Captured Child Soldiers Say Forced to Fight for Fear of Being Killed by TPLF

Addis Ababa, July 23, 2021 (FBC) – Children captured by the National Defense Force at the Afar front said “we are being forced to go to war for fear of being killed by the terrorist TPLF.”

According to ENA, in its recent suicidal campaign, the TPLF junta has been deploying children and female soldiers.

Children captured in various woredas of Fenti-Resu Zone of Afar region said the arrogant war waged by the junta has demonstrated the shameful and inhumane nature of the group to the world.

The National Defense Force, which is involved in the law enforcement operation, said it has captured many of child soldiers at the war front.

The captured child soldiers told ENA tears swelling in their eyes that the TPLF forced them to go to war.

Among them, the teenager girl Eyerusalem Hailay said she was abducted outside her home in Mekelle on July 14, 2021 and deployed to war. 

“Without receiving any training or equipment, we were pushed into the war with the empty promise that we will take over Addis Ababa” she added.

So when the war broke out, “I surrendered with peers to the army to save ourselves,” Eyerusalem stated.

She bitterly noted children of the TPLF leadership are studying abroad while other kids are forced to go to war.

Helen Hadgu, the other girl abducted from her home in Mekelle said she had no idea where she was till they entered Afar region.

“We were given dry biscuits and drank water from river,” she stated, adding that she finally gave herself up to the army to save her life.

The other child, Essayas Alem said on his part that the terrorist TPLF has been forcing children in Tigray in to war.

Though children in Tigray, including himself, have dreams and want to attend school for a better future, they have been engaged in war without their wish and out of fear that they will be killed by the TPLF junta, he added.

Afar Regional State Prison Deputy Commissioner, Mohammed Ahmed said the pastoralist people of the region and the special force, along with the National Defense Force of Ethiopia, have been destroying TPLF that attempted provocative attack on the region.

The group has been making futile attempts of its longtime dream to dismantle the country using children as soldiers by feeding them drug, he revealed.

According to him, the terrorist group TPLF is demonstrating its enmity to its own people, particularly to mothers and children, by waging hopeless war.