Addis Abeba – A newly released report presents detailed evidence indicating that Eritrea’s leaders actively planned and prepared for the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region well before hostilities erupted.
The report also found evidence indicating that the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) engaged in and orchestrated industrial-scale looting operations during and after the war in the Tigray region.
The trafficking of gold, antiquities, and human beings occurred alongside gang rape, torture, kidnapping, and mutilation, the new report, “Power and Plunder: The Eritrean Defense Forces Intervention in Tigray,” by released The Sentry, an investigative and policy organization that seeks to “disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and kleptocracy,” revealed.
Eritrea’s leaders played an active role in planning the war, anticipating the outbreak months before the first shots were fired and working with and through Ethiopia under its new and inexperienced prime minister to punish Tigray and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF),” The Sentry said.
Although sanctions have since been lifted, Eritrea is now “rebuilding its military, bolstering its defenses, and continuing to destabilize its neighbors.”
The Sentry
The report underscores Eritrea’s longstanding role in destabilizing the Horn of Africa, a pattern that previously led to the imposition of UN sanctions in 2009. Although those sanctions have since been lifted, Eritrea is now “rebuilding its military, bolstering its defenses, and continuing to destabilize its neighbors.”
The war in Tigray was marked by extreme violence. The report highlights the nature and extent of atrocities committed, noting that many observers have concluded the campaign amounted to ethnic cleansing and potentially genocide.
The Eritrean Defense Forces were particularly implicated in large-scale looting and economic devastation across Tigray between late 2020 and early 2021. This destruction was not random, the report notes, but rather meticulously planned to both extract wealth and inflict long-term economic harm.
Charles Cater, Director of investigations at The Sentry, said that during their intervention in the war in the Tigray region from 2020 to 2022, “the Eritrean Defense Forces were responsible at the highest levels for systematic looting and cross-border war profiteering amid a campaign of extreme brutality. Not only did this come at a catastrophic human and economic cost for the people of Tigray, but a lack of accountability has also exacerbated the risk of renewed conflict.”
By 2024, two years after the Pretoria cessation of hostilities was signed, the dynamics in Tigray had changed dramatically. Several areas remained under EDF control, including zones designated by Ethiopia’s federal Ministry of Mining for gold exploration. “According to the Tigray Land and Mining Bureau, an estimated $75-80 million worth of gold was being produced and diverted to the black market annually,” the report said.
Adding to the region’s devastation is the cultural losses, which has seen a significant increase in the sale of Ethiopian artifacts through the UK-based TimeLine Auctions platform beginning in late 2020. “A UK-based online auction house, TimeLine Auctions, has recorded an “eye-popping” surge of sales in Ethiopian artifacts from late 2020 onwards, often with very scant information given for the items’ provenance.”
Fear for renewed conflict
John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry, has issued a stark warning about the growing threat of renewed conflict in the Tigray region. “Tigray is on the precipice of another, preventable, armed conflict, which could once again involve wider military intervention by the Eritrean Defense Forces,” he said.
Prendergast called for urgent international action to avert a new war, emphasizing the role of global powers and institutions in de-escalation. Efforts at mediation must be backed by consequences for those fueling the crisis, he said. “Urgent action is required by international actors – including the UN Security Council and key states with influence in the region – to prevent a resumption of conflict,” he said.
“Mediation should be complemented with the threat and imposition of targeted network sanctions on those responsible for escalating the crisis and those who have profited from it.”
In response to the findings in the report, The Sentry issued several key recommendations. It calls on the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and other like-minded governments to deliver a strong message to all parties involved, including the Ethiopian government, the Eritrean government, the TPLF, and the Tigray Interim Administration, that renewed conflict will trigger a heightened international response and potential sanctions.
Additionally, it urges the US, EU, and UK to consider imposing targeted sanctions on senior Eritrean military officials, including Brigadier General Eyob Fessehaye, Brig. Gen. Simon Oqbu, and Maj. Gen. Romadan Osman Awliya, for their alleged roles in human rights violations in Tigray.
Finally, the report recommends that the UN Security Council formally recognize unresolved Ethiopia-Eritrea border issues and unfulfilled provisions of the Pretoria peace agreement as threats to international peace and security. It advocates for the establishment of a Chapter VII panel of enquiry to monitor and report on the situation. AS