February 14, 2022
The Honorable Macky Sall
President of the Republic of Senegal
Chairman of the African Union
State House
Dakar, Senegal
Dear Mr. President:
The Eritrean Research Institute for Policy and Strategy, a group of Eritrean scholars and professionals in the Diaspora, congratulates you on becoming the new Chairman of the African Union. We are writing to you as incoming AU Chairman to express our concern over the situation in the Horn of Africa and the continuing danger for Eritrean and other refugees in Ethiopia.
We appreciate the efforts made by the African Union to intervene in the Tigray conflict. We note that three ex-African presidents were dispatched to engage in negotiations to end the fighting: Mozambique’s Joaquim Chissano, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and South Africa’s Kgalema Motlanthe. We also note the appointment of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as High Representative to the Horn of Africa. Yet the conflict that has already embroiled the entire region has raged on since November 2020 with no signs of ending soon, and untold tens of thousands of people have been killed and wounded. Millions of people are either displaced or denied vital food, water and medical assistance.
When Prime Minister Abiy spoke before the African Union recently, one would have thought the war in Tigray was a minor issue. He talked about recovery from COVID, development, food and food security, reforestation, the lack of African representation at the United Nations and negative media coverage of Africa before he ever got around to discussing peace and security generally and then the conflict in Tigray specifically, which he gave scant mention.
It is particularly troubling that Prime Minister Abiy more than once thanked his fellow leaders for their support, which made it seem as though the African Union and its members had sided with his government in this conflict. He did not go into the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, nor did he seek African or other international aid to meet the dire needs of the affected Ethiopians citizens and Eritrean refugees there.
This conflict has gotten out of control, bringing to the theatre a variety of forces – domestic and foreign. The Eritrean regime in particular has been involved in the current Ethiopian crisis from day one and promptly sent divisions of Eritrean troops into the Tigray region in support of the Ethiopian federal military and Amhara paramilitary forces. To make matters worse, mass starvation is being used as a weapon of war to blockade the entire Tigray region and prevent humanitarian aid from reaching about 5 million people who desperately need food and medical assistance.
Eritrean refugees are among the people who are worst hit by this conflict. In a press statement on 21 January 2022 at the Palais des Nation in Geneva, United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Boris Cheshirkov stated that the agency was deeply alarmed at the deteriorating conditions faced by Eritrean refugees in the camps in Tigray. He further described a dire situation in which refugees are scared, struggling to get enough to eat, lacking medicine and without access to clean water. According to the refugee accounts, more than 20 refugees have died within the last six weeks due to preventable diseases. He also pointed out that UNHCR had been calling the warring parties to ceasefire.
Moreover, we would like to bring to your attention the case of Eritrean Afar refugees at Barahle district of Zone 2 (Kiblatti Rasu), at the Regional Afar State in Ethiopia. We are deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of the about 15,000 refugees hosted at a refugee camp at Barahle town. As the result of the ongoing war in Ethiopia, the town and surrounding areas have become a war zone, and we are deeply concerned about the plight of the refugees there. Due to limitations of getting up-to-date information, the situation there could be much worse than the last information we received.
While we acknowledge that the AU has not been idle in addressing the catastrophic conflict in Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia, that involvement has not only failed to deliver results thus far but seems to have left Prime Minister Abiy unchallenged in his determination to pursue a military solution to this crisis. It is incumbent on the AU to make clear to the Government of Ethiopia and all parties to this conflict that the continuation of this war and the failure to facilitate humanitarian assistance is not tolerable. If the AU will not take a strong and public stand and be prepared to take action to end this conflict and meet the needs of those suffering from it, then how can we as Africans criticize the rest of the international community for not doing more to bring this matter to a definitive, satisfactory end?
Consequently, we urge you as the new Chairman of the AU to investigate the handling of this matter by the AU and publicly and effectively end this crisis as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Tomas Solomon, President
Eritrean Research Institute for Policy and Strategy