The investigative program - which was presented by Al Jazeera and entitled "Ethiopia .. the difficult equation" - investigated the roots and causes of the conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray Front, where its signs began to appear with the arrival of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to power on April 2, 2018.

Upon assuming power, Abi Ahmed initiated reform measures, and issued an amnesty allowing the return of opponents to the country, and the most prominent step was the conclusion of a peace agreement with neighboring Eritrea in July 2018.

Although Abi Ahmed's actions were welcomed from inside and outside, especially his agreement with Eritrea, they did not live up to the Tigray Front, which accused him of excluding its leaders from the security and military institutions and of prosecuting them on corruption charges.

According to the statement made by General Sadiqan Waldi Tensai - one of the commanders of the Tigray Defense Forces - the "Detective" program, the peace agreement with Eritrea was dubious, and the Tigray region was excluded from the process.

The Tigray Front was part of a coalition of 4 major ethnic parties that ruled Ethiopia for 27 years within the framework of a federal system that allows autonomy for each ethnic group in its region, but Abi Ahmed saw this as a weakening of the central state and a cause of divisions, so he canceled the coalition and established his "Prosperity" party. Which is based on the integration of the ethnic parties on which the previous coalition was founded.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister's move was a key factor in the outbreak of the dispute between him and the Tigray region, a dispute that later escalated into the war.

rape weapon

The investigative program - presented by Jamal Al-Maleki - sheds light on the other side of the Ethiopian war, which is represented in the crimes and atrocities committed and revealed to the public, especially after the arrival of large numbers of displaced people to Sudan.

An episode of the "Al-Motahhari" program (01/2022) transmitted exclusive testimonies of Tigrayan victims from Hamidait camp (the main reception center for refugees), where girls of the age of Zuhour told horrific stories about the rapes they were subjected to by soldiers who attacked the Tigray region.

And it was not only rape, but also the introduction of foreign materials into the genitals of the victims, which was confirmed by the director of the Aidar Hospital that specializes in sexual assault victims, Hailum Kabdi, who described what happened as sexual slavery.

Among the victims was a 19-year-old girl who was gang-raped by 10 soldiers, and later found to be infected with HIV, a 6-year-old girl who was also raped by soldiers, in addition to a 65-year-old woman who was beaten and raped by 5 soldiers.

A historian specializing in sexual violence in wars, Diana Mazurana, told the "Detective" program that the behavior that occurred showed that the goal behind the large number of rapes in the Tigray region was to completely crush the population and destroy the genitals of women and girls so that they eliminate their chances of marriage, or their place in the the society.

According to the Director of the Peace Observatory in Ethiopia Kelowna Raleigh, the Tigray Front is also accused of committing atrocities during its war with government forces, indicating that sexual violence appeared as a weapon against civilians, and it is carried out due to the absence of impunity and the law.

According to Amnesty International, Eritrean forces and militias from the Amhara region have participated in massacres and rape against civilians.

violations by both parties

Some accused the Tigray Front fighters of committing numerous violations within the areas they controlled. The investigative program cited the testimonies of the victims of the Tigrayan forces attack in the village of Shana in September 2021, as they revealed that they had been attacked with cannons that caused the destruction of their homes, killing some and losing others.

According to the Director of East and Southern Africa at Amnesty International Robert Tishvambo, the violations were not unilateral, when the forces of the Tigray Front launched their attack on the regions of Amhara and Afar, there was talk of rapes that took place in retaliation for the rape of Tigrayan women by the federal government forces.

In the end, the "The Inquisitor" episode questioned the reasons for the occurrence of the Ethiopian war. The answer came from Shibor Nagy, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for African Affairs in the government of former US President Donald Trump, by saying that many forces played roles in the war, and there were active historical factors;

Chief among them are ethnic diversity and ethnic clashes.

While the Ethiopian academic Awole Allo explained that the political vision they brought up in Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic federal system, which allows the ethnic groups the right to obtain autonomy and participate in the governance of the country at the central level.

As for the chances of reaching a consensual solution, the historian specializing in the history of Ethiopia, John Markakis, sees the need for a political solution, but he does not think that it is easily possible due to the positions of all parties.

While General Sadiqan said that it depends on the government of Abi Ahmed.