Witnesses say hundreds of Tigray people have been detained in the Ethiopian capital in recent weeks Reuters

Authors: Dawit Endeshaw and Maggie Fick

Addis Ababa/Nairobi (Reuters)-According to some people who claim to have been released, the Ethiopian police have been in Addis Ababa since the Federal Army lost control of the capital of the Tigray region on June 28. Pakistan detained hundreds of Tigray people.

The detention in the Ethiopian capital is based on the nationwide suppression of the Tigray people described by dozens of Tigray people, rights groups and lawyers since fighting broke out in Tigray last November between the army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) The third wave of operations, the northernmost part of the country.

The Addis Ababa city government stated that they have recently closed down some Tigrayan-owned companies because they are suspected of ties to TPLF. TPLF was designated by the government as a terrorist organization in May, but has dominated Ethiopian politics until 2018. Thirty years.

But Addis Ababa police spokesperson Fasika Fanta said he had no information about arrests or closure of businesses.

Federal Police spokesman Jeylan Abdi said: “People may be suspected of crimes and arrested, but no one is targeted because of race.”

The Ethiopian Attorney General has previously stated that there is no government policy to “cleanse” Tigray officials. He has said that he cannot rule out that some innocent people may be arrested, but TPLF has a huge network in Addis Ababa, and Ethiopia must proceed with caution.

Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Tigray Government Working Group did not respond to requests for comment on a wave of arrests or individual cases from released detainees.

Tesfalem Berhe, a Tigray lawyer for the Tigray opposition party, told Reuters that he knew that at least 104 Tigray people had been arrested in Addis Ababa in the past two weeks, and five others were arrested in the eastern city of Dre Dawa.

He said these names were provided by colleagues, friends or family members, and most of those detained were hotel owners, businessmen, rescuers, daily workers, shopkeepers or waiters.

He did not talk to the detainees directly and stated that although he passed the information to organizations such as the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, he did not represent them.

“They didn’t appear in court within 48 hours (as required by law), and we don’t know their whereabouts-their family members or lawyers cannot visit them,” he said.

He said that arrests intensified after the army withdrew from the capital of Tigray, Meckler, and declared a unilateral ceasefire after nearly eight months of fighting.

A spokesperson for the Human Rights Commission confirmed that it has received the detention report and is monitoring it.

arrest

Tigray street vendor Nigusu Mahari told Reuters that on July 5, the city police and plainclothes men arrested him and 76 other Tigray people.

“They hit all of us with sticks,” Nigusu said.

He said the police asked him if he was sent by TPLF.

He said the group was taken to a military camp on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, where more than 100 Tigray people were later detained. He said he was detained there for two days and received six slices of bread every day.

Reuters was unable to independently verify Nigusu’s account.

Police and military officials did not answer questions about the Nigusu case and other personal accounts.

Last week, Reuters visited 10 Tigrayan-owned coffee shops, bars and restaurants in Addis Ababa. Notices posted on the doors of these coffee shops, bars and restaurants said they had been closed by the city government.

A notice posted in a coffee shop in the Haya Hulet area stated that it had been closed for “disturbing the area”.

The door of the other person was sealed with a notice paper stamped by the Peace and Security Office of the Bole District of Addis Ababa. No reason was given.

Lidia Girma, Deputy Minister of Peace and Security in Addis Ababa, told Reuters that the government has taken action against companies connected to TPLF.

“This is not random and has nothing to do with race. This is based on investigation,” she said.

Restaurant staff held

A Tigrayan resident in Addis Ababa told Reuters that his family restaurant had closed last week and his brother, their 80-year-old father and 25 employees were arrested.

He said they were released two days later and requested anonymity for security reasons.

A Tigrayya woman said that the police came to her home in Addis Ababa before dawn on July 1st, searched and took her to a camp in the Kality district of the city, which is usually used for She said that hundreds of Tigrayians were held there.

She said they only ate one piece of bread a day, but she was not beaten or questioned.

She said she was not told the reason for her detention, paid 3,000 bills to a policeman and was released five days later.

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