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The Ethiopian civil war is sad and horrific and has resulted in millions displaced. All sides have committed reprehensible crimes. There are, however, many human rights activists like David Alton, the co-author of this opinion piece, and Mukesh Kapila that either ignorantly or willingly disregard the complexity and nuances of this horrible war. Point number 1) Hate speech has indeed increased and was essentially unavoidable due to Ethiopia's very ethnicized regions. Tigrayans and, to a lesser extent, Amharas have been facing the brunt of it. Most of it is on social media like Facebook and Twitter, which lack the skill to handle Ethiopian languages. The article claims that the government is peddling hate speech by using words like "terrorists" to describe the group that is currently carrying out an insurgency. The group TPLF, which had ruled Ethiopia for almost three decades until 2018, started the war in November 2020 by attacking federal bases in Ethiopia's Tigray region. Point Number 2) TPLF rule was very ethnicized. TPLF had ensured that most of the personnel and leadership in crucial institutes like the military were held by their ethnic group. As a result, tens of thousands of soldiers and many commanders mutined with TPLF. And not only did Ethiopia lose personnel, but they also lost their most mechanized command to TPLFs initial attack, which is how TPLF currently has SAM missiles. The government had no choice but to mobilize militias and has tried to limit them as much as possible. The reality of war is that it always results in collateral damage and crimes against civilians, and very seldom can meaningful actions be taken to hold the perpetrators accountable. This is equally true for third-world countries as it is for first-world countries. So when we see US and UK commit reprehensible crimes without any accountability, I find it hard to expect even more from a third-world country that is essentially fighting what it believes is an existential war. Nonetheless, Ethiopia has announced that it has already sentenced dozens of its soldiers to jail for crimes and is investigating more, although scant information has been released about each case. But I don't think countries, in general, are open about what is going on in their military courts. Point number 3)
Since all the government and its people believe they are fighting an existential war against insurgents, I find it unsurprising that the "with us or against us" mentality has materialized. I mean, tens of thousands have died, millions of people are displaced, and entire communities have been destroyed. We can look back twenty years and see that the shutdown of discussion is entirely expected and frankly more justified in this scenario. Point number 5) The international community is divided because the situation is not what this opinion piece claims. The war has a decade-long history and is very complex. Opinion pieces like these that ignore this reality only harm the people. We've seen statements from well-known activists who completely disregard the suffering of some people at the hands of the insurgents because they harped on only one aspect of this war. For example, right now, the insurgents are in Amhara and, to a lesser extent, Afar looting, killing civilians, and stealing food aid destined for the hundreds of thousands of IDPs in those regions. Despite this, you can still see purported human rights activists encourage the insurgents and disregard the suffering of hundreds of thousands of civilians. This war is horrible and must end as soon as possible, but it is not a genocide. Shortsighted solutions will only worsen the situation and destabilize the entire region. We must be mindful of our actions and recognize how our previous methods have only resulted in a worse situation that, in addition, to the increased suffering, damaged EU and caused a rise to illiberal views. We should, instead, create an environment for peace and facilitate aid to all the suffering people in Tigray, Amhara, and Afar. |