By Tigist W. Abate
While the world is busy talking about the 2- years conflict in Ukraine and the 7-month war in Gaza, it has completely ignored the 45 years old genocide of Amharas in Ethiopia. The Amhara ethnic cleansing and genocide started about 45 years ago in Wolkait and Raya and then spread to Bedeno, Arisi and then Wolega. The genocide started to intensify 6 years ago all over Ethiopia, especially in the newly created region known as Oromia.
History has shown repeatedly that no genocide occurred without active participation of the ruling parties or governments. The Jewish holocaust was committed with the leadership of the Nazy party, and the Rwanda genocide was inflamed by that time Rwandan government. Similarly, the current Amhara genocide is committed with a sponsorship and active participation of the ruling prosperity party (PP).
Since the self-acclaimed PP took power, massacring, burning, imprisoning, torturing, and displacing of Amharas has been intensified in Wolega and other Oromia regions. As we know, the Amhara genocide is multifaceted that includes physical, educational, cultural and religious annihilation. The schools in Amhara region have been destroyed and Amharas living in Oromia and other region are forced to learn in non-Amharic languages, abandon their forefathers’ scripts and write in foreign alphabets. Amharas residing in different regions are harassed if they practice their rich cultural rituals including singing patriotic traditional songs and wearing clothes with marking of the ancient and historical Ethiopian flag.
The holy scriptures are the witness that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church is one of the oldest churches on earth. Unfortunately, this iconic church is one of the primary destruction targets of PP that Abiy Ahmad lead. Under PP rule, hundreds of the Ethiopian orthodox churches have been destroyed, worshipers slaughtered and burnt during praying hours. Furthermore, the stronger church leaders have been harassed and outsiders who have no qualification in the church’s dogma and canon have been installed as church leaders with the “blessing” of the interfering PP government.
Despite all these physical, educational, cultural, and religious genocides of Amharas, the domestic and the international media has been keeping quiet. Although many historical, geopolitical and international factors contribute to this deafness, the primary weakness lies on Ethiopian elites, especially on Amhara elites because:
- Unlike professor Asrat, the Amhara elites failed to foresee that the Amhara genocide was coming ahead of time.
- Even after the genocide arrived and started to annihilate Amharas, and destroy their physical, spiritual historical assets, the elites refrain from calling the atrocity genocide justifying that it will affect the future unity of Ethiopia, maybe they are thinking about a future united Ethiopia without Amhara.
- The elites failed to organize and implement intensive diplomatic activities to convince the world diplomates and the international mass media.
- The elites are still unable to establish effective mass media that broadcasts the atrocities committed on Amhara in different domestic and foreign languages.
- Although Amhara has a large number of intellectuals in law, sociology, anthropology, economics, psychology, engineering, medicine, and other disciplines, they fail to come together and establish an effective legal team that could bring perpetuators of Amhara genocide to justice wherever they live.
In this world where the subject pronoun I and self-interest come first, the Amhara people should understand that no one in the world but only themselves shall increase awareness about Amhara genocide and ascertain their survival through firm struggle. Therefore, all Amharas should call the atrocities that have been committed on Amharas by prosperity party unequivocally genocide and organize themselves in different institutions such as in defense , diplomacy, broadcasting, finance, legal and other Amhara organizations to resist genocide and maintain their survival in their motherland.
Thank you.
