Ethiopia names General who led atrocities in Tigray new Ambassador to Kenya
Source: Globe News Net
Ethiopia has named a military general who has been the face of the war against Tigray as the new ambassador to Kenya.
General Bacha Debele is accused of inciting violence against Tigrayans and driving the Ethiopian national defense forces to wildness by exaggerating, fabricating and dramatizing attacks against Ethiopian military members in the Northern Command by Tigrayan forces.
On November 10, 2020, few days after the war broke out, General Bacha Debele, gave asensationalized televised address telling Ethiopians that Northern Command soldiers had been ‘savagely slaughtered’, ‘their bodies had been dragged on the streets’, ‘breasts of female soldiers had been cut’, ‘their bodies were thrown and eaten by hyenas’, and that the perpetrator Tigrayan forces were ‘sons of satans who should be sent to hell’.
In his televised address, General Bacha Debelle also accused Tigrayan population as ‘treasonous’.
“They are bandas(traitors); they are our enemies; that is what you expect from enemy; they shall be sent to hell; that is where they belong”, Bacha said in his address.
Many believe that his sensational televised speech to be behind the bitterness, wildness, and savagery manifested by Ethiopian soldiers resulting in hundreds of massacres. He is also accused of fueling hatred and violence against Tigrayans in other parts of Ethiopia.
General Bacha Debelle was Chief Coordinator of Army Building Affairs of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) during the war.
General Bacha Debele will replace former Ambassador to Kenya Meles Alem, who was one of the only two Tigrayans in Ethiopia’s Ambassadorship.
Gen Bacha was on a list released on Thursday by the Foreign Affairs ministry of appointments of ambassadors and deputy heads of missions to 29 countries.
General Bacha Debelle was a professional dancer in the army’s march band in the early years of his army career.
Kenya has been calling for both parties to choose dialogue and ceasefire. It will be interesting how relations will turn, given Kenya’s plea for the sides to negotiate for peace.
according to analysts, Bacha’s deployment could have negative repercussions to Kenya’s call for peace.
Bacha was promoted to the rank of full General in January 2022.
Last year, Ethiopia announced plans to close 30 of its embassies in many countries due to financial constraints due to the war in Tigray.
Here is the list of newly appointed ambassadors as well as consul generals and deputy chief of missions and their designated countries.
Ambassadors to various countries 1. Tefera Derbew – Japan; 2. Dessie Dalk – South Korea; 3. Dr Sileshi Bekele – USA; 4. Bacha Debele – Kenya; 5. Hassen Ebrahim – Egypt; 6. Daba Debele – Rwanda; 7. Jemal Beker – Pakistan; 8. Feysel Ali – Qatar; 9. Isayas Gota – Morocco; 10. Tsegab Derbew – Australia; 11. Mihreteab Mulugeta – Sweden; 12. Fikadu Beyen – Eritrea
Ambassadors to various countries who will be based in Ethiopia: 13. Tafu Tullu – Brazil; 14. Dr Genet Teshome – Cuba; 15. Shitaye Minale – Cote-d’Ivoire; 16. Professor Fikadu Beyene – Indonesia; 17. Reshad Mohammed – Zimbabwe
Assigned as Consul General: 18. Anteneh Taruku – Gedarif; 19. Aklilu Kebede – Dubai; 20. Seid Mohammed – Hargeisa; 21. Awol Wegris – Bahrain
Under the leadership of Deputy Mission: 22. Asaye Alemayehu – Ghana; 23. Hailay Birhanu – Germany; 24. Bizunesh Meseret – India; 25. Yosef Kassaye – New York; 26. Zelalem Birhanu – Washington; 27. Firtuna Dibako – Belgium; 28. Workalemahu Desta – Kenya; 29. Wubshet Demisse – England; 30. Mulugeta Kelil – Pakistan
Tigray War – Background
The war in Tigray was triggered in November 2020 when Ethiopia’s army, backed by Eritrean and Somalia national armies and troops from Ethiopian regional states, moved to oust a TPLF-led regional government in Tigray after a long-standing political hostilities between Abiy’s ruling party and the TPLF. The other dimension of the war was a genocidal campaign that has been brewing by elites from Amhara and Eritrean government. The trio combined their forces to unleash the November 2020 ‘war-of-annihilation’ on Tigrayans.
The more than 16-month-old war was marked by extreme brutality, including the use of rape and hunger as weapons of war, massacres and ethnic cleansing against Tigrayans. As a result, the conflict has left thousands dead and forced many others to flee their homes with hundreds of thousands driven to the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations.
The UN rights office last week reported that at least 304 civilians had been killed in air strikes in the north, particularly Tigray, since November. The UH Rights office also said that it has received reports of “306 rape incidents by Tigrayan forces in the Amhara region” between November 1 and Dec. 5, 2021.
A recent study by Mekelle University and the Regional Health Bureau showed that 120,000 women in a conservative Tigray came forward to report rape by either Ethiopian, Eritrean, or Amhara. Researchers say that the figure was only a tip of the iceberg, considering the sexual conservativism in Tigray into account. Tigray regional health bureau announced today that 7.3 % of the women who have been raped have been contracted with various sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and 5 % have been infected with HIV.
Since June, Tigray has been put under a total humanitarian blockade by the Ethiopian government, with only less than 10 %of the needed essential aid allowed to enter the region and no aid reached the region since December 15, 2021. This has resulted in man-made famine to more than 900,000 people in the region and more than 5400 deaths as a result.
The World Health Organization last month called for “unfettered access” into war-wracked Tigray, saying its first delivery of life-saving medical supplies since July last year had stalled due to lack of fuel.
Nearly 40 percentof people in Tigray, a region of six million people, face “an extreme lack of food”, the UN said last month. The dire assessment published by the World Food Programme (WFP) came as humanitarian groups increasingly curtail activities because of fuel and supply shortages.
An estimated 9.4 million people in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. Millions more are also suffering from severe food shortages, acute malnutrition is rising, disease and chronic illnesses are going untreated.
