An Urgent Appeal to the Ethiopian Intellectuals: A Silence on Amhara Genocide Is Worse than Openly Supporting It!

By Belayneh Abate

Dear Ethiopian Intellectuals,

It has been more than 45 years since the beginning of the cleansing and genocide of Amaras. As you know, Amaras have been massacred and displaced from the different regions of the country for decades and this genocide has been intensified especially for the last five years. Although these genocidal atrocities are well documented and reported, some of you are denying it and majority of you are supporting it in silence. Supporting genocide silence is worse than openly supporting it.

Supporting in silence was what made the Jewish genocide one of the worst genocides in history. Majority of intellectuals in Europe were silent during the Jewish genocide, and many openly supported and participated in it.  In fact, 50% of the German physicians were members of the Nazi party and participated in the genocide. Famous scientists such as professors Mengle, Wagner and Arthur were denying holocaust, but they were found guilty and lost their titles later in their lives.  [1-2]

As many intellectuals promoted and denied the Jewish holocaust, we are witnessing many of you (the Ethiopian intellectuals) are denying the Amara genocide in pubic and majoring of you supporting it in silence.  As we know, the Amara genocide perpetuators are hosted by the Ethiopian People’s Democratic Front (EPRDF), a criminal organization that has been massacring, torturing and displacing Amaras for more than three decades. Unfortunately, many of you are acting as if you do not know what is happening to Amaras in the different parts of the country.

It is a historical fact and general knowledge that EPRDF was established to implement a jungle manifesto that falsely labelled Amaras as oppressors. Since this jungle manifesto included “nations and nationalist” in its preamble and became the stupidest constitution on Earth, EPRDF has killed more Amaras than  the Hutus killed Tutsis during the Rwanda genocide.  [3-21]

In Rwanda, ethnic Hutus killed not only their neighbor Tutsis but also their Tutsi wives. They massacred Tutsis going door-to-door and identifying them by their ID cards[1] We have watched similar Amara massacres in Wolega, Shashemene, Ziway, Adam Tulu, Hararige, Bale, Arusi, Metekele, Wolkait, Raya and many other regions  of Ethiopia within the past 5 years.

Despite these despicable genocidal crimes, some of you are trying to cover up the Amara genocide because a few people from other ethnic groups were attacked while trying to protect the targeted Amaras. You have failed to read history and know that a lot of Germans were murdered while trying to protect the Jews and a few Hutus were killed while trying to protect the targeted Tutsis.

Instead of calling these despicable crimes as Amara genocides, many of you are calling them ethnic conflicts although the barbaric killers were chanting the usual “Nefitegna ( the genocide code for Amara)  get out” propaganda.

Based on Genocide watch classification [15], the ten stages of genocide committed on Amaras are:

1. Classification:Amaras are classified as oppressors
2. Symbolization: Amaras are given the code nefitegna as a symbol to identify and kill
3. Discrimination:Amaras are denied from having jobs and opening business. They are denied working and learning with their languages in different part of the country.
4. Dehumanization: The genocide committers are labeling them as aliens and settlers
5. Organizations:Lots of extremist groups are organized and trained to kill, attack and displace Amaras throughout the country.
6. Polarization:Extremist figures have instructed ethnic groups to stop intermarriage with Amaras.
7. Preparation:Many extremist groups have trained their soldiers and preaching their follows to clean their regions from “settlers”- another code for Amaras.
8. Persecutions:Amaras have been identified and separated out because of their racial or religious identity. The Amaras’ basic human rights are systematically violated through extrajudicial killings, torture and forced displacement.
9. Extermination:Amaras have been identified and exterminated in different regions of Ethiopia for 42 years, and most recently in Central, Eastern, Southern and Western part of the country
10. Denial:The perpetrators of Amara genocide dig up the mass graves, drag and burn the bodies, try to cover up the evidence and intimidate the witnesses. They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the Amaras. They give the dead bodies of Amaras other ethnic names to reduce the number of Amaras massacred during the genocide.  The government blocks independent investigations of the genocide.

Despite the unfortunate fulfillment of the ten sages of genocides, many of you are denying the Amara holocaust in pubic and majority of you are supporting it in silence.

Dear the Ethiopian Intellectuals: As you know, your life span is limited, but your historical denial of Amara genocide or supporting it in silence is eternal.  Aging, heart attack, stroke, cancer, accident, diarrhea or choking will take away your life and physical body. But nothing will erase your historical denial of Amara genocide or supporting it in silence. It is high time that you start speaking up against Amara genocide and act to prevent and control it. Thank you.

End notes:

1. German Medical Association Finally Apologizes For Atrocities Committed by German Physicians Under the Nazis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6179814/
2. Josef Mengle https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/josef-mengele
3. Rwanda genocide: 100 days of slaughter,https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26875506
4. Amara Genocide in Bedeno Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcZJIfUkx9M
5. Amara Masscre in Arba gugu video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3v9jcDAmDI
6. Amaras displaced from everywhere ESAT Radio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMw4dzDFRvU
7. International Crisis Group: Diffusion Ethiopia’s latest Perilous crisis, https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/ethiopia/defusing-ethiopias-latest-perilous-crisis
8. ሰበርዜና፡ በአርሲ ነገኤ የተፈጸመው እጅግ አሳስዛኝ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DXRSpxariQ
9. ሰብአዊመብት ጉባኤ ሪፖርት 2008 ዓ.ም. http://ehrco.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/HRCO-141st-Special-Report-Amharic-Sene-01-2008.pdf (Last accessed in April, 2020)
10. Protest Crack Down killed hundreds, Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/06/15/ethiopia-protest-crackdown-killed-hundreds (Last accessed in April, 2020)
11. Extrajudicial executions, Arbitray arests and detntions Amnesty International (Last accessed in April, 2020) https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/africa/ethiopia/report-ethiopia/(Last accessed in April, 2020)
12. Ethiopia, Police Open fire on Protesters https://freedomhouse.org/article/ethiopia-police-open-fire-protesters (Last accessed in April, 2020)
13. Genocide watch documents on Ethiopia http://www.genocidewatch.org/ethiopia.html(Last accessed in April, 2020)
14. Three million Amhars Missing, Berhanu Abegaz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-g-YWYBdbM (Last accessed in April, 2020)
15. Three Million Amara are Missing: An Analysis based on the 1994 and the 2007 Ethiopian Population Censuses , Berhanu Abegaz , http://ethiomedia.com/101facts/45139 (Last accessed in April, 2020)
16. Human right violation of Amharas Muluken Tesfaw http://video.ethsat.com/?p=24983(Last accessed in April, 2020)
17. Amara Genocide in Bedeno Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcZJIfUkx9M(Last accessed in April, 2020)
18. Amara Masscre in Arba gugu video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3v9jcDAmDI(Last accessed in April, 2020)
19. The impact of Cervical Cancer Prevention Vaccine in Amara Region.: Ambar https://www.ambapu.org/sites/default/files/2019-03/አምባ%20HPV%20Vaccine%20in%20Ethiopia_1.pdf (Last accessed in April 2020)
20. Remembering the Anuak Massacre: Begin by Lighting Your Candle and then Your Neighbor’s Until Our Candles Bring Light Over Our Nation  http://www.anuakjustice.org/
21. Torture in Ogaden Jail: we are like dead” the Guardian https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/07/04/we-are-dead/torture-and-other-human-rights-abuses-jail-ogaden-somali-regional( last accessed in May, 2020)
22. Genocide Watch, the ten stages of genocide: https://www.genocidewatch.com/ten-stages-of-genocide

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The writer can be reached at abatebelai@yahoo.com

April 03, 2023