UTNA Condemns the Provocative Statement of Eritrea

UTNA PRESS RRLEASE
Tigrai Online 3/5/2024

Press Release

UTNA Condemns the Provocative Statement of Eritrea:

Union of Tigrayans in North America (UTNA), a US based non-profit membership organization, condemns in the strongest term possible the uncalled and provocative statement of the Eritrean Government regarding the sovereign Ethiopian (Tigray) territory it continues to occupy illegally. In its recent statement, the expansionist Eritrean government falsely claims that its forces are barracking within the sovereign territory of Eritrea while occupying more than fifty-two villages within sovereign Ethiopian (Tigrayan) territory.

The Eritrean Government in collaboration with Ethiopian Federal Government and the Amhara expansionist militias invaded Tigray in November 2020 and occupied more than 70% of Tigray territory. However, the people of Tigray successfully resisted the invasion and liberated about 60% of its territory by the time the TPLF and the Federal Government of Ethiopia signed the Pretoria agreement (CoHA) on November 2, 2022.

One of the cornerstones of the Pretoria agreement (CoHA) is the restoration of the Tigray Region territorial boundary to its pre-invasion constitutional boundary arrangement. Although 16 months have passed since the signing of the Pretoria Agreement, the PM Abiy Ahmed Government continued to drag its feet and is deliberately delaying the implementation of the agreement.

Encouraged by the silence and inaction of the PM Abiy Government, the expansionist regime in Eritrea went far to claim that the territory it illegally occupying is its sovereign territory. Even after the signing of the cessation of hostility (CoH) in Pretoria, South Africa on November 2, 2022, the Eritrean soldiers in alliance with the Amhara forces continue to commit widespread, indiscriminate, and barbaric civilian killings,

abductions, expulsions, and sexual assaults and gang rapes. The Eritrean forces continue to loot, vandalize, and confiscate properties and everything they find to bring economic ruin and plunge the people of Tigray into the plague of misery, starvation, and massive deaths. The Eritrean and Amhara armed forces which have been working hand in hand with the Ethiopian defense forces continue to occupy large swathes of central and western Tigray administrative zones and are causing cruel and genocidal crimes and spoiling the implementation of CoH.

Sadly, to date, the African Union and other guarantors of the Pretoria CoH Agreement has failed to use their leverage to force the Ethiopian government to take concrete actions toward the full implementation of the Pretoria CoH Agreement.

We, the UTNA, believe that now is the high time for the AU and Guarantors to act. We strongly urge AU and the United States to exert the maximum pressure possible on PM Abiy to openly order Eritrea and the non-ENDF forces to immediately withdraw from Tigray and to take concrete action if they failed to comply with the order.

We call on the Federal Government of Ethiopia to fulfill its constitutional obligation in restoring and defending the territorial integrity of Ethiopia, Tigray and upholding the constitutional boundary arrangement.

We also call on the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), the Interim Administration of Tigray (IAT) and the people of Tigray to strengthen their unity and stand firm in the efforts to restore the territorial integrity of Tigray.

Furthermore, we call on all Tigrayan political and civic organizations and the Tigrayan diaspora to stand by the side of the Tigrayan people in their ongoing struggle to restore the territorial integrity of Tigray.

Finally, we, the UTNA, strongly reiterate that we shall always firmly stand by the side of the people of Tigray in their fight against invaders and injustices.

We are calling for immediate action now!
Eternal Glory and Honor to Our Martyrs!!!
Union of Tigrayans in North America (UTNA)
March 3, 2024

Washington, DC