The past two and half months have been the time of great horror, devastation, pain and suffering for Tigrayans. For their Amhara and Amharized ‘compatriots’, those days have been the time of great joy and celebrations, the time of greatness that they should always be in, as Daniel Kibret, an Amhara religio-political preacher and Abiy Ahmed’s advisor jubilantly announced one month into the war.
The war on Tigray has opened Tigrayan eyes to a level of hate, treason and betrayal of Ethiopians that Tigrayans could never have imagined, much less anticipated. For Tigrayans, there are no words nor language to describe the the hate, acts, behaviors and character of their Ethiopian ‘compatriots’ during this evil days. What words and language can describe when every ‘Ethiopian’ institution endorses and cheers the war on them? What words and language can describe when every religious institution endorses the most unjust war on them and their livelihood? What words and language could be enough to describe the feeling of not seeing one Ethiopian public figure condemning the war and standing with the Tigrayan people? But, if only it could stop there.
There is no low for Ethiopians when it comes to what they can do to Tigrayans. For them, it is not enough that they do not condemn the war and stand by the Tigrayan people. It is not enough that they celebrate the massacre, suffering, pain and starvation of Tigrayans and the destruction and looting of Tigray. No, no, these are not enough. More is needed.
In their desire to exterminate Tigrayans and destroy Tigray, there are no redlines. They must take machete, axes, knives and guns to hack and massacre Tigrayans and then, astoundingly, blame Tigrayans for killing Amharas. Not only should foreign countries get involved in the war on Tigray, but also they can occupy Ethiopia’s ‘sovereign’ lands. They can also occupy Amhara lands as long as they are helping the war on Tigray. There is no low Ethiopians cannot go as long as it brings death, suffering and devastation to Tigray.
Tigray, the origin of Ethiopian christianity has not celebrated Timkat. Abiy Ahmed had a message for Ethiopians where he blamed all spiritual and worldly ills on the enemy, now synonymous with Tigray for many Ethiopians. Ethiopians celebrated it in a politically manner, many happy about the suffering of Tigrayans.
A particularly jarring, insensitive and mocking act is the launch, with fanfare, of a yearly trip to Adwa, meant to commemorate the trekking of Ethiopians to and a victory at the battle of Adwa in 1896. What is so shocking about this act is that it just happened when the wold media are reporting about the engineered starvation of Tigrayans. Just as the Washington post, the AP and international organizations, are alarming the world about an extremely acute starvation of millions of people, Ethiopians were in a fanfare [1,2] launching celebratory trip to the very Adwa where people are dying in their sleep because of the starvation. Let’s just not talk about the insensitiveness to and the mocking of the Tigrayan pain, but let’s look at the irony of celebrating Adwa.
The victory of the battle of Adwa was against Eritrea. Yes, against Italian-Eritrea to be precise, but except the leadership and some sprinkles of Italian soldiers, the vast majority of the army consisted of Eritreans. Now, exactly when Ethiopians are launching their celebratory trip to Adwa to celebrate a victory from a long time ago, Adwa is under the control of the same Eritrea. What exactly is it then that the Ethiopians are celebrating? I don’t believe the irony is lost on them, but it is all good because it mocks Tigray’s pain.
