ADDIS ABABA: Eritrea has acknowledged its troops are participating in the war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region but has vowed to pull them out amid mounting international pressure.
The first explicit admission of Eritrea’s role in the fighting came in a letter posted online Friday night by the country’s information minister, written by its UN ambassador and addressed to the Security Council.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray in November to disarm and detain leaders of the region’s once dominant political party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
For months the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments denied Eritreans were involved, contradicting testimony from residents, rights groups, aid workers, diplomats and even some Ethiopian civilian and military officials.
Abiy finally acknowledged the Eritreans’ presence in March while speaking to lawmakers, and vowed soon after that they would leave.
Friday’s letter from Eritrea said that with the TPLF “largely thwarted,” Asmara and Addis Ababa “have agreed – at the highest levels – to embark on the withdrawal of the Eritrean forces and the simultaneous redeployment of Ethiopian contingents along the international boundary.”
On Thursday UN aid chief Mark Lowcock told the Security Council that despite Abiy’s earlier promise, there had been no evidence of a promised withdrawal of Eritrean troops from the region.
He also said aid workers “continue to report new atrocities which they say are being committed by Eritrean Defense Forces.”
Tigray residents have repeatedly accused Eritreans of mass rape and massacres, including in the towns of Axum and Dengolat.
Both Eritrea and Ethiopia blame the conflict on TPLF-orchestrated attacks on federal army camps in early November and describe it as a campaign to restore law and order.
Eritrean UN ambassador Sophia Tesfamariam reiterated this position in her letter Friday.
“We are indeed appalled by attempts to blame those who were forced to resort to legitimate measures of self-defense that other countries would have done under similar circumstances,” she wrote.
“The allegations of rape and other crimes lodged against Eritrean soldiers is not just outrageous, but also a vicious attack on the culture and history of our people.”
Eritrea says troops in Ethiopia’s Tigray, vows pullout
https://arab.news/547gz
Eritrea says troops in Ethiopia’s Tigray, vows pullout
- For months the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments denied Eritreans were involved, contradicting testimony from residents
- Tigray residents have repeatedly accused Eritreans of mass rape and massacres
A Paris court finds 10 people guilty of cyberbullying France’s first lady Brigitte Macron
PARIS: A Paris court found Monday 10 people guilty of cyberbullying France’s first lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false online claims about her gender and sexuality, including allegations she was born a man.
The court convicted all defendants to sentences ranging from a cyberbullying awareness training to 8-month suspended prison sentences.
The court pointed to “particularly degrading, insulting, and malicious” comments referring to false claims regarding alleged trans identity and alleged pedo criminality targeting Brigitte Macron.
The defendants, eight men and two women aged 41 to 65, are accused of having posted “numerous malicious comments” falsely claiming that President Emmanuel Macron ‘s wife was born a man and linking their 24-year age gap to pedophilia. Some of the posts were viewed tens of thousands of times.
Brigitte Macron did not attend the two-day trial in October. Speaking on TF1 national television Sunday, she said she launched legal proceedings to “set an example” in the fight against harassment.
Her daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, testified about what she described as the “deterioration” of her mother’s life since the online harassment intensified. “She cannot ignore the horrible things said about her,” Auzière told the court. She said the impact has extended to the entire family, including Macron’s grandchildren.
Defendant Delphine Jegousse, 51, who is known as Amandine Roy and describes herself as a medium and an author, is considered to have played a major role in spreading the rumor after she released a four-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021. She was given a 6-month prison sentence.
The X account of Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, was suspended in 2024 after his name was cited in several judicial investigations. Poirson-Atlan was given an 8-month prison sentence.
Other defendants include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist. Several told the court their comments were intended as humor or satire and said they did not understand why they were being prosecuted.
The case follows years of conspiracy theories falsely alleging that Brigitte Macron was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is actually the name of her brother. The Macrons have also filed a defamation suit in the United States against conservative influencer Candace Owens.
The Macrons, who have been married since 2007, first met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. Brigitte Macron, 24 years her husband’s senior, was then called Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three.
Emmanuel Macron, 48, has been France’s president since 2017.
