A Mercenary Army: Isaias Afwerki’s Last Stand Gedab News October 30, 2013 c_gedab The Tigray People’s Democratic Movement (TPDM, known by its Tigrinya accornym De.M.H.T.) is one of half a dozen Ethiopian opposition groups stationed in Eritrea whose mission statement appears to have changed from bringing change to Ethiopia to fighting change in Eritrea by being President Isaias Afwerki’s last enforcement unit. Over the weekend, TPDM was dispatched to Asmara to conduct routine roundup of Eritrean youth who have to be mobilized for military enlistment. In previous dispatches, only TPDM members with passable Eritrean Tigrinya accents were recruited to conduct the roundup. In this patricular mission, there appears to have been a breakdown and TPDM members with noticeable Tigrayan accents were roaming the Merkato neighborhood of Asmara and asking for “metawekia” and “mewasawesi“–Ethiopian words for “moving permit”– whose Eritrean version is “tessera” and “menkesakesi” respectively. In the ensuing altercation among Asmara residents and TPDM, shots were fired near Hamasien Restaurant. A TPDM soldier who was wounded by stone-throwing Eritreans was treated in Orota Hospital. When asked for his identification, he disclosed that he is an Ethiopian national and gave his address as Alla (near Dekemhare) and gave the name of his Eritrean handler. Since the incident, the Isaias Afwerki regime has gone on full information-management campaign: 1. The area of the conflict was repeatedly visited by Brigadier General Teklai Kifle ( “Manjus”) and his deputy, Brigadier General Fitzum “wedi Memher.” Both manage, among other things, the Ethiopian opposition based in Eritrea, and both are intensely loyal to President Isaias Afwerki. 2. Eritrean security officials locked down schools to inform them that those who conducted the round-up campaigns were Eritreans and the rumors that they are TPDM soldiers are not true; 3. In the neighborhood “zoba” (local administration) units, meetings were called with Asmara residents to tell them that those who conducted the roundup are actually members of Eritrea’s “525″ commando unit. Background TPDM along with the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF) and Ginbot Sebat (May 7th movement) all have received a base and training in Eritrea for nearly a decade. On December 2009 (resolution 1907), and again in December 2011 (resolution 2023) the United Nations empowered a group (Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group) to monitor and report on Eritrea’s destabilizing activities in the Horn, particularly in Somalia and Ethiopia, and specifically forbade Eritrea to host opposition groups of neighboring countries. Since then, many of the Eritrea-based Ethiopian opposition groups have either gone underground or have been severely weakened by Ethiopian security officials. The one exception to this has been TPDM, which is now rumored to be Africa’s largest guerrilla force.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 04:33:43 +0000
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