Systematic Genocide to a particular race of people is wrong

” Systematic genocide is taking place in the Horn of Africa and we need to know about it.  

I have decided to write a few lines about the current escalating tense situation between the Ethiopian Federal Government and the Tigray People.  

The war started at the beginning of November and so far, a huge number of people including military as well as civilian lives have been lost. If the two warring sides were thinking about genuine logical solutions then the problem could have been solved through mutual agreements in the process of bi-lateral negotiations and this would have prevented the situation from turning violent.  

It is clear that the Ethiopian government has very strong army forces which is more than capable of easily destroying any part of the Horn of Africa. Therefore, they have a moral responsibility to control their very large military forces and to prevent them from murdering civilians. 

Tigray is a relatively small region which is based at the North of Ethiopia with a modest population of 6 million people. It seems unfair and will lead to the complete systematic genocide of this small population if the Ethiopian government continue attacking this small region, killing the civilians indiscriminately. They are using sophisticated weapons of destruction such as drones and jet fighters. Different factions of the Ethiopian army have been instructed to head straight for Tigray.  

This has already led to many of the Tigray people to head towards Sudan to seek refuge from the onslaught.  

Therefore, it is much need that the African heads of states and organisations to intervene and attempt to settle this situation by encouraging peace negotiations between the two parties. It is unwise to continue to watch and be silent whilst many more people will be killed.  

In the late period of the 20th century a very similar situation occurred between the centralized government of Somalia and the Isaac people in the northern region of Somaliland. At that time, the Somali government had a very sophisticated military and levelled many large cities to the ground in the north region killing men, women and children indiscriminately. They destroyed a natural build-up of civilization which had been building for 3,500 years and in that war at least 500’000 people had lost their lives with many people seeking refuge in nearby countries such as Ethiopia. As a result of that war, many people are still impacted, through mental illness, physical illness, amputees and financial hardships.  

At that time, African head of states were watching the genocide of the Isaac people that was developing in the late 1980s. Not a single group or organisation attempted to intervene and stop the systematic  

murder and genocide taking place on the Isaac people at that time. Now history appears to be repeating itself with the current silence deafening with regards to the world watching the Ethiopian government carry out a systematic genocide against the Tigray people.  

As a person who was born and raised in the Horn of Africa, I urge the Ethiopian government and the other head of states in the region to use the mind and logic to find solutions other than violence. Military intervention is against human life, development, and it never bodes well for the future.  

Finally, I always try to stand for the underdog, and the minority and the oppressed, I ask Allah to help the Tigray people and all the other ethnic minorities in the horn to escape from this oppression. It is not fair to take revenge against the people for what they have done many years ago.  

Ali Hersi “

alihersi54@hotmail.co.uk