
This warfare that is being done in the Tigray Regional State, the Law Enforcement Operation launched on the 3rd November 2020. That the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF), Eritrean Army and Amhara Para-Military (Fano) all deliberately acting on behalf of the central government and their agenda to end Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Prime Minister Abiy and his Prosperity Party is going hostile towards all its enemies. Political or anything else. Silencing anyone who reports other stories than the ones the state accepts. The state controls the media houses and their opportunities. The state blocks all venues of communication and orders law enforcement on the ones that dares to challenging it. This being either Oromo organizations or political parties. This being TPLF and the people of Tigray itself. They are all under attack. Arrested, political prisoners and extra judicial killings. This is what the state does..
That is what is worrying. This one-sided mannerism the state of infuriating pains and suffering, which is unknown. Only fragments of witnesses that is fleeing Tigray gets to tell their stories to reporters and humanitarians in Sudan. Therefore, the knowledge we do have is “old” and not fresh actions. Not the newest operations or mission within the region. It is hard to know what extent or what the government does. The voices are silenced and only a few small headlines passes through.
What we need to do. Is to get independent investigations into the conflict. To ensure that victims gets answers and their kin too. So, that the brutal conflict can get an end and justice to the ones that died by either association, unluck or just because they happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. There are so many people dying in a conflict with no name or no history. They are just bystanders and citizens who happens to be living close to a battlefield or a strategic village. These are burned, destroyed and met a hostile force retaliating against their enemy. While these citizens just happen to live there and wasn’t even entertaining the conflict itself. Still, these lives matters, because they could be us. We could be those citizens one day… and we don’t want to die over nothing and that it didn’t matter to anyone.
There are so many loved ones scorned in a conflict. So, many families who has lost their loved ones. Not only soldiers, militias and Tigrayans. No, Oromo have lost plenty over the years and it continues. There are other conflicts happening too.
Soldiers will be remembered and be written in books. However, citizens of smaller villages will only be remembered by a chosen few. Still, these people mattered in their community and within their sphere. These folks deserves to remembered and not forgotten. They have lost their lives because big-men fight. Big men want the glory and the honour. The big man want all the power and bravery to his name. A big man want to consolidate all power and get rid of the ones in his way.
That is why PM Abiy acts like he does. He does it to prove a point. The burning villages and destroyed families is a saga he doesn’t want told. However, he wants the glory of victory and winning battles. Even if he battling his own ego and his own spirit. As he fights to keep himself ahead while haunting after the next enemy and the next battle he needs to overcome.
So, there will be more fatalities and this will not stop. When it was so easy to order war on one part of the Republic. He can easily do it to another. That if he deems them as enemies they will burn too.
This is why we needs to speak up for the dead. The dead cannot speak and they have already left this realm. However, to not forget their lives. We will mention their names and stories. Remind ourselves about what happened and hope for justice. Hope that their life wasn’t taken in vein, but for a grander purpose. So, that we can become better people and create a better tomorrow. Because, nobody should die for nothing, but be remembered for something. These lives shouldn’t be silenced and forgotten. These folk deserves better and death shouldn’t be the final end. However, it should be second life and the ones taking their lives should answer for it. These folks should justify and give reasons to why they did what they did. There should be inquiries and investigations into every bullet taking a life. Every life taken by the air-strikes and drones. The state should answer for it. Especially, since its a “Law Enforcement Operation” and Law Enforcement should address the reason for why they used fire and lifted their cannon. The Law Enforcement should explain the usage of force and reason behind it.
I doubt this will ever happen. However, nobody should be killed, become a fatality without answers. That is devaluing life and endangering the rule of law. That is injustice and impunity, which shouldn’t be promoted by a so-called constitutional government. A constitutional government should secure the well-being and value life. Not only take life and expect people not to address the despair of all the ones dying in the hands of government sponsored law enforcement. Peace.











