Stop the escalation. Conscripts sent in as cannon fodder.

Re: Escalation of war in Amhara

Dear Sir or Madam,

We are alarmed by the current escalation of the conflict in the Amhara region. We have been campaigning for the termination of the state of emergency and calling for a political solution to the conflict. However, the regime is rounding up tens of thousands of young Ethiopians from the Oromo region and the southern regions and forcefully conscripting them into the army to continue its losing battle in the Amhara region. The regime is working tirelessly to give the conflict a tribal dimension through words and deeds. It is attempting to turn this conflict into a war between not just the Amharas and Oromos, but also, potentially, the Amharas and the rest of the ethnic groups in Ethiopia.

The young conscripts from the Oromo region and the southern part of Ethiopia are sent to the Amhara region ill-prepared, with little or no military training, to serve as cannon fodder. The vast majority of these young soldiers are victims of the regime’s propaganda and are forced to fight to keep in power the government that brought about the conflict. According to some reports, the regime is rounding up and forcefully conscripting the young from various regions to raise an army of a million soldiers to crush the Amhara resistance by brute force. We cannot be sure of the number of soldiers already sent to the Amhara region during a year-long conflict, but it certainly runs into the hundreds of thousands. Sadly, they have paid the ultimate sacrifice, yet the regime has never regained control. The plan to quell the uprising by brute force — initially within a week — turned into six months of a state of emergency, further extended by another four months. The regime shows no sign of willingness to end this needless conflict that is claiming hundreds of thousands of lives, causing immense suffering, and devastating the fledgling economy. As a last attempt to cling to power, it is spreading hate speech against the Amhara and agitating for the Oromos and other ethnic groups to join the fight, giving the civil war an ethnic dimension. We would like to share our concern with the international community that an ethnic-based conflict will cause more bloodshed and intensify the Amhara genocide.

The recent statements by the Prime Minister and the Oromo regional leader Shimeles Abdisa’s ongoing rhetoric have added more weight to our apprehension. Even the national dialogue committee does not include major stakeholders in the country, such as the TPLF, Fano, and OLA. It was set up for political goals rather than as a genuine effort to create an all-inclusive dialogue that paves the way for a system where all Ethiopians can live in harmony and peace. Prominent opposition leaders, journalists, and activists who were vocal in finding a peaceful solution and called for transitional justice are languishing in jails and concentration camps.

In a recent meeting with religious leaders, the Prime Minister was asked why he would not consider a political solution to the conflict. His reply was, “Light and darkness do not exist together,” paraphrasing the Bible and dashing any hope of a peaceful solution. We are witnessing the conflict increasingly take on an ethnic dimension, and the international community may not be aware of the deceptive tactics employed by the Ethiopian regime. Various reports from the conflict-stricken regions by human rights organisations indicate that the primary cause of insecurity, the gross human rights violations, the terror waged against ordinary citizens, and the death and destruction in many parts are the work of the regime’s army and security apparatus. The lawlessness, the level of corruption, the abductions, the disappearances, and the killings — even in regions where there is no fighting — have reached a level never seen in the history of Ethiopia. As a result, the country is tilting towards collapse and more chaos, the repercussions of which would cause much instability in an already fragile East African region. The international community and human rights defenders should send a clear message to the regime to end the cycles of the state of emergency in the Amhara region, condemn the regime’s gross human rights violations, and refrain from any financial help that the government diverts to purchase weapons.

To this end, we applaud the recent unambiguous message from Ambassador Massinga of the United States in his speech in Addis Ababa on 15 May 2024, calling for a peaceful and political solution to the conflict. We hope that the European Union and the governments of Germany, France, and the UK take the same stance and call for peace in Ethiopia.