All eyes on Ethiopia

In this issue:

• The very unstable situation in Ethiopia at the moment
• The trial of the Ahmaud Arbery killing in the United States
• A deadly hip hop concert and artist responsibility
• One of Bosnia's presidents is threatening to break up the country

what happened last week

We are worried that the war in Ethiopia might take a really, really violent turn:
There are news reports that things are escalating in Ethiopia.

The United States calls it a "very fluid security situation," basically meaning that 'yes, sh*t is likely to hit the fan.' An armed group from the northern region of Tigray is heading for Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa and there are worries that it's about to go down; maybe even a coup. Over the weekend, tens of thousands of people took to the street to express their solidarity with the country's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Refresher:
One year ago, fighting broke out between the Ethiopian government and the armed political group, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). The TPLF controls Tigray. Millions of people have had to flee their homes and some 400,000 people in the country's north (where the fighting mostly took place until now but it's reached other regions, too and maybe even the capital soon? Tbd.) are at risk of dying of extreme hunger because the fighting is so intense and everybody is blaming each other, 'no, you're the reason they're almost dying.' - 'No, YOU are!'. It's so intense that some 23 United Nations aid workers have been killed since fighting broke out. Today, this fight has gotten a little more complex, with more armed political groups joining hands and fighting the Ethiopian government. As of last week, both sides are now preparing for what looks like a 'military showdown'.

Abiy's government...

• has granted itself new emergency powers. It can now choose to ignore basic human rights or threaten the independence of the judiciary without it being 'illegal'.
• has asked civilians and former soldiers to take up arms against the two groups it's currently fighting against. 'Protect your neighbourhoods. This is an existential war.' (Last week, Facebook removed one of the posts from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's account where he vowed to 'bury his enemies', Facebook was like, 'eh, it was inciting violence')

The armed groups...

• are growing in numbers. As of last week, there are now nine anti-government groups who all share the same goal as the TPLF: 'Get Abiy Ahmed and his people to step down from government. Either by force or negotiations.' The government is unimpressed, 'they have no social bases and cannot do sh*t.'
• are well on their way to the capital Addis Ababa, reports show, as I'm writing this on a Sunday evening in Berlin.

Good to know:
Ethiopia is a very, very, very multi-ethnic state. Some 80 different ethnic groups live here, sometimes peacefully, sometimes not-so-peacefully side by side. But: I'd love to dive deeper in this country's history. For example, did you know that the TPLF used to rule the entire country for 25 years? Or that the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed got a Novel Peace Prize? If not, no worries, not many people do. Reply to this mail if you'd like me to work on a little history refresher episode on Ethiopia for you. I'll do it gladly.

What's it like in Ethiopia at the moment?
Social media is full of 'fight, fight, fight' posts. Tigrayans are being discriminated against in the capital apparently. The internet is super patchy, not to mention lack of consistent electricity, especially where all the fighting is taking place.

Let's talk about the reports of ethnic cleansing and sexual violence
A United Nations report just came out last week and says, the Ethiopian government forces and the Eritrean military have been the main bad actors but ethnic violence is happening from all sides here.

What does the international community say?
'Stop fighting,' says basically everyone but especially their neighbour countries like Kenya. But they can do so much more, according to the former United States ambassador Tibor Nagy. 'The United States, European Union, UK, China, the Gulf states and Turkey could end this conflict right now if they would only stop selling weapons to both sides.'

Meanwhile in neighbouring:
Sudan... mass protests are being held against a military takeover. At least seven people have died since it started and hundreds injured. The military had been helping the country transition into a 'democracy' after its last leader, dictator Omar al-Bashir was overthrown.

Black lives matter

We finally put the men murdering Ahmaud Arbery on trial:
A 25-year-old Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, was shot dead by three white men on February 23, 2020 in Glynn County, Georgia,...