TDF denies looting humanitarian supplies to Tigray region

Image
TDF spokesperson Getachew Reda says other groups in the region were behind the aid food looting [File photo]

NAIROBI, Kenya - The Tigray Defense Forces [TDF] has denied claims it has been looting supplies meant for impoverished people in the Tigray region, just after USAID raised concerns, accusing the outfit of breaking into its stores in Ethiopia.

In a statement, USAID said it had become difficult to achieve its targets especially in Tigray, Afar, and Amhara regions, where TDF has been controlling for months. The agency claimed it has evidence connecting TDF to the actions.

But in response, TDF spokesperson Getachew Reda has dismissed the claims, arguing that the aid agency was playing to the tune of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The TDF has been at loggerheads with Addis Ababa for almost a year now.

"There appears to be much fuss over USAID representative Sean Jones’s remark that USAID warehouses in Amhara region where our forces operate are looted. While he gratuitously blamed the TPLF for being ‘opportunistic’, whatever that means, he did not however squarely blame our forces of actually committing the said looting," he said.

"While we understand many USAID officials are being cornered by the Abiy regime into settling for some sort of parity of guilt between the genocidal regime and Tigray Government Forces, taking this game to farcical limits is not helpful."

Further, he noted that such looting was been planned and executed by local individuals, with an aim of spoiling TDF's reputation. The TDF is making advances towards Afar and Amhara regions, pushing the federal army further to the south.

"Our position is clear: while we cannot vouch for every unacceptable behavior of off-grid fighters in such matters, we have evidence that such looting is mainly orchestrated by local individuals and groups. It is our position we can address this through independent investigation," he noted.

USAID, the agency responsible for the supply of humanitarian aid across the world, accused TDF of looting supplies from warehouses calling the alleged thefts a "great concern for humanitarians".

"We know for a fact... that the TDF, every town they've gone into they looted the warehouses, they've looted trucks, they've caused a great deal of destruction in all the villages they visited and it's a great concern for humanitarians," Sean Jones, head of the USAID mission in Ethiopia, told Ethiopian state television EBC.

"I do believe that TDF has been very opportunistic. Maybe they are stealing from citizens, we don't have proof of this.

"What we do have proof of is that several of our warehouses have been looted and completely emptied in the areas, particularly Amhara, the TDF soldiers have gone into," he said.

However, TDF could not immediately be reached for comment. In the past, TDF has been accusing Ethiopia National Defense Forces [ENDF] of blocking aid agencies from accessing northern Ethiopia, even going to the press, calling for humanitarian assistance.

Tigray region has been wracked by violence since November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray to topple the TDF, the regional ruling party, saying the move came in response to attacks on army camps.

Although the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner promised a swift victory, the war dragged on for months, triggering a humanitarian crisis in Tigray. The rebels meanwhile have pushed into the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions.

Jones said USAID provided food support to five million people in the north, "inside of Tigray but also now in Amhara and Afar". Abiy rejected early appeals from high-level envoys from the AU for talks with Tigrayan leaders, sticking to his line that the conflict was a limited "law and order" operation.

GAROWE ONLINE

Related Articles

Al-shabaab strikes in Mandera, Kenya

Al-shabaab militants have struck Mandera town in northeastern Kenya for the first time in as many months.

  • Africa

    25-03-2024

  • 07:00PM

Why Al-Shabaab attacks increased in Kenya

On the other hand, it was highlighted that most of the terror attacks were being witnessed in areas near the Kenya-Somalia border.

  • Africa

    20-03-2024

  • 10:52AM