A U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea has issued a report critical of the deteriorating situation there, noting forced military conscription, arbitrary arrests, disappearances and torture among the violations recorded.
In a report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker said Eritrea’s involvement in the armed conflict in neighboring Ethiopia shines a light on the impact of the Eritrean government’s system of indefinite national military service. He described the rights situation as dire.
Those who attempt to evade the draft, he said, are imprisoned in inhuman and degrading conditions for indefinite periods of time.
A body recovered from the Setit River is carried by stretcher to a boat.
Wad El Hilou, Sudan (CNN)The ghostly outlines of limbs emerge through the mist along the Setit River in eastern Sudan. As the river's path narrows, the drifting bodies become wedged on the silty clay bank and their forms appear more clearly; men, women, teenagers and even children.
The marks of torture are easily visible on some, their arms held tightly behind their backs.
On a trip to Wad El Hilou, a Sudanese town near the border with Ethiopia, a CNN team counted three bodies in one day. Witnesses and local authorities in Sudan confirmed that in the days after the team's departure, 11 more bodies arrived downstream.
Evidence indicates the dead are Tigrayans. Witnesses on the ground say the bodies tell a dark story of mass detentions and mass executions across the border in Humera, a town in Ethiopia's Tigray region.
CNN has spoken with dozens of witnesses collecting the bodies in Sudan, as well as international and local forensic experts and people trapped and hiding in Humera, to reveal what appears to be a new phase of ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia's war.
Hamdayet, Sudan -- More evidence of sexual violence being used as a deliberate weapon of war is emerging from Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, where an armed conflict has been raging for months.
Women are being gang-raped, drugged and held hostage, according to medical records and testimonies from survivors shared with CNN. In one case a woman's vagina was stuffed with stones, nails and plastic, according to a video seen by CNN and testimony from one of the doctors who treated her.
CNN has spoken with nine doctors in Ethiopia and one in a Sudanese refugee camp who say they've seen an alarming increase in sexual assault and rape cases since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation against leaders in Tigray, sending in national troops and fighters from the country's Amhara region. Forces from neighboring Eritrea are participating in the military campaign on the side of Ethiopia's government, as CNN has previously reported.
Published: Sunday, 07 March 2021
Written by Fesseha Nair
What is Grand Strategy? Why do we need it?
Any organization needs a sound strategy to compete successfully, manage the performance of its activities and strengthen its prospects for long term success. The Eritrean political forces realized the importance of crafting a grand strategy and assessed their present situation, where to go from here of mismanagement and how to move towards a competitive advantage outcompeting the one-man rule system in Eritrea.
Published: Sunday, 28 February 2021
Written by www.nytimes.com
Ethiopia’s War Leads to Ethnic Cleansing in Tigray Region, U.S. Report Says
An internal U.S. government report found that people in Tigray are being driven from their homes in a war begun by Ethiopia, an American ally — posing President Biden’s first major test in Africa.
Published: Wednesday, 11 November 2020
Written by https://learningenglish.voanews.com
Ethiopian government troops were reported to have captured an airport in northern Ethiopia from Tigrayan forces on Tuesday.
State media said federal forces had captured the airport, near the border with Sudan and Eritrea, as well as a road leading from the town of Humera. Reuters news agency says information from the area was difficult to confirm because all communications are cut.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) governs Ethiopia’s Tigray Region, which is home to 5 million people. The TPLF did not comment on the reports.
Last week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered airstrikes and sent troops into Tigray. He had earlier accused the TPLF of attacking a federal military base.
Published: Wednesday, 23 December 2020
Written by Eritrean National Forces
December 16, 2020
Mr. Filippo Grandi High Commissioner United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
Geneva, Switzerland
Subject: Urgent call to protect and save Eritrean refugees in the Tigray Region and other Parts of Ethiopia from abduction, killing, and forced repatriation to the war zone
On behalf of the undersigned Eritrean Political Forces (EPF), we are writing this open letter to you to express our grave concerns about the physical security, dignity and the wellbeing of Eritrean refugees and asylum-seekers in the Tigray region and other parts of Ethiopia.
From Left: Pres. Isaias Afworki, Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew, PM Abiy Ahmed, Tigray region Pres. Debretsion G/Michael. Picture: PM Office. There was a breif moment when peace seemed to be within reach.
Addis Abeba, November 01/2020 – Amidst heightened tensions between the federal and Tigray regional state governments, Eritrea released an official statement yesterday accusing TPLF of obstructing regional peace and stability.
An internal U.S. government report found that people in Tigray are being driven from their homes in a war begun by Ethiopia, an American ally — posing President Biden’s first major test in Africa. 
