TPLF Supporters in the Diaspora Campaign for “Tigray Genocide” Label from the US Government

September 7, 2021

TPLF supporters launch online campaign for “Tigray Genocide” recognition from the United States government 

Borkena 

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has invaded the Afar and Amhara regions of Ethiopia, days after the Federal government declared a unilateral humanitarian ceasefire and withdrew the Defense Force from Tigray region. 

Devastating damages, both human and material, has happened in the areas that TPLF forces controlled, including in the UNESCO recognized heritage site, Lalibela. 

For many, it was clear that the TPLF did not have the military capacity to maintain control of the areas that it occupied after July 2021. Apart from military resources, the group has become extremely unpopular among Ethiopians. That dashed TPLF’s ambition of restoring control over the central government. 

Youth groups and militia in different towns in Afar and Amhara regions organized and trained themselves, with government support, to put up resistance to the TPLF groups. 

Amhara region special forces and the Ethiopian Defense Force were ordered , by respective authorities, to reverse TPLF invasion. 

The result was that the TPLF lost battles after battles in the past three or four weeks. According to a statement from the Ethiopian Defense Force, the terrorist group has lost well over 10,000 fighters in the North Gondar front alone, where it was attempting to open up a corridor to Sudan with the hope of getting a logistic and arms supply line.  

The military plan was a total failure, as reported by the Defense Force. 

On the Eastern Front, the TPLF has entirely lost the war. That was another route where the TPLF attempted to control the route to Djibouti with the hope of getting access to the outside world. That too was a miserable failure. According to latest reports from authorities, the Afar region special forces and the Ethiopian Defense Force have cleared the TPLF from all parts of Afar region of Ethiopia. 

The TPLF has also lost a significant portion of its fighters in several battles in places between South Gondar and North Wollo, in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. It was forced to leave many of the towns it controlled in those regions. However, it wreaked havoc – both in terms of property damage and civilian casualties. 

Social infrastructure, including health facilities and schools, were utterly destroyed by TPLF forces. Public and private properties were looted to be transported to the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Worse, TPLF massacred unarmed civilians in Afar and Amhara region.

Citizen reports on social media have indicated that the TPLF has been transporting dead bodies of its forces ( which is said to be composed of underage youth, women and elders) that it lost during battles in the Tigray region. Based on analysis from these group, the dead bodies were transported to the Tigray region to prepare for a Tigray genocide campaign. 

As it turns out, the TPLF forces have already launched a petition to demand the US government to label “Label the Atrocities In Tigray a Genocide.”  Their campaign page on change.org is available HERE. 

The U.S. government has already been attempting to support the TPLF terrorist groups under the guise of “humanitarian” work in the Tigray region. There has been extensive effort by the US government on the diplomatic and political front. For too long after the start of the war, Ethiopia has been on the receiving end of mounting pressure from the U.S. government and the European Union. The government of Eritrea, also attacked by TPLF forces in November 2020, was also targeted by governments and international actors that seem to support the restoration of TPLF forces to power. 

As reported by borkena before, Ethiopians do believe that the United States has been meddling in the Ethiopian affairs in a way that supported the terrorist TPLF. The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa requested borkena to remove the report and apologize for the report – something that outraged a considerable number of Ethiopians who are active on social media. 

TPLF supporters campaign to acquire “Tigray genocide label” from the U.S. government came at a time when mass graves from massacres by TPLF forces are uncovered in the Amhara region.  

The campaign seems to rely on materials from CNN narratives of the war that TPLF triggered in November 2020. Very often than not, it is presented as the “Ethiopian crisis.” There are even media outlets that attempt to make it appear as a “War on Tigray.”  

Ethiopians, from home and abroad, who oppose the TPLF forces have been very organized,   in the past few months. Chances are, TPLF supporters’ campaign will trigger a response – maybe not necessarily a campaign that aims to lure the U.S. government but something that exposes recent atrocities by TPLF forces in Afar and Amhara regions.