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As allies accuse Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed of atrocities in Tigray,
Canada stands back
The Trudeau government has done less to condemn Tigray excesses than the U.S. or EU
Evan Dyer ·
CBC News ·
Posted: Jul 10, 2021 4:00 AM ET
on July 2. (Reuters)
"It was worse than a crime. It was a blunder."
The words used to describe one of Napoleon's excesses could well have been uttered by an Ethiopian general in Addis Ababa as the forces sent into the Tigray region by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed were compelled to abandon their posts and retreat.
While atrocities by Ethiopian forces and their Eritrean allies have wrecked the international reputation of Ethiopia's government, their defeat at the hands of Tigrayan rebel forces could ultimately have even bigger consequences.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared a "unilateral ceasefire" as his army retreated, but the Tigray Defence Force said it would accept it only with conditions. There were remarkable scenes as the TDF paraded thousands of captured Ethiopian soldiers through the streets of its recaptured capital Mekelle as crowds jeered.
The immediate cause of the defeat was a successful offensive by Tigrayan forces, though pressure from foreign donors may have contributed.
The United States and European Union have turned increasingly against PM Abiy, the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2019. Canada has been more forgiving.
Trudeau sought Abiy's support
Since 2016, the first year of the Trudeau government, Ethiopia has been the biggest or second-biggest recipient of Canadian development assistance in the world, and Ottawa has not hinted publicly at any suspension of that aid.
Ethiopia was the first stop when PM Justin Trudeau embarked on a three-continent trip in February 2020. The Liberal government was focused on getting a seat on the UN Security Council and saw Abiy Ahmed as critical to rallying African support for Canada's bid, which ultimately failed.
Trudeau hailed Abiy's "contribution to regional peace and security."
That was before Abiy invited neighbouring Eritrea, a hermetic police state run by Isaias Afwerki since 1993, to invade his own nation.
EU suspends aid
The U.S. and UN have accused Abiy's forces of burning crops, stealing or killing livestock, murdering farmers and blockading roads. The UN says Abiy's Eritrean allies are deliberately "starving Tigrayans."
Washington has announced travel sanctions against all officials involved in crimes in Tigray.
The EU suspended aid to Ethiopia's government at the beginning of the year and foreign policy chief Josep Borell left no doubt it was a message to the Ethiopian government about Tigray — "a way of demonstrating our rejection of what is going on out there," which both the EU and the U.S. have described as "ethnic cleansing".
Canada has not used such language or taken punitive steps against the Abiy government, and says it still "stands ready to support the Government of Ethiopia and its people in pursuing a national, inclusive political process."
"We are concerned about what's happening in Ethiopia," Global Affairs Minister Marc Garneau told CBC this week.
"I've spoken to my counterpart, the PM has spoken to his counterpart, and (International Development Minister Karina) Gould ... has spoken to her counterpart, and we've always carried the message that it was extremely important that Ethiopia allow humanitarian aid to be provided in the Tigray region, and as well we've been calling for the withdrawal for a long time of, in particular, Eritrean and Ahmara (Ethiopian regional) troops.
"We are concerned that progress has been extremely slow."
No sanctions, no rebuke
But Global Affairs' Patricia Skinner told CBC that Canada is not yet ready to follow the lead of other countries that have sanctioned Ethiopia.
"Canada is judicious when it chooses to deploy sanctions and is committed to their effective and coordinated use, when appropriate," she said. "Canada will continue to work closely with like-minded governments in considering a broad range of response options."
However, she added, "Canada has re-directed $18 million from its contribution to Ethiopia's national flagship the Productive Safety Nets Program to target communities affected by food insecurity in Tigray."
PM Justin Trudeau meets with Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa on February 8, 2020. (PMO)
That project is described as "led by the Government of Ethiopia, with support from the Government of Canada" on a Global Affairs website.
But the program was scheduled to end this year anyway. Its suspension does not represent a rebuke or sanction, GAC officials told CBC.
'Ethnic cleansing'
Mulugeta Tedla, a math professor from Windsor, Ontario who chairs the Association of Tigrayan Communities in Canada, said his community appreciates the $41 million in emergency aid Canada has given to Ethiopia, some of it earmarked for Tigray.
He also notes that Ottawa's statements of concern have been markedly less pointed than the condemnations coming from its European and American counterparts.
"We have the feeling that Canada can do more," he told CBC News. "Indirectly, Canada is really supporting the ethnic cleansing happening in Tigray. How could a country regarded so highly support such an act, such a government, such a leader?"
The Ethiopian Embassy did not respond to calls for comment. On Saturday, Abiy's ruling Prosperity Party was declared the winner of last month's national election in a landslide, assuring the prime minister a second five-year term.
Biden, Trudeau approaches miles apart
There has been a striking contrast between the Trudeau government's approach to the conflict and that of the Biden administration.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called PM Abiy during a violent February to urge "immediate, full, and unhindered humanitarian access to prevent further loss of life."
Trudeau also called Abiy a little later that month. Already, videos of massacres by Ethiopian troops were circulating in mainstream media, but Tigray was not at the top of the agenda.
Here's how a statement from the Prime Minister's Office described the call: "Prime Minister Trudeau welcomed efforts to expand access for humanitarian assistance and journalists, to restore critical services and infrastructure, and to protect people. Prime Minister Trudeau reaffirmed Canada's support for ongoing reforms intended to consolidate durable, inclusive peace and democracy in Ethiopia."
On March 10, Blinken told Congress the U.S. had seen "ethnic cleansing" in Tigray.
On March 16, Gould and Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Minister Mary Ng met with their Ethiopian counterparts for a "clean growth symposium," where they announced a $133 million dollar donation to the Canada-African Development Bank Climate Fund, "an important follow-up to last year's announcement made by Prime Minister Trudeau in Ethiopia". The donation "aims to enhance women's economic rights", said GAC.
Abiy Ahmed, until recently feted in Western capitals as a peacemaker and reformer, has recently taken to appearing in camoflage, sometimes armed. (Facebook)
Exactly one week later, Abiy admitted that Eritrean troops were in his country, that "there have been rapes of women and looting of properties" and that "atrocities have been committed."
"Battle is destructive, it hurts many," he said.
'A war pact'
The West was naive to fall for Abiy's reformist posturing in the first place, said Tedla, and the settlement with Eritrea that won Abiy his Nobel prize "was not a peace deal. It was a war pact."
Even before the current war broke out in November 2020, human rights groups were pointing out that Abiy's new Ethiopia retained some of the worst features of the old Ethiopia, with ethnic massacres and forced displacements in which security forces sometimes participated.
War Crimes - Mass Rape
Tigrayan forces are accused of committing their own war crimes.
The gravest allegations, though, lie at the door of the Ethiopian Army and its Eritrean allies, including mass rape of local women and girls. Figures in Abiy Ahmed's government, including Ethiopia's female president, have acknowledged and condemned the rapes. Recently a handful of soldiers have been tried and convicted.
'They are going to destroy the Tigrayans'
Abiy Ahmed himself has felt the pressure and sought to defuse it in an oped in February.
"The suffering and deaths that occurred despite our best efforts have caused much distress for me personally, as well as for all peace-loving people here and abroad," he wrote. "We are working, day and night, to deliver necessary supplies to our citizens in Tigray and to those in want in neighbouring provinces, as well as to ensure that human rights are respected and normal lives restored."
The EU's envoy, Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto, travelled to Addis Ababa around the time Abiy was penning his op-ed and said he heard a very different message in private.
"When I met the Ethiopian leadership in February they really used this kind of language, that they are going to destroy the Tigrayans, they are going to wipe out the Tigrayans for 100 years and so forth," he told a committee of the European Parliament last month, making it clear that Abiy Ahmed was part of those discussions.
"It looks for us like ethnic cleansing."
Ethiopia's government has dismissed Haavisto's allegations as a "hallucination of sorts or a lapse in memory of some kind."
But since writing his article, Abiy Ahmed has been forced to admit that the Eritrean Army is operating in the country, after lying about it for several months.
"This must be the most treasonous act of Abiy Ahmed," said Tedla. "Inviting an enemy, a neighbouring country's army, to demolish the infrastructure of Tigray — its own region — and killing all these young men who had nothing to do with politics, raping girls as young as seven."
Tedla said the predictable result is that many Tigrayans, previously willing to live in a federal Ethiopian state, now want nothing less than full independence.
"They must lay a foundation so these atrocities won't happen again."
What is it about Tigrayans that cause other Ethiopians to want to destroy them - 96% of Tigrayans are Orthodox Christians. Tigrayans dominated the government in Addis Ababa for nearly 30 years until Abiy Ahmed came along. Corruption was rampant during the period of Tigrayan domination. On the other hand, what country in Africa is not suffering from rampant corruption?
Ahmed, and most of his government are Muslims.
Bus bomb in northern Pakistan kills at least 13,
including 9 Chinese engineers
14 Jul, 2021 09:36
Screenshot © Twitter / @indmilitarynews
At least 13 people, including Chinese engineers and Pakistani soldiers, have lost their lives following a fatal blast on a bus that was traveling to Dasu hydropower plant in northern Pakistan. More than 30 people were injured.
The bus exploded at around 7:30 am local time (2:30am GMT) on Wednesday and claimed the lives of at least 13 people, with nine Chinese engineers among the dead, as well as two Pakistani soldiers, and two other local citizens. The vehicle was transporting the workers to the hydroelectric Dasu Dam, located in the Kohistan District.
A senior government official told Reuters that “the bus plunged into a deep ravine after the blast and caused heavy losses…The rescue operation is launched and the entire government machinery has been mobilized to rescue the injured by air ambulance.” The injured have been taken to Dasu Rural Health Center for treatment.
It is not yet known whether the blast was the result of a roadside explosion, or if a detonating device was planted inside the bus.
An emergency statement was posted by the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan in response to the attack, stating: “Recently, personnel of a project of our company in Pakistan have been attacked, causing casualties among our citizens. The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan urgently reminds Chinese citizens, enterprises and projects in Pakistan to… pay close attention to the local security situation [and] strengthen the safety of project personnel.” Beijing has also called on Pakistan to investigate the nature of the attack.
The Dasu hydroelectric dam is a joint venture as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, worth billions of dollars. The dam has been underway since 2017, with construction starting in 2020 and is expected to be completed in 2025.
Rouhani says Iran can enrich uranium to 90%,
equivalent to weapons-grade
14 Jul, 2021 10:01
A view of the water nuclear reactor at Arak, Iran (FILE PHOTO)
© WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran’s president has said his country has the capacity, if authorities there deem it necessary, to enrich uranium up to 90%, nearly 25 times greater than the level stipulated in the JCPOA ‘Iran Nuclear Deal.’
Speaking on Wednesday while addressing a cabinet meeting, President Hassan Rouhani said the authorities were exploring the possibilities of their nuclear technology as they were no longer bound by the constraints of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal, known as the Iran nuclear deal.
“The AEOI (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran) can enrich uranium by 20% and 60% and, if one day our reactor needs it, it can produce 90% uranium,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr News Agency, adding that Western powers had tried to shut down its Fordow nuclear site but now its facilities were stronger than ever.
The 90% figure quoted by Rouhani will be particularly concerning, as the concentration is considered the minimum benchmark for the production of nuclear weapons. Uranium enrichment beyond even 20% is considered to have few civilian applications.
The JCPOA, which put restraints on Iranian nuclear ambitions, was unilaterally abandoned in 2018 by then US President Donald Trump, who also enacted harsh sanctions on Tehran. Iran has further hollowed out the deal, increasing its enrichment program in excess of the agreed 3.67% level. In April, Tehran stated that it would enhance its uranium enrichment to 60%. This followed an alleged Israeli attack on its Natanz nuclear facility.
Negotiations have been taking place in Vienna to bring the US and Iran back in line with the deal, which was reached in 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US – plus Germany. No outcome is expected until President-elect Ebrahim Raisi takes power in August, but Iran says it’s the US that should come lift sanctions first.
Arak, IR
Brighton mosque leader whose sons joined al-Qaeda arrested on terrorism
charges after being flagged for spreading ‘toxic ideology’
14 Jul, 2021 13:53
Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front fighters carry their weapons on the back of a pick-up truck during the release of Lebanese soldiers and policemen in Arsal, eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, December 1, 2015. © REUTERS/Stringer
A religious leader in Brighton whose sons were killed while fighting for an al-Qaeda offshoot in Syria has been charged with inciting acts of terrorism, following an investigation by British counterterrorism officials.
Abubakr Deghayes, who lives in Saltdean, a coastal village approximately five miles east of central Brighton, was detained on Tuesday and later charged under suspicion of encouraging the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. The suspect is still reportedly the leader of the al-Quds mosque in Brighton.
The 53-year-old was taken into custody following a probe carried out by counterterrorism officers and police. In a statement, Sussex Police said that the operation demonstrated that local law enforcement and counterterrorism investigators “take seriously reports of all forms of toxic ideology which has the potential to divide our communities and threaten the safety of our people.”
Rachel Swinney, the police force’s superintendent, stressed that there is no reason to believe that there is an immediate threat to the local community, and urged residents to refrain from speculation.
“However, we understand that operations like this can often cause concern therefore we, along with our partners, will be in the community over the coming days to answer any questions or concerns,” she added.
The official did not elaborate on what prompted Deghayes’ arrest. However, she thanked members of the community “who support and assist officers” with such investigations, and said that by the reporting of information as soon as possible, authorities can take swift action.
Two of Deghayes’ sons, who were just 17 and 18 years old at the time, died in Syria after enlisting with Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda offshoot. According to the UK government, al-Nusra is indistinguishable from al-Qaeda, which is a designated terrorist organisation in the country.
Terrorism-related arrests in the UK are irregular but not unheard of. Shockingly, many such cases involve minors. Of the 168 terrorism suspects arrested in the country last year, one in eight was a child. However, in most cases the charges fail to stick: Of the 168 people arrested in total, 13 have been convicted of terror offences and two of non-terror offences. 24 are awaiting prosecution.
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