![Debretsion Gebremichael, lead of TPLF, attends funeral ceremony of Ethiopia's Army Chief of Staff Seare Mekonnen in Mekele, Tigray Region, Ethiopia on June 26, 2019. [Photo by Tiksa Negeri/ REUTERS]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/55757779_401.jpg?ssl=1)
Last month, Ethiopian federal government agencies said they had intelligence information indicating that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front was preparing for war amid reports of mass mobilization involving top political and military leaders of the rebel movement.
In an e-mail sent to Sudans Post this morning, three Tigrayans living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, said seven of their relatives and five of their friends were arrested at Adi Ramet village last Monday by Tigray forces after trying to flee forced conscription to neighboring Sudan.
“This is to inform the whole world that the war in Tigray region is not only between the political and military leadership of the Tigray region and the federal government of Ethiopia. It has now taken a different torn as the TDF is arresting civilians just because they refused to fight a senseless war,” the three Tigrayans who asked not to be named said in the email.
“Seven of our family members and five of our friends left Mekelle on Wednesday last week trying to flee the forced recruitment towards Sudan. But unfortunately the Tigray regime under Debretsion arrested them and charged them under military rule for trying to evade what they call ‘national duty’ to protect the Tigray region,” they said.
The three refugees appealed to the international community to pressure the Tigray rebels to accept peace and not to take the Tigray children to conflict where they will die again and also appealed to Debretsion personally to investigate the arrest of civilians if he did not directed for forced recruitment.
“This is not the first time that civilians were arrested for refusing to join the TDF because hundreds, from our information, are being detained by the government of Tigray and therefore we urge the international community to pressure the TPLF not to continue war and accept peace,” they said.
“We also appeal to the chairman of TPLF Debretsion Gebremichael to allow anyone willing to leave the regional state to do so without any fear of being arrested or detained and we also ask you to led the security investigate the arrest of our relatives if you deny your actions of ordering recruitment,” they added.
![United Nations meeting on Sudan and South Sudan in New York, March 4, 2020 [Photo by UN/Eskinder Debebe]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/UN7857527.jpg?resize=120%2C86&ssl=1)
![South Sudan's map featuring Jonglei state in red. [Photo via Wikipedia]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Jonglei_in_South_Sudan.svg.png?resize=120%2C86&ssl=1)
The three people who contacted Sudan Post about forced conscription must be Eritreans loyal to Tyrant Dictator Isaias Afeworki. While the Government of Tigray doesn’t practice forced conscription, despite isolated cases promoted at sub-district level local officials, it is morally and legally acceptable to have a mandatory national service in the face of genocide. The Tigray youth have been volunteering to defend themselves from being slaughtered by Eritrean and Ethiopian and Amhara thuggish forces and rag tag armies and save their mothers and sisters from being raped. It takes two to tango. You cannot have peace being surrounded by evil and sworn enemies to destroy you. Why do not the same Eritreans who sent the message posing as Tigreans do not appeal to their own dictator Isaias to stop the forced conscription for life and slave labor camps.
Dear Sudan Post,
The three refugees who sent the message from Amsterdam are Eritreans pretending to be Tigreans carrying out a propaganda campaign against the Tigray Defense Forces. The Tigray youth have been volunteering in mass to join the defense forces to defend themselves and their families from the murderous, genocidal and barbaric Eritrean, Amhara and Ethiopian armies. Even then, when your people are under genocide, it is morally and legally acceptable to have mandatory national service in the face of genocide. The fake Tigreans did not do their home work as Adi Remets is not under the control of Tigrean forces. After all, why don’t the three refugees from Amesterdam ask their own tyrant dictator Isaias of Eritrea to stop the force conscription and force labor (slavery) for life that Eritrean youth have been experiencing for over thirty years now.
Thank you