By Asfaw Regasa
Your recent speech, supposedly reflecting the foreign policy of the United States Government toward Ethiopia, has outraged countless of Ethiopians including myself, an ordinary Ethiopian who deeply cares about my country and its people. Your words and tone in addressing the Fano, a popular movement of the Amhara people who have raised arms to defend the existential threat imposed on them by Abiy Ahmed Ali’s genocidal government, come across as a speech made by a viceroy of the colonial past! You seem to be oblivious to our history, culture, and national pride! The intention of your statement seems to placate Abiy Ahmed Ali for whatever political reasons it may serve.
Over the past five years, the international community, including foreign governments (your own Department of State), domestic human rights organizations (the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, etc.), international human rights organizations (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, European Center for Law and Justice, etc.), international media (Reuters, The Guardian, The Economist, Al-Jazeera, etc.) and others have repeatedly issued reports on the plight of the Ethiopian people in general and the Amhara people in particular under the ethno-fascist rule of Abiy Ahmed Ali.
Millions of Ethiopians across the country have been massacred, internally displaced, incarcerated in officially known and secret prisons, tortured, assassinated, abducted, and disappeared, and buried in mass graves by his diabolic government’s direct and indirect involvement in such atrocities.
In particular, since Abiy Ahmed Ali came to power, thousands of Amharas have been massacred in different parts of the country, including in Wollega, Ataye, Shashemene, Jimma, Burayu, etc. and have been evicted by millions from their ancestral lands in the said and other parts of the country merely because of their ethnic identity.
Abiy Ahmed Ali publicly belittled and likened fellow Amhara Ethiopians repeated peaceful protest demonstrations demanding their right to live peacefully as citizens anywhere in the country, a right protected under the country’s constitution, with the croaks of frogs. Instead of addressing their demands, his government directly and through its proxy militia forces, such as the Oromia Liberation Army (OLA), escalated its ethnic cleansing and massacre that catalyzed the already growing public anger into a Fano armed struggle.
The Fano movement, which includes people from all walks of life including, students, teachers, university professors, farmers, medical doctors, engineers, civil servants, former government militias, soldiers, etc., aims to thwart the continued ethnic cleansing and genocide that is perpetrated against the Amhara people, avert the balkanization of Ethiopia that Abiy Ahmed Ali and his ethno-fascist associates have been working on tirelessly with the aim of carving out a new Oromia Republic, and restore peace, equality, and justice for all Ethiopians under a democratic political order.
Ambassador Massinga – in furtherance of your highly condescending and outrageous remarks regarding the Fano, you preached in your speech the importance of dialogue instead of Armed struggle. While resolving political issues through peaceful means is quintessential and strongly desired by all peace-loving people, it is disingenuous for you to speak of such a civilized means of resolving political issues under Abiy Ahmed Ali, a spiritual son of Slobodan Milosevic, who has caused so much mayhem and destruction to Ethiopia and its people and continues to do so with impunity! It is impossible to have a genuine dialogue under a brutal ethno-fascist tyrant who is hellbent on realizing his dream of dismantling Ethiopia and founding a new republic, as well as staying in power, at any cost to Ethiopia and its people!
A genuine dialogue can only take place by removing Abiy Ahmed Ali’s government from power and forming a transitional government in which all stakeholders may participate under the auspices of the international community. This may be attained either through the efforts of the international community (the United States and its allies can play a pivotal role in such an effort, should they choose to do so – and this is a relatively less costly approach in human life and treasure, as it was done in pushing the brutal communist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam aside from power in 1991), or through the inevitable continued struggle of the Ethiopian people and ultimate overthrow of the government by force (which obviously will be greatly costly and may cause instability in the region in due course).
The formation of a transitional government and establishing a genuine democratic system will ultimately serve not only the interests of Ethiopia and its people, but also the international community, since it will result in peace and stability in Ethiopia, a country of 120 million people located in the volatile horn of Africa region and bordering six nations, which will have positive ramifications for the entire region and beyond.
Mr. Ambassador – as you are aware, Ethiopia and the United States have a long-standing diplomatic relationship that spans over hundred years. The Ethiopian people have profound respect and admiration for the United States and its people and the relationship between the two peoples will no doubt endure the test of time and politics.
Nevertheless, Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans are disappointed by the U.S. Government’s myopic foreign policy that has turned a blind eye and deaf ears to the predicament of the Ethiopian people under Abiy Ahmed Ali’s savagery rule over the past five years. Owing to this reason, it is very possible that a considerable number of Ethiopian Americans in the United States, a contingent that cannot be underestimated, may deny their votes to President Joe Biden (although a large majority of them may not vote for former President Donald Trump due to his public anti-Ethiopia and anti-black people statements while in office) in the tight November 2024 U.S. Election.
Mr. Ambassador – you may be assured that no tyrant, no dictatorial rule, no matter how powerful and strong it may seem, shall last forever! Ethiopia and our people shall in the end be triumphant simply because Truth is on our side!
May Almighty God set Ethiopia and its people free from the bondages of an ethno-fascist regime soon!
Editor’s note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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You are right that the speech of the ambassador ignores evidences of all kinds of crimes being committed by the savagery group in power. What the ambassador should have boldly spoken had to become that Abiy and his disciples should be prosecuted for the genocide, war crime and crimes against humanity they committed. One comment I have towards your comment is regarding transitional government. There is no need for transitional government. Amhara and others have accepted the Oromo led group to lead the transition from dictatorship to democracy. The group used the opportunity to become more and more dictator and brutal. Fano is acceptable by all of the people both in its track record and its discipline in the struggle it is undergoing. There is no need to give the responsibility of transition other than Fano. If no one hesitated to give the same power to Abiy Ahmed, why would there by anyone who does not accept Fano as agent of transition? We should not waste time searching for members of transitional government and we should not open the room for voracious persons to avert the struggle in which lots of sacrifice is paid. No need for other transitional government, only Fano deserve and qualify for that!
Your Excellency Ambassador Ervin Jose Massinga,
I am sure you know where this so-called open letter goes. It goes straight to the trash can. It should be deemed dead-on-arrival. You have more pressing things to do.
There wasn’t anything that is inherently wrong with what you said at the American Ghibi. You told it as it is. It shows how you are very concerned about that country both as an American and a diplomat. You see, some of us don’t see the repulsive fruits of war and the violence that comes with it. Some of us are hell bent on fanning the flames of war from our safe and comfy here in The Diaspora. But the youth in that country is the one who dies and get maimed in the senseless violence in Oromia and Amhara regions on daily basis. I know Ethiopia and USA are on friendly terms and one should have the other’s back. That was what you did. There is nothing wrong whatsoever to politely ask people to opt for a dialogue because there have not been legitimate reasons to choose the violent ways. Nothing.
The issue is not about the desirability of dialogue and a peaceful resolution of political differences. No one can contest that. The issue is about acknowledging the injustice being committed against the long-suffering Amhara people for over three decades ever since ethnic based politics became the order of the day in Ethiopia. The ambassador should have been explicit in recognising this fact and stating it openly. Instead, he opted to belittle the issue with half-hearted remarks such as “… those that call themselves Fano …” And refering to the legitimate grievances of the Amhara as “… If so, …” These expressions suggest that the ambassador, and through him the US government, are not considering the just causes of the Amhara as legitimate. A call for dialogue when injustices are not recognised properly will not win the hearts and minds of the injured party. Our salvation is not in trying to scuttle legitimate grievances, but in recognising each others’ hurt and injury. We all – Oromo, Tegaru, Amhara, Gurage, Afar, Somali, Gambella, etc., – must stand together and feel each others’ pain. There’s no other way.