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The Ethiopian Civil War: 5 Reasons to Speak Up
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Jan 31, 2023
#tigray #tigraywar #ethiopia #tigraygenocide There is a horrific war taking place in the Tigray region of Ethiopia in East Africa. Here are 5 reasons why you should care and speak up for peace in Tigray. Find out more at OmnaTigray.org Buy the "Make Injera & War" T-shirt here, 100% of proceeds go to those affected by the conflict in Ethiopia: https://www.makeinjeranotwar.com Welcome to "The 5" where we share 5 interesting things in black culture and society in every episode. Subscribe to our channel so you don't miss any future videos! __________________________________________________________ BlackExcellence.com is a digital platform dedicated to empowering excellence everyday through sharing thought provoking, informative, entertaining, and noteworthy stories in the Black community. Website: https://blackexcellence.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/BExcelOnline Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackexcell...... FB: https://www.facebook.com/BExcelOnline
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Ethiopia, the country that's known as the cradle of humanity, delicious food, and of course amazing coffee
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This giant country, home to over 100 million people, has been going through transformation over the last three years
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So lately, you probably come across an article or two about what's been going on in the Tigray region of Ethiopia
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So today on the Five, we're going to break it down for you and give you the top five reasons on why you should care about what's happening in Ethiopia
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Hi, my name's... Actually, I'm the in-house Ethiopia, so I'll be taking over this episode of the Five
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Hi, my name is Roman and welcome to the Five where we share five interesting things in black culture and society every episode
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Don't forget to subscribe and hit that bell so you can get notified when we release new videos
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The headlines you might be seen these days about Ethiopia are about war, ethnic cleansing, starvation, and sexual violence
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violence. I've been watching some horrific videos coming out of Tigray and this is a very serious situation
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So the number one reason why you should care about what's happening in the Tigray region of Ethiopia is of course the humanitarian crisis
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But let me start by giving you a background of what's happening in the Tigray region of Ethiopia
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Since November of 2020, the leadership of Ethiopia has been a war with the leadership of one of its states in the north, the state of Tigray
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The federal government, led by Prime Minister Abid Ahmed, alleged that the TPLF, a political
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party at the time in charge of Tigray, had attacked a military base
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The federal government declared the war over in late November, but various organizations, including
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the United Nations, has made it clear that fighting is still ongoing
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So the number one reason to care about what happening in Tigray is the humanitarian crisis the civilians are facing At the start of the conflict civilians have been reporting cases of horrific human rights violations
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like mass executions, rape, and extensive looting. Since the Ethiopian federal government blocked journalists from getting into the state up until recently
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it was difficult to verify the stories. However, as media is being led in, the stories of massacres and mass sexual assaults are coming out through news organizations
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like CNN, Al Jazeera, and the New York Times. Human rights organizations like Amnesty International
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and Human Rights Watch have also released detailed report of mass civilian massacres
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Eyewitnesses put most of the blame for atrocities on Eritian forces who crossed the border from the north
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to assist Ethiopian Federal Army and fighting the Tigris State forces. But Ethiopian troops and Amahara militia
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from neighboring Amharah state are also committing horrific crimes against humanity. Eritrean and Ethiopian forces began their attack on the town of Aksum with indiscriminate
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shelling, according to Rights Group Amnesty International. According to dozens of testimonies, Amnesty says Eritrean troops came into the town and
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executed hundreds of civilian men and teenage boys. Over 60,000 refugees have crossed over into neighboring Sudan
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Millions are internally displaced, and out of the population of 7 million, 4.5 million people are in need of immediate life-saving aid due to the war
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Recently, various videos have been circulating online that show execution of civilians that were filmed by the military themselves
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Number two, the use of rape as a weapon on the women and girls of Tigray
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Reports of rape by Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers in Tigray have been circulating for a couple months now and these have been verified not only by international media but by the Ethiopian government also
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who finally reluctantly admitted that mass rape has taken place in Tigray without a doubt
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We have heard stories like that of Mona Lisa Braha, an 18-year-old who lost her arm defending herself from a rapist soldier
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She was shot in the arm and it had to be amputated. Some women have been held captive for days and raped by multiple soldiers
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One woman told AFP that once a day, Ethiopian soldiers would line up outside of her cell in a military camp
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sometimes as money as 10 men waiting their turn to rape her. Another report came out that families in Tigray were shaving their daughter's heads
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and dressing them like boys to keep them safe from rape and sexual assault
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Number three, destruction of historical places. Tigray is a very historical place
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It's home to the Axum Empire. It ruled over what's modern-day northern Ethiopia, Eritia, and also parts of Sudan and Yemen
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So Tigra is home to various historical places, like a UNESCO heritage site, the first mosque ever in Africa, hundreds of ancient churches, and much more
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It's also here in the town of Adwa that Ethiopia defeated Italian invaders in the late 1800s to maintain independence
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The Battle of Adwa is a source of. pride not only for Tigray, but all Ethiopians and Africans in general
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Some of these historical places have been damaged or destroyed during this war
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These places should be protected not only for the sake of the people of Tagari, but for
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being important places for all of Africa and humanity. Number four, further instability that can fuel mass migration
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Anytime there conflict there displacement Ethiopia is home to over 100 million people and the war in Tigray is bound to spill over to other regions We already seen Sudan moving to reclaim land that they claim is theirs along the border with Ethiopia after the war started with Tigray
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And it's without a doubt that the Ethiopian economy is already hurting and will continue to hurt if this conflict is not resolved soon
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That means we will likely see mass migration from this region. The European Union has already stated their concern about this conflict's future
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fueling migration to Europe, just like other conflicts in countries like Libya, Yemen, and Syria
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And through mass migration, people lose their lives, families are separated, other countries are burdened with taking care of new arrivals, and much, much more
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And number five, lastly, let's talk about Ethiopia's importance in the Horn of Africa
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Historically, Ethiopia has been an anchor state in East Africa, as the most populous country in East Africa and the second most populous country in Africa in general
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Ethiopia has played a vital role in the security of the region
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The country has had great alliances with all world powers like the U.S. and China
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and contribute greatly in peacekeeping force in other African countries. East Africa being so close to Europe, the Middle East and Asia
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it's a vital location for international security and trade. So Ethiopia falling into a long, drawn-out civil war will threaten the security of the whole region
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which will inevitably spill over to other parts of the world. world. So those are just five reasons why you should care about the war in the Tigray region
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of Ethiopia. I encourage you to speak up about what's happening in Tigray by just simply
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posting about it on your social media and talking to your friends and family. That's it for
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this episode of the five. We'll be back next time with another episode on Black culture
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and society
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