኛ ተናጋሪዎች UNHCR የተባለውን ግብረ ሰናይ ድርጅት የሚዲያ ሽፋን እንዲያገኝ በማመቻቸት ጉዳዩን አለም አቀፍ ማህበረሰብ እንዲሰማው ለማደረግ የተሞከረ እንደነበርና ፣ በዚህም UNHCR ለአለም አቀፉ ማህበረሰብ ያስተጋባው ዘገባ ያልተገባ መሆኑን በመግለፅ ይቅርታ ሊጠይቅ እንደሚገባ ሜ/ጄ መሀመድ ተሰማ ተናግረዋል፡፡

አሁን ላይ ጀግናው የኢፌዴሪ መከላከያ ሰራዊታችን የጁንታውን ርዝራዦች አድኖ ለመያዝ በከፍተኛ ሞራልና ወኔ እየሰራ ባለበት ፣ በግለሰቦች እንዲህ አይነት ድርጊት መፈፀሙ ሰራዊታችንን የማይወክልና የግለሰቦች ብቻ እንደሆነ ሊሰመርበት ይገባዋል ብለዋል፡፡

እነኝህ ትገሪኛ ተናጋሪ የሰራዊት አባላት ሌሎች ትግሪኛ ተናጋሪዎችን የማይወክሉ እንደሆኑና ፣ አሳፋሪ ተግባር የፈፀሙ ስለመሆናቸው ገልፀዋል፡፡ ይህንን ተግባርም እንደ ትልቅ ነገር እያራገቡ የሚገኙ የሚዲያ አውታሮችና ተከፋይ አምደኞችም ድርጊቱን በተገቢው በመረዳት ሚዛናዊነትን በመጠቀም ሊዘግቡት እንደሚገባ አስገንዝበዋል ።

ምንላርግህ ሞሴፎቶግራፍ ሀይሉ ፈዬ