Purging of academic institutions, public service offices, civic institutions, religious institutions, financial institutions and encouraging the public to inform on Tigreans and rounding them up in concentration camps is not only the hallmark of Fascism but what is even aghast and cruel is that the world at large looks away oblivious of the ugly fact that it is reminiscent of the dark era Europe went through circa eight decades ago.
Abiy Ahmed is given crate-blanche to execute at will, to drone-bomb civilians at will and to commit genocide round two at will. Question is, why is the international community lukewarm to act if not indecisive particularly the US when the current administration’s foreign policy is mainly based on human rights issue. My guess is as good as anybody else’s but we might need a historical context perhaps to shed some light on it.
Almost two hundred years ago, the sixth’s US president—John Quincy Adams defined America’s Isolationism when he said, “If America crosses the oceans in search of monsters to destroy, she will lose her own soul.” Over the years however, subsequent administrations reversed the mantra when for instance, George W. Bush “said”, “America needs to cross the oceans in search of monsters to destroy in a bid to regain her own soul.” With in the same vain, after four years of Trump’s Isolationist stint, President Joe Biden enthusiastically declared when he said, “America is back.” Certainly not to police the world but to stand up to gross human rights violations instead.
In all fairness, sanctions are imposed on the top brass around Abiy’s circles including when Ethiopia is kicked out of AGOA but again, the sanctions do not seem to make any dent on Abiy’s reckless behavior, instead he seems to be emboldened for he has realized that he is too indispensable to be punished severely. That is precisely the reason, US foreign policy seems to have lost its focus when it is calibrated solely in terms of geo-strategic interests instead of weighing in the human rights factor as well. The lost in focus became too evident when there is no condemnation what so ever when Abiy Ahmed drone-bombs civilians in Mekele where their crime is their Tigrean ethnicity. A hallmark of Fascism! One hopes, the US in particular sees Abiy Ahmed for what he is and call him out for what he is. A blood thirsty Fascist who should not have been brought to power in the first place!