By A. Alemayehu
Dear Mr. Blinken:
It is good to see that you are deeply concerned about the distressed situation in Tigray. All western media and so-called international community have zoomed in on Tigray. We sincerely appreciate your deep concern for Ethiopians. But why be selective? While you all appear to be wide-eyed when you talk about Tigray, you seem to blink at the mention of Metekel. Yet, the atrocities committed in Metekel, the massacre of civilians, the genocide against the Amhara and Agaw people, the mass graves, the burnt homes, the scorched farms and the sheer number of the displaced is reaching holocaust proportions.
The regional government in Metekel, Benshangul-gumuz is implicated in the genocide and, naturally, blocks access to humanitarian aid. I am not saying that international humanitarian aid agencies are scrambling head over foot to offer help in Metekel. Quite the contrary. They too seem to be blinking on Metekel. I am talking about local groups and the inability of their aid efforts to penetrate into Metekel.
I am sure your government is cognizant of all this and that is why I am surprised you do not even make a mention of this humanitarian crisis and the government’s reluctance to address it. True, there is no war in Metekel. However, there is a worse crisis in ‘peaceful’ Metekel than there is in ‘war-torn’ Tigray. That is the enigma. Why the selective expression of concern?
Why the silence on Metekel? Mr. Blinken. Please keep your eyes open. Don’t be blinking when it comes to the atrocities, ethnic cleansing and the worsening humanitarian distress in Metekel.