‘I Didn’t Expect to Make It Back Alive’: An Interview With Tigray’s Leader

[Che -Guevara]

GIJET, Ethiopia — The convoy sped down from the mountain, slipping and sliding on roads greasy from a current bathe of hailstones. As it descended towards the regional capital of Tigray, curling by means of rocky hills and distant hamlets, folks clustered alongside the route in celebration.

Women stood ululating exterior stone farmhouses, and fighters perched atop a ridge fired their weapons into the air because the autos curled across the detritus of battle: burned-out tanks, overturned vans and a mucky area the place on June 23 an Ethiopian army cargo airplane, shot down by the Tigrayans, had smashed into the bottom.

The chief of Tigray, Debretsion Gebremichael, was going residence.

Two days earlier, his scrappy guerrilla pressure had retaken the regional capital, Mekelle, hours after Ethiopian troops abruptly deserted town. Now Mr. Debretsion, a former deputy prime minister of Ethiopia, was leaving the mountains the place he had been ensconced for eight months main a warfare to re-establish his rule over the area.

“I didn’t expect to make it back alive,” Mr. Debretsion stated on Thursday night time in an interview, his first because the fall of Mekelle. “But this isn’t personal. The most important thing is that my people are free — free from the invaders. They were living in hell, and now they can breathe again.”

The Tigrayan chief supplied a rebel-side account of the battle that has plunged Ethiopia into chaos since Nov. 4, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a army operation there. The civil warfare has led to the displacement of practically two million folks, and to widespread starvation and stories that civilians had been subjected to atrocities and sexual violence.

Mr. Debretsion, who’s believed to be in his late 50s, claimed to have crippled Ethiopia’s highly effective military, defeating seven of its 12 divisions and killing no less than 18,000 troopers. He additionally detailed plans to broaden the warfare throughout Tigray, in defiance of worldwide requires a cease-fire, till his fighters have expelled from the area each exterior pressure, together with Eritrean troopers and ethnic Amhara militias.

“They have taken the land by force,” Mr. Debretsion stated. “So we will take it back by force.”

When we arrived for the interview, on a stormy late afternoon, to a fortresslike home in Mekelle, Mr. Debretsion was engaged on a laptop computer in a virtually darkish upstairs bed room. The authorities had minimize the ability to town and shut down its telephone community.

Barely seen within the gloom, Mr. Debretsion apologized for the circumstances. Tigray was “under siege,” he stated, criticizing Mr. Abiy — a onetime political ally — as an impetuous and inexperienced chief who had overreached.

“This is a complex country, very messy,” Mr. Debretsion stated. “Abiy had no experience, no maturity. But because of his ambition to be king or ruler of Ethiopia, he viewed us as obstacles in his way.”

Billene Seyoum, a spokeswoman for Mr. Abiy, didn’t reply to requests for remark.

On Friday, the Tigray Defense Forces mounted a spectacle that appeared supposed to humiliate Ethiopia’s chief. The fighters marched no less than 6,000 Ethiopian prisoners of warfare by means of downtown Mekelle previous residents chanting, “Abiy is a thief!” A lady holding a big {photograph} of Mr. Debretsion led the procession.

The Tigrayan chief fought his first warfare within the Eighties as the top of a guerrilla radio station for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, a insurgent group main the resistance towards a brutal Marxist dictatorship in Ethiopia.

The rebels swept to energy in 1991, with the Tigrayan management on the head of a governing coalition that dominated Ethiopia for practically three many years till Mr. Abiy grew to become prime minister in 2018.

In energy, the Tigrayan management stabilized Ethiopia and achieved hovering financial progress for practically a decade. But progress got here at the price of fundamental civil rights. Critics had been imprisoned or exiled, torture was commonplace in detention facilities and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front gained successive elections with a reported one hundred pc of the vote.

By then, Mr. Debretsion had a fame as a low-key technocrat. He served as communications minister and headed Ethiopia’s energy utility, the place he oversaw building of a $4.5 million hydroelectric dam that, when accomplished, shall be Africa’s largest.

But as fashionable protests towards the Tigrayan management’s rule roiled Ethiopia from 2015, and because the police killed lots of of protesters, Mr. Debretsion rose in prominence contained in the social gathering. Analysts say he was seen as a youthful and extra reasonable determine than these steeped in Tigrayan nationalism who had dominated the social gathering for many years.

The eruption of warfare modified the whole lot.

Mr. Abiy stated he had no selection however to launch army motion, after months of escalating political tensions, when Tigrayan forces attacked a army base on Nov. 4.

Mr. Debretsion challenged that account, saying that Ethiopian troops had been massing on Tigray’s borders for days in preparation for an assault. He had advance information of these plans, Mr. Debretsion stated, as a result of ethnic Tigrayans accounted for greater than 40 p.c of senior Ethiopian army officers, and lots of defected within the early days of the battle.

At first, Tigrayan forces had been caught off guard by a barrage of drone strikes towards artillery and provide traces that he stated had been carried out by the United Arab Emirates, an ally of each Mr. Abiy and the chief of Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki.

An Emirates spokesman didn’t reply to questions in regards to the alleged drone strikes. Mr. Debretsion stated they’d modified the course of the warfare.

“Without the drones,” he stated, “the fight would have been different.”

The Tigrayans, buoyed by an enormous inflow of recent recruits, mounted their dramatic comeback simply earlier than Ethiopia’s election on June 21.

With the vote canceled in Tigray, Ethiopian forces attacked the T.D.F. at its stronghold within the Tembien mountains, west of Mekelle. The Tigrayans struck again onerous, and inside days a number of Ethiopian bases had been overrun and hundreds of Ethiopian troopers had been captured.

Mr. Debretsion stated he would free a lot of the Ethiopian prisoners who had been marched by means of Mekelle on Friday, however, would proceed to detain the Ethiopian officers.

He referred to as on the worldwide group to guarantee accountability for the spree of atrocities reportedly dedicated in Tigray in current months — massacres, rape, using hunger as a weapon of warfare. Some Tigrayans had additionally been accused of atrocities throughout the battle. But Mr. Debretsion rejected a United Nations-led investigation that’s being carried out alongside a rights physique linked to the Ethiopian authorities.

“It’s very clear they are partial,” he stated.

He warned that if Mr. Abiy tried to mass forces in areas bordering Tigray once more, he would shortly ship fighters to intercept them.

In current days, some Tigrayan leaders have instructed that troops may march on Asmara, Eritrea’s capital, to oust Mr. Afwerki, who harbors a decades-old enmity with them.

Mr. Debretsion sounded a extra cautious be aware. Tigrayan troops would battle to push Eritrean troops over the border, he stated, however not essentially go farther.

“We have to be realistic,” Mr. Debretsion stated. “Yes, we would like to remove Isaias. But at the end of the day, Eritreans have to remove him.”

The euphoric temper that gripped Mekelle this previous week, with some fighters speeding to be with households and others celebrating within the metropolis’s eating places and nightclubs, can also be a problem for Mr. Debretsion.

The temper could be deflated within the coming weeks, as shortages of meals and gas hit Mekelle, now remoted on all sides.

Aid teams say that extra susceptible Tigrayans could starve if Mr. Abiy’s authorities doesn’t permit important assist deliveries.

Even if the battle ends quickly, Mr. Debretsion stated, Tigray’s future as a part of Ethiopia is unsure. “The trust has broken completely,” he stated. “If they don’t want us, why should we stay?”

Still, he added, nothing has been determined: “It depends on the politics at the center.”

Simon Marks contributed reporting from Brussels.

 

[Che -Guevara]

Debretsion seems smart enough to realize it is a bad idea to take on Eritrea. Most Eritrean troops are heading to the border anyway. It is becoming clear Tigrayans have no intention of wanting to be controlled by Addis Abeba let alone going back there. His assessment of Abiy is closer to the truth.

The next battle will be over the areas that took over by the Amhara. 

[maakhiri1]

Wow, so not ruling out secession 

[Che -Guevara]

19 minutes ago, maakhiri1 said:

Wow, so not ruling out secession 

It seems they are deliberative people, not emotionally driven like us. I think they want an UN-sponsored referendum like Eritrea in 1993. The result of the referendum will be honored and they recognized as a separate state. A unilateral action won't work.

In the meantime, they will encourage and support other secessionists including Oromo nationalists who are getting stronger by the day.

[galbeedi]

 

As Che mentioned , this time around the TPLF leadership had put aside their hubris and are willing to gain some recognition of their misery by the outside world before they move to the next stage.

4 hours ago, Che -Guevara said:

Aid teams say that extra susceptible Tigrayans could starve if Mr. Abiy’s authorities doesn’t permit important assist deliveries.

On one hand they are looking food and supplies, yet  this reporter is  talking about overthrowing Afwork. A united Ethiopia in the hey days of  TPLF power could not crush or unseat Afwork, let alone a poor Tigray . He is talking about celebrating in night clubs, yet he mentioned the leader residing  inside dark rooms. 
It is the same propaganda that says Israel is planning to attack Iran's nuclear while they  can't even confront Hisbullah in Lebanon.

 

1 hour ago, Che -Guevara said:

It seems they are deliberative people, not emotionally driven like us. I think they want an UN-sponsored referendum like Eritrea in 1993. The result of the referendum will be honored and they recognized as a separate state. A unilateral action won't work.

In the meantime, they will encourage and support other secessionists including Oromo nationalists who are getting stronger by the day.

 

I think the TPLF has strong cases for separation, like known geography , distinct language than the rest of the country, and the old history of an empire that shouldn't exist. Compare that to the Burco conference by few elders and rebels who decided to separate without even thinking.

By the way this is not a newYork times reporter, but a Tigray media person. Just check the language.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

I don't think any one in Ethiopia is going to blink an eye with the seperation of tigray. Its a small region with no known resources. Atleast with the Eritrean independence Ethiopia lost  the sea coast.  Ethiopia will only lose if amhara or oromo or somali breaks away. 

 

Galbeedi  our independence it is unilateral how ever our independence is legitimate. We were never part of Somalia. We were an original member of the Somali Republic. And we withdrew from the union. The paper govt in Mogadishu has no legal claim over Somaliland. And they know it that's why they are stalling with the talks. Either way the Somalilanders are winning and the koonfurians are losing.