Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would say, yes, absolutely. Funds should be withheld.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I lost part of the French speech because I didn't know how to choose the interpretation.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's a subsistence economy, for the most part. It's agricultural a bit, like everywhere else in Ethiopia. This year in particular was what they call a bumper year, meaning that the rainy season was exceptionally good throughout Tigray, but there was a locust invasion. Actually, the war started in the midst of the worst locust invasion that Tigray has faced, and when the farmers were harvesting their crops.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Was the question directed towards me?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much. About the rest of the population of the country, the government maintains a media monopoly, so whatever narrative the government promotes, it gets currency in the rest of the population. A majority of the Ethiopian population, I would say, are misled by government propaganda.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. One of the biggest problems is the government not allowing access to humanitarian aid, whether it's food or medicine or anything else. Repeated calls have been made by UN agencies—the Norwegian Red Cross, for example—and the government doesn't say no, but it puts in place bureaucratic hurdles so that these NGOs won't be able to deliver the necessary aid to people in need.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, honourable member of Parliament. If the regime gets money, it's using it on war. In the last three years, we haven't seen that much development in Ethiopia. It's just building the military, buying machine guns, etc. Now it has gotten to the extent of even paying the Eritrean regime a service fee for the crime or for the support it's giving the Addis Ababa regime, for its involvement.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's going to the same coffers so we don't know if the regime is spending the money responsibly. I don't know what procedures are in place to make sure Canadian dollars are spent appropriately. I assume that the regime has all the leverage to divert the money to wherever it wants to divert it.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Exactly. That's what happened. As I said, on TV, Abiy Ahmed made a public threat to Tigray: “If you conduct an election, my army is ready for you.” He said children will die, mothers will cry and buildings will vanish. I can send you, honourable members of Parliament, the link to the video.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. It's just that this narrative of an attack on the Northern Command I think is misleading. The region used it to mislead the international community and garner empathy from the domestic population, but it's not true. An entire army division, with all its tanks and artillery, being neutralized by Kalashnikov-carrying militias in the regional police forces, that's untrue.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Shall I go ahead, because I brought it up?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The main architects of the conflict are the Ethiopian government, led by Ahmed, and Eritrean government, who for some reason have their own agendas to attack the Tigray regional leaders. Abiy Ahmed has an ambition to be a one-man dictatorship, and Eritrea has some kind of grudge against the Tigrayan leadership, so both of them have what they call a common enemy whom they attack.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, honourable members of the House of Commons. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tesfay Teklay, and I'm from the Association of Tigrayan Communities in Canada. It's an honour and privilege to testify in front of you regarding the man-made humanitarian crisis in Tigray.