By Dr. Tibebe Tayachew
The 30th Commemoration of the genocide against the Tutsi has taken place in Rwanda since April 7, 2024. Right now, the country is moving in the right direction, given all the pain and agony it has endured. The people are all working hard to overcome the past so that future generations can learn from it. In 1994, the world systematically ignored this human tragedy. At the time, the superpowers in the world had other priorities than the conflict that claimed the lives of close to a million people, with about two million refugees fleeing the country, resulting in a significant loss of human capital. Many have argued that this conflict could have been avoided if there had been responsible bodies among the dominant players on the world stage at that time: the UN, US, UK, EU, AU, and others. In 2024, 30 years after the genocide against the Tutsi, another genocide is brewing in Ethiopia against the Amhara people. AGAIN! The world is silent! The world is systematically silent on this too! The world is deliberately looking the other way.
What are the main reasons for ignoring another genocide? Is it due to a lack of interest? Is it due to a lack of knowledge and understanding of the context? Or is it deliberate? Some people who tend to believe in conspiracy theories argue that these world powers are engaged in the business of population reduction on the planet, while others say they are engaged in weakening and destroying Oriental nations like Ethiopia. Some others claim that the new world order is led by a few capitalists who treat every country as a marketplace, not just as a sovereign nation. These capitalists look for their own interests rather than the dignity of humans. Other pragmatic people reason that it might be that world powers have so many issues at hand, with limited resources due to the economic and political dynamics emerging across the world. There are emerging new challenges from the BRICS bloc to the traditional Western-led world order, so priorities are set accordingly. For example, the war in Gaza and the war between Ukraine and Russia dominate the news cycle of the western media. Hence the public is informed daily about such developments. Even though some humanitarian organizations have tried to report on what is going on the ground in the Amhara region, their voice reaches to dumb ears. Whatever the reason, there are similarities between the genocide brewing in the Amhara region and that of Rwanda.
Narratives. In general, narratives are powerful. “Powerful narratives, used over and over again over time, can change how people view the world and shape cultural common sense.” Before the full-fledged genocide in Rwanda occurred, there was a buildup of narratives against the Tutsi. When people build hateful theories and narratives against another ethnic group for a sustained period, as happened in Rwanda, a generation may emerge with a perverted vision of life, empowered to destroy and kill the perceived enemy. Some of these narratives stem from colonial times. They were constructed to create division among the people living in the region for centuries. This is how colonial powers established their control over the people on the continent in general: divide and rule! The same thing has happened in Ethiopia. Since the arrival of colonists in the northern part of the country, there has been a deliberate buildup of narratives against the Amhara people. Most of these narratives were crafted by the colonialists to create division among the people in the country. The narrative against the Amhara people primarily stems from their national and patriotic stances. Read the piece “The Amharas have got serious stories to tell that deserve proper hearings” written by a doctoral student of Anthropology, Tibe Taye and hear what the Amhara people have to say. The past 35 years has enabled some ethnic groups to build up a platform for the people to be targeted. A systematic and full-fledged genocidal program is going on to destroy and humiliate the people using tanks, BMW’s, Drones and military jets using all the resources of the country. Remember, the people who committed the genocide in Rwanda had a ‘legal power’ over the country at that time and they had controlled the narratives.
Propaganda. Another enabler of the Rwanda genocide was propaganda. They used radios of the time to propagate hateful messages and strategies instead of bridging differences and teaching tolerance and compromise so that the people could develop the competency to live together. Today, we have powerful media and social media that are effectively used to magnify differences and broaden divisions. Using social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Clubhouse, Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp, one can reach tens of millions of people in an instant. Some of the social media platforms, like YouTube, have become one-sided political propaganda machines. For example, YouTube is continuously silencing all those who voice concerns about the Amhara genocide. There is plenty of evidence for this. Whether they are corrupt and their discriminatory service is bought by those who intend to commit genocide is something that needs further verification. However, from the vast evidence available, it is clear that YouTube is being used as a discriminatory social media platform that undermines the Amhara voice. If people voice the Amhara cause, they will be silenced, while those who are propagating the annihilation of the people are freely running, not just on YouTube but on other social media platforms. There is enhanced propaganda by the people who are committing genocide right now. They have used many schemes to cover up what is going on in broad daylight in the Amhara region. The world should not ignore it again!
Lack of Commitment. The genocide in Rwanda was in a blind zone for the Western powers at the time. One may argue that it is not. The UN forces were in the vicinity when things happened. Yes, the UN was there. But if the messages coming out from the area were not prioritized, then the voices that carried the messages from the area were not reaching the ears, minds, and hearts of the people in power. They knew that the danger was building up, but they did not act. It was not their priority at the time. One expert argues that, among other things, “Had the UN taken deterrent actions early on, it might have been able to stop the genocide at the outset. Later, a large deployment of troops would have been needed to bring a halt to the many senseless killings.” Many reasons behind the inaction at the time included that the world bodies were prioritizing solving other conflicts, such as the Yugoslav Wars, the First Chechen War, the Croat–Bosniak War, the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War, the 1992–1996 Afghan Civil War, and so on. For example, the world powers were highly committed to stopping the Yugoslav Wars, which were also “marked by many war crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, massacres, and mass wartime rape.” However, they were not committed to stopping the 100 days of madness that happened in Rwanda. In a similar way, the world is distracted by many other conflicts, especially the two mentioned above, the Gaza conflict and the Ukraine-Russia war have taken not only the focus of the Western world, but they have also effectively paralyzed the ability for the western power to detect and discern if dangerous developments are happening within Ethiopia, especially right now, the systematic ethnic cleansing and genocide actions against the ethnic Amhara people in the country. The world knows that right after the defeat of the Derg military government, as a policy in the country, established by the constitution, ethnic based apartheid system is functioning in the country.
Call for the international powers and organizations. It is time that you stop the program that has been devouring Ethiopia for over three decades. Ethnic-based politics should be abandoned in the country, as other fellow African countries have done. Ethnic-based political parties and governing systems are dangerous for many African countries with multiple ethnic groups. World governing bodies like the World Bank, IMF, UN, and others should stop enabling the genocide machine that functions against the Amhara people. The ethnic-based war in the north, between November 2020 and November 2024, has claimed around one million lives. The people in Tigray have suffered the most due to the ethnic politics their elites have run for three decades. Many have told them to slow it down, but they did not listen. In the end, the people paid the painful price. The US, along with the AU, has acted to stop it using the Pretoria Agreement after a million lives were lost. Already, in the Amhara region, tens of thousands of people have died from both sides since the one-year conflict began in the region. The international community should act swiftly to stop the ethnic cleansing and genocidal war against the Amhara people as quickly as possible before it becomes too late. This is a call that the international bodies should not ignore again!
Editor’s note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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