Falls Church, Virginia (09/22/2022) – Over the last few days, reports have been circulating in the media that Eritrean military forces had launched a “full-scale offensive” against the TPLF at the border of northern Ethiopia. Leading human rights organizations have previously reported about the wide scale abuses committed by Eritrean forces inside Tigray in 2021, including “war crimes, possible crimes against humanity, and other serious violations,” such as, “massacres, summary executions, widespread sexual violence including rape, gang rape, and sexual slavery, widespread pillage, attacks on refugee camps, and destruction and pillaging of crops.”
OLLAA joins the those members of the international community who have condemned the re-entry of Eritrean troops into Tigray, including the US Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, Mike Hammer, and share his concerns that, “the presence of Eritrean troops in Ethiopia only serves to complicate matters and to inflame an already tragic situation.” OLLAA further expresses its grave concern for the welfare of Tigrayan civilians, and calls on all parties to the conflict in northern Ethiopia to halt hostilities and to lay the groundwork for lasting peace.
OLLAA is an umbrella organization that works in collaboration with dozens of Oromo communities around the world.