In November, a 20-year-old man from Ethiopia's Amhara region dropped out of school and became a second-hand wool dealer due to the ongoing civil war in Africa's second most populous country. I left home for business. At the market in the nearby village of Djibst.
The young man never returned home.
he was 1 out of 43 people died A health center and an elementary school were also targeted as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's military launched a drone strike against a crowded market, one of three attacks on civilians that morning. The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project said the attack was the deadliest drone attack since Abiy's government ramped up fighting in the Amhara region this summer, and that it is targeting local Fano rebels nearby. He said it was particularly worrying that there were no clashes with other groups.
Victim who was “shot to death from the air'' remains distraught Her mother recently told German news agency DW. —I don't want to reveal the names of my family members for fear of government retaliation. The young man's father was able to identify the body only through identification. “I brought him back and buried him in his birthplace.”
The young wool vendor was one of hundreds of civilians massacred in the latest and arguably deadliest phase of Ethiopia's seemingly endless civil war. This fall, the civil war intensified as the government instituted policies. Eerily called “The Final Operation” It is located in the Amhara region. The attack, although likely targeting Fano fighters in the area, killed, captured, or displaced thousands of civilians.
The death toll so far is alarming. The airstrikes, carried out by Turkish-made drones and supported by a growing unholy alliance between Abiy's government and the United Arab Emirates, resembled an operation of ethnic cleansing, killing at least 449 and possibly as many as 750 civilians. was murdered. Groups tracking the killings say it was an attempt to undermine public support for Fano.
On the other hand, government forces also Established a network of mass camps in the Amhara region It can be seen in satellite images and, according to Amnesty International, helped make mass arrests of thousands of people.
The international community largely ignores these crimes against humanity. While this is partly a result of distraction from other high-profile conflicts taking place across Africa and the Middle East, the shocking neglect of the Ethiopian crisis is due to regional and global superpower competition. It is also the result of political inertia and a disregard for basic policy principles. Autonomy and human rights.
On the same day as the drone attack on Zivst, Donald Trump was elected for a second term as the 47th President of the United States. The inauguration of a new administration provides a unique opportunity for a long-awaited reset of American policy. Ethiopia's deep-rooted crisis provides a test case for the path to resolution.
The new president's longstanding concerns about U.S. competition with global rivals, including the growing ambitions of not only China but also Persian Gulf oil producers, will be combined with a strategy that emphasizes expanding democracy and guaranteeing fundamental freedoms. are possible and must be combined.
It's not just that Ethiopia and the Abiy government need a lot of love. But this requires Washington to stop turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in the Horn of Africa. Abby somehow won the Nobel Peace Prize Despite years of civil war in his country.
During President Biden's four years in the White House, talk of a new approach to Africa focused on pressing issues like human rights and climate change was often just “talk.” Earlier this year, U.S. and Western-backed institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Loans and direct assistance That was a huge missed opportunity.
These dollars saved Abiy's government from an immediate debt crisis, but they cannot impose conditions to improve civil rights or end the brutal conflict in the Amhara region and other parts of the country. There wasn't.
Rather, this bailout only relieved the Addis Ababa government. Purchase more high-tech weapons Examples include the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone, the backbone of an unmanned fleet assigned to the Ethiopian Air Force's special forces last year. The administration has also found an ambitious partner in the UAE, its oil-rich Persian Gulf neighbor. The UAE is seeking to gain political influence in the Horn of Africa in competition with other regional countries such as Saudi Arabia.
Ordinary citizens (farmers, teachers, traders) in the Amhara region and most other parts of Ethiopia are struggling with these geopolitics as civil society disintegrates under not only wanton violence but also the rapid erosion of democratic norms across Ethiopia. They are becoming unnecessary pawns in academic power games. According to Amnesty International, judges, court officials, prosecutors and university professors are often arrested without warrants as government forces carry out drone attacks and raids on homes.
Although Mr. Trump frequently spoke of an “America First” policy during his election campaign that suggested isolationism, the reality is that the next president will also demonstrate his strength and compete with rivals such as China on the world stage. is enthusiastic about He also tried to influence all of Africa. This moment of crisis presents an opportunity for the new American president.
Throughout the past century, the strong ties between Washington and Addis Ababa have greatly benefited both countries. In the late 2020s, the second Trump administration's new focus was on maintaining close economic ties, which would not only be a “win-win” for both countries, but also thwart the attractiveness of anti-democratic rivals such as China and the UAE. It can be weakened.
I urge the new president to see Ethiopia as a test case for whether democracy and human rights can once again be the foundation of a newly prosperous African continent.
Mesfin Tegenu isAmerican Ethiopian Public Affairs Committee.
