Tag: ethiopia tigray conflict

Amhara Orthodox theology of economia allows ruthless war of starvation and killing

Menelik II began Amharic expansion with ruthless war using the theological principle of economia

The world is disgusted at the malevolent indifference of Abiy Ahmed and the Ethiopian government to the starvation and torment constantly applied to the innocent Tigray population. The world must understand the origin of a twisted blasphemous manifest destiny of Amharic domination that began with the death of Yohannes IV the last Tigray Emperor of Ethiopia in 1889.

Similar to Europe there was a strong imperial character to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which existed with the monarchy. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church developed quite independently of the Roman Catholic Church and also somewhat isolated from the Eastern Orthodoxy as well with its own special characteristics including the concept of Jesus Christ incarnation of human and God being indivisible. This concept is called Tewahedo and often the Ethiopian Orthodox Church uses this name in short. A very important concept for the clergy was Donatism which stated that priests had to be perfect examples of the followers of Christ otherwise they could not carry out their sacred functions of the Eucharist, Blessings, and Forgiveness, and Counsel to the Emperor. This concept which is not seen in the Western Church empowers Tewahedo  to have tremendous influence over the secular government. They can forgive any sin and counsel any heinous act.

The Byzantine founder, Constantine, greatly admired by Tewahedo followers believed that although Jesus teaches peace and love the imperfect soul of man will inevitably bring war. Whenever possible the concept of  akrievia (Greek: ακριβεια)which is to strictly follow the peaceful path must be sought. However in a fallen world where human weakness has brought chaos Economia(Greek: οἰκονομία, oikonomia) is allowed to temporarily break God’s commandments. The end will justify the means.  Tewahedo  clergy leadership has the power to give temporary dispensation for committing of even mortal sins to facilitate Amharic destiny.

Although previous Tigray rulers including Ras Alula sought some expansion from Tigray into Eritrea and Johannes temporarily captured Gondar it was after the death of Yohannes IV when Menelik II came into power that Amharic expansion began with the application of economia theological support for barbarism and cruelty. Killing, torture, theft of land, and enslavement were morally justified towards the Oromo, Southern People, and Muslims of the Western Ethiopia to achieve the goal of building the Amharic Empire.  In the last decade of the 19th century, Amharic expansion violently captures the regions of the Oromo, Sidamo, and Somali lands tripling it’s territory and making a new capital, Addis Ababa, out of the former FinFinne.

 

 

 

Abiy Ahmed leadership is unacceptable says Nobel Peace Prize Committee

Ethiopian Prime Minister addressed the United Nations in September 2020 promising extensive democratic reforms and press freedoms. All of these promises have been broken.

Today the Nobel Prize committee said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize has a “special responsibility to end the conflict and contribute to peace” in Ethiopia where Tigray remains under a complete blockade.  About the current situation in Tigray they added “The humanitarian situation is very serious, and it is not acceptable that humanitarian aid does not emerge to a sufficient degree”.

Once seen as the emergent African nation of prosperity and democracy instead its honor and status has fallen precipitously  to competing with North Korea, Iran, and Eritrea for the most evil pariah. Everyday at least 40 children die of starvation, 50 innocents are killed by air or drone strikes, all the while over 7 million Tigrayans have continued to be without food, medicine, power, travel ability, or communication.  More then one hundred thousand are held in concentration camps in Western Tigray, in the areas around Addis Ababa, Afar, parts of the Southern Nations regions of Ethiopia, and even now in Eritrea. 

Once a champion of free speech and free press, Ethiopia has jailed more journalists than any other African nation. So called terrorism laws allow journalists to be jailed indefinitely without due process for printing any information not explicitly approved by the government.

Estimated to be more than $60 million in debt within the next year, government estimates that the pre-war debt would take 3 years to pay if there was greater than 8% growth are now impossible. In reality it may take a whole generation if ever. The per capita income has dropped to $700, birr has halved in value, Ethiopian bonds are now rated junk, and world wide interest in investment in unstable Ethiopian state has withered to almost nothing.  Chinese news sources have indicated they continue to withhold $339 million in further loans because Ethiopia is unstable.

Biden tells Ethiopia what is necessary to restore USA relations

If Ethiopia wants restoration of previous relation with the United States it must meet certain conditions

The discussion today between US President Joe Biden and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Amed has not resulted in any immediate appreciable change but clearly points to some inescapable realities.

Abiy Ahmed and his Prosperity Party now understand moving totally away from Western democracies is not the best path for developing Ethiopia. At the same time the United States has consistently stated that the pre-conflict borders of Tigray had to be respected, air strikes to civilians must stop, detentions must stop, and negotiations for peace must honestly begin in cooperation with the African Union. The only way to restore previous trade and assistance status is through this route.

After more then one year of war, nothing has been accomplished by the Ethiopian government except thousands of deaths, millions displaced, destruction of billions in domestic and foreign businesses, and the return of Ethiopia to the title of poorest country in the world.

 

Prominent Amhara website Borkena publishes harsh criticism of Abiy Ahmed leadership

An opinion piece in Borkena says Abiy Ahmed is “out of his mind“

While last week Abiy Ahmed supporters were celebrating “victory” over Tigray this week is seeing a new fast growing dissension in the Amhara ranks. Recent actions by the Prime Minister are fueling protest.  Instead of Ethiopian unity so vividly propagandized we now are reminded of Biblical Gospel in Mark 3:25 ” A house divided against itself cannot stand”.

Dissatisfaction and outright anger at Abiy Ahmed from Amhara who were previously enthusiasts seems to be growing. Shiferaw Abebe, who may be a faculty member at Bahir Dar University, in heartland of the FANO Amhara militia group and home to many Amhara elites supporting Amharic dominance, published a very critical long statement critical of Abiy Ahmed in the prominent pro-Amharic website  Borkena.

The words written are harshly disparaging the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s actions beginning with the title, “Amnesty for the criminals, cold heart for the victims”. This is followed by the subtitle, “He is out of his mind”.  Abebe and many other Amharas were deeply aggravated about the release of a few older TPLF prisoners. At the same time Abebe is complaining that Abiy Ahmed cares little to nothing about the civilian casualties suffered in the Amhara invasion but instead was only concerned with his own safety.

He further says that Ethiopians should protest the management of the whole war, the Defense Minister Prof. Berhanu Nega and Dr. Belete Molla should resign. Abebe questions if there has been a real victory. As regards Ethiopia’s debt he is calling for Abiy Ahmed to reveal to the Ethiopian people the severity of the war costs and level of debt.

Has Ethiopia reached the stage where yearning for peace overwhelms?

Air strike victim at Shire hospital in Tigray this week

A day after Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas could there be developments pointing to a possible negotiation for peace in Ethiopia?

This week the world press has been flooded with images and stories of children starving or victimized by drone strikes. Abiy Ahmed has released a few Tigray and Oromo leaders held in jail. A “nomore” rally in Addis Ababa originally planned for today has been cancelled. The Tigray Defense Force has gone into mostly defensive mode with the exception of moving into Western Tigray. Ethiopia’s debts will top $60 billion this year. Starvation continues to climb in Tigray. For now it appears Tigray will not take over Ethiopia nor will Ethiopia capture Tigray.

Walt Whitman, famous American poet who also served as a journalist and volunteer nurse in war casualty hospitals,  in his writings of the American Civil war documented the stages of public attitude toward war as it progresses. At first there are parades and patriotic talk, then as more die and increasing resources are used up a call to find strength for sacrifice, and finally comes a time when the mounting suffering causes all parties to seek an end. 

From his book, Drum Taps
Title: Over the carnage rose a prophetic voice
Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice,
Be not dishearten’d, affection shall solve the problems of freedom
yet,
Those who love each other shall become invincible,
They shall yet make Columbia victorious.
Sons of the Mother of All, you shall yet be victorious,
You shall yet laugh to scorn the attacks of all the remainder of the
earth.

Has Ethiopia reached the state yet when the yearning for peace becomes overwhelming?

 

Mekelle physician reports diabetic patients dire situation without treatment in Tigray

Reports by MSF(Doctors Without Borders) and the UN have consistently shown attacks on healthcare facilities in Tigray as well as the complete blockade of medical supplies which has been called the assault on health care.

Correspondence from Dr. Merhawit Atsbha, internist and faculty member, of Ayder Hospital documents how the lack of medication and services available to treat diabetic patients in Tigray has lead to horrific suffering and loss of life.

Here is his letter to the world:

 

As to diabetes management we have-not received any medication after June 2021. We have so far been using the stock we had before that and starting from September we have started using expired po anti diabetic drugs. And our treatment has recently focused on preventing acute complications like DKA and HHS. We have stopped being concerned about good glycemic control and preventing chronic complications. We also mostly do not discuss about diet with patients as they have to eat what is available.

From the report we got from our pharmacy head we have learned that we are left with 150 vials of NPH and few strips of glibenclamide. Metformin has been out of stock for two weeks. The sad part is we even have run out of the expired drugs. With the limited amount of drugs that we have we will be able to serve for only 2 to 3 days.

To make things worse we have run out of IV fluids so we are treating even moderate and severe DKA with free water.
Thinking about the more than 10,000 patients in Tigray and more than 2500 patients in Ayder we are very sure that we will be flooded with acutely sick patients in the coming weeks but we will not be able to help them.

Therefore, we beg you all to be the voices of the voiceless patients and physicians here. And find a means to help our patients before it is too late.
Thank you for the efforts made so far.

The Tigray Regional Health Bureau system and Mekelle University Ayder Hospital had for many years made tremendous progress in the care of Tigrayans with diabetes mellitus. Providing medications, treating complications, providing community health education on self-care and prevention were all important factors in improving life expectancy and quality of life.

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Ethiopia is estimated to be somewhere between 14% to 18%. With medication, diet control, and education teaching the patient self-care most diabetic patients can lead productive and near normal lives but without treatment complications like diabetic coma, peripheral vascular disease, and heart disease cause severe disability and early death.

In February 2021, Ethiopian Minister of Health Lia Tadesse lied to Reuters news agency when she said supplies were being sent to Tigray for the care of diabetics in response to news reports that people with diabetes were dying at home. Under the Ethiopian occupation no significant supplies were ever received. It is suspected that many shipments were taken instead to Eritrea.

 

 

Jeffrey Feltman returning to Ethiopia this week to discuss peace with Tigray

Reuters reports U.S. Envoy is returning to Ethiopia to discuss peace talks with Tigray

The Tigray Defense Force retreated back into Tigray boundary in part due to requests from the United States State Department who promised some reciprocal action which has been slow in coming. Just now the United States announced that U.S. envoy to the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman is returning to Addis Ababa to specifically discuss peace talks. 

Even though Tigray forces retreated into their borders, Ethiopia has continued airstrikes and drone strikes within Tigray killing dozens of civilians daily. Additionally the complete blockade of food, medical supplies, fuel for  civilian use, power, telephone, and internet have continued for over a year. Millions are facing critical famine risks and thousands have died for lack of even basic health care. 

The resilience of the Tigray forces to withstand against defeat by the Ethiopian, Eritrean, Turkish, and United Arab Emirates forces has created a no win situation for Ethiopia. Now recent advances have started into Western Tigray which is under Ethiopian and Eritrean occupation still with many international humanitarian organizations reporting thousands of deaths from genocidal killing, starvation, displacement, violation of women. Additionally the economic forecast for Ethiopia facing sanctions and economic collapse by the African Development banks finds low investor confidence, high unsustainable debt service from high war costs and with poor tax income. In other words Ethiopia must seek peace or find itself in complete economic ruin.

Ethiopia’s new evolution in producing hate speech to justify genocide

A well respected Amhara diaspora, Professor Tilahu Yilma, used barbarous language intended to propagate hate later repackaged to state only against leaders. This type of language is unseemly for an educated man but it is part of the careful cultivation of genocidal culture currently underway by Abiy Ahmed supporters both in Ethiopia and elsewhere carried out on social media. His video was nationally televised in Ethiopia on government television.

The Ethiopian and Eritrean government are applying a massive effort in social media in the latest evolution of propaganda to justify genocide by inciting hate and call to action for revenge. This builds upon the experience seen first in Nazi Germany and then in Rwanda in the nefarious art of misinformation which empowers genocide while obscuring its existence.

The development and use of specialized propaganda mechanisms to disguise genocidal intentions in media was first exploited by the Nazis in a democratically elected government in the 1940s, then copied and refined to an African style by the Rwanda government against the Tutsi in 1994, and finally now we see how Abiy Ahmed supporters have further advanced this evil practice with the use of social media to defend Tigray genocide.

Although there is always an argument raised about freedom of speech whenever this topic of hate speech comes up, solid social science research has shown that “revenge speech” which magnifies differences between the in and out group, builds up a false perception of the risk of threat in the audience, and dehumanizes the targeted group is successful in inciting increased discrimination and violence. This is why despotic authoritarian governments develop and use it.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum makes the point that the Nazi propaganda machine fostered hate for its supporters while at the same time sewed indifference to the outside world about the genocide against European Jews. Today in Ethiopia we commonly see the excuse that derogatory comments  such as calling Tigrayans “cancer”, for example, are always backtracked on social media after they have had their initial shock effect. The propagandists always claim later their referral was to leaders not the people. These coded messages function to strengthen and enhance enmity buy sending a silent message to believers and would be joiners but then are “refuted” as not being generalized.  They clearly show the intent of the genocidal group to hide their intentions.

The Rwanda genocide of the Tutsi by Huti lead government leaders and party leaders affliated with President Habyarimana did not happen all at once. Just as in Germany and now what we are seeing in Ethiopia a message has been developed over time. Educators in schools, newspapers, and diaspora over many years repeated the message the minority, the Jews, the Tutsi, and now the Tigray were always planning an impending violent genocide of their own against the majority. They were outsiders to the society at large and did not contribute to progress.

These propagandist actions did not occur sporadically. In fact they have a well studied nefarious art which has been studied extensively. The Rwanda leadership relied  on learning methods of propaganda as analyzed by a French professor, Roger Mucchielli, in his book, Psychologie de la publicité et de la propagande. This included persuading the majority population that the opponent intends to use terror against them; once convinced this formerly “honest people” will take whatever measures they think necessary for legitimate self-defense. Genocidal actions of deprivation, violation, and killing become acceptable to those who would never have considered them previously.  

The high participation of the world in social media over the past decade has offered new tools for promoting genocide while hiding its purpose. The governments of Ethiopia, Tigray, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates expend considerable resources including recruiting expertise in social media production and monitoring. Just like Hitler they know the value of propaganda. 

UN must apply precautionary principle of genocide response to Tigray

A grandmother lies mortally wounded by an Ethiopian drone attack on civilians in Southern Tigray in December 2021

Using euphemisms instead of the word, genocide, does not save lives or stop genocide. Instead of applying the precautionary principle of the UN Geneva Convention the delay in the official recognition of genocide directed against the people of Tigray and by Eritrea, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates, and Turkey  follows a sad pattern previously seen in Rwanda, Darfur, and Bosnia. Rather then directly confronting the offenders with the truth of an ongoing genocide the international community is once again delaying declaration of genocide based on the false hope proven by previous catastrophic experience that using lesser terms will allow diplomacy to bring a change in behavior. Using lesser terms only empowers the genocidal power to continue deprivation and killing.

Ethnic cleansing ( a term created during the Bosnia war), population displacement, and civil war are examples of terms that are lesser then genocide and do not trigger international sanctions. A years long total blockade of Tigray has resulted in total lack of health care and food supplies while targeted attacks on civilians have together resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and continues to threaten millions in Tigray as already documented by the UN. 

Academic study of this failure to respond has been well studied by public health researchers.  Using euphemisms instead of the term genocide always resulting in more death and destruction. Because the cost of human lives has so often been catastrophic the United Nations Convention in 1948 was created to function with a Precautionary Principle which stresses early intervention to stop the killing as soon as possible. Once reasonable suspicion is raised the burden of proof is changed from those suspecting the genocide to those carrying it out under international agreement. Despite this the 20th century saw over 170 million deaths from genocide.

Ethiopia and Turkey now openly attacking UN humanitarians in Tigray

UN staff member Michael Hiluf was killed by an Ethiopian directed drone attack

We know that Turkish mercenary forces are the ones often operating drone attacks in Tigray and in fact Turkish flags are now flying over Ethiopian communities. During this Christmas season these operators had the audacity and inhumanity to attack a United Nations convoy carrying UN staff. Is Ethiopia now becoming a colony of Turkey?

Michael Hiluf was traveling with his daughter while traveling from Alamata to Mekelle when Turkish drones killed him and injured others. Everyday dozens of civilians are killed on the streets of villages and towns in Tigray. Because of the complete blockade of food, medicine, and fuel there is nothing that can be done to help this innocent lives adding to the loss. 

The killing of UN staff and innocent civilians is only cementing in place the clear reality that Ethiopia and its allies in genocide are committed in their evil purpose. This purpose is driven by the belief that any means of annihilation of the Tigray people is appropriate to eliminate ethnicity and culture which is not Amharic dominant. This is reinforced by an infrastructure of media propaganda, Amhara academics, clerico-fascists, and revisionist history of Ethiopia artificially synthesized by biased sources.

The impetus on this growing evil grows stronger when the UN and the Western democracies who have claimed to stand for human rights and democracy since World War II only remain silent.