Your cooperation props up a dying regime. Military ties with Ethiopia must be reconsidered.

Re: The Czech government's collaboration with the genocidal regime in Ethiopia

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

We are members of the Ethiopian Amhara diaspora who live all over Europe. We are writing to you regarding the recent visits and high-level intergovernmental meetings that took place between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia and your government.

We have grave concerns over close ties between the Ethiopian regime and the Czech government due to the deep crisis engulfing Ethiopia engineered by Abiy Ahmed.

Ethiopia’s economy is teetering on the brink of collapse due to foreign currency shortages, inability to collect taxes due to wars waged by the regime against its own people, investors pulling out from the country, and rating agencies downgrading the country’s credit rating.

All these are the result of Abiy Ahmed and his regime’s Ethno-fascism policies and ideologies espousing Oromo extremism.

His regime’s abhorrent crimes over the past five years include:

• Perpetrating genocide against Amhara civilians in various parts of the Oromo and Benishangul regions,
• Prosecuting an aimless war in Tigray against its once comrade-in-arms, TPLF (Tigray People Liberation Front), at the cost of an estimated million-plus innocent lives,
• Embarking on a full-blown invasion of the Amhara region, an ethnic group with over 50 million people in size, where he has been targeting civilian sites, places of worship, and historical sites using heavy artillery and drone attacks.

We strongly believe that at this point in time, it is immoral to forge any kind of agreement that can offer life support to a dying regime in order to sustain its survival in power. As dual citizens of European countries and Ethiopia and taxpayers in Europe, we oppose your government’s cooperation; especially any form of military assistance or cooperation with the Ethiopian government that can be channelled to fund its military campaign against its own people.

Supporting this dying regime will also risk the collapse of the government instead of an orderly transition of power as the regime’s days are numbered and change is inevitable. The unorderly collapse will ultimately create a humanitarian crisis not only among the 127 million Ethiopians but also among the 400 million people in the sub-region. This will unleash an unprecedented refugee crisis dwarfing the Syrian refugee crisis into Europe from the recent past.