Abiy Ahmed has Labeled my Father a Criminal

My father was a Tegadalay – a soldier within the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), during the 17-year armed struggle against the Derg regime. In 1991, once the regime was overthrown, my father was stationed as a civilian diplomat in Assab, Eritrea. He worked there for seven years.

Following that he was stationed in Djibouti, where he worked for over 10 years. From there, he returned to Ethiopia for five years to work as a Directorate for the Ethiopian Diaspora Committee, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Addis Ababa. He was subsequently briefly stationed in Abu Dhabi and Beirut, following that.

My father worked abroad for most of my life, so we spent little time in Ethiopia throughout my childhood. 

That said, we did spend a year in Mekelle, Tigray, where we moved after my father retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after his assignment ended in Beirut. While there, he worked for Messobo Cemento, a construction firm, as an investment relations representative. My father had hopes of widening the pool of investors, so he travelled to Djibouti to set up an office and explore this further. 

Three weeks prior to Abiy Ahmed waging war on Tigray, my father had spoken to an investor who assisted him in finding an office space in Djibouti and with general queries. Once hostilities began, my father was unable to reach his team in Mekelle. He was left with no option but to stay with his investor in Djibouti waiting to hear back from his team. 

Abiy arrived in Djibouti in May for an official visit and at the time of the PM’s visits, my father was arrested. In an act of desperation, unable to speak to my father, the investor informed my family that my father was arrested under the pretext of precautionary measures for his safety.

My father was imprisoned for five days. Upon his release, he told us his passport and ID were taken from him. Without his passport and unable to return to his home in Tigray, my father felt that his only choice was to register as a refugee with the UNHCR.

One morning, while having breakfast with his investor, soldiers took him from a cafe to a detention center. He was transported from Djibouti to Addis Ababa and has been detained in the capital city ever since.

My father is without his medicine and my family and I haven’t been able to speak to him. Recently, we learned the grounds of his arrest: the Ethiopian government has accused him of fleeing the country and being part of the TPLF “criminal clique.”

Although my father was not military personnel, the news coverage from the state-owned media or in support of the Ethiopian government has labelled my father a Colonel. My father has now become one of Abiy’s victims during the genocidal war on Tigray. His identity and prior affiliation with the TPLF has allowed Abiy’s administration to label him as a criminal. 

He had a court date set for mid-June, which has since been postponed twice. Given the narrative perpetuated about my father and the labeling of the TPLF as a “criminal clique,” I don’t believe he will receive a fair trial.