03 – 02 -2022
Paulos Irgau
One may argue that it is geography. I disagree. It is moral clarity misplaced within the collective subconscious instead. Debretsion may not be a comedian turned a President or Tigray may not be a nation well connected with the power be but a small region that has brought to life the legends of David vs. Goliath in real time and place when Ethiopia was made to lick its wounds when Tigray swirled its deadly slings. As much as the world showered Zelenskyy with a well deserved accolade for his resolve and courage, Debretsion deserved equally if not more but the world opted for a split screened image instead.
Again, Ethiopia may not be Russia and Tigray may not be Ukraine but the difference doesn’t end there when Tigray made the unthinkable possible with no external succor whatsoever including collective diplomatic support when Ethiopia was thrusted with it instead.
What’s more, in protest to the Russian invasion, diplomats walked out of the UN hall when the Russian Foreign Minister appeared on the zoom screen to make a speech but the same diplomats sat in the entire speech when the Ethiopian diplomat at the UN delivered heap of lies when Ethiopia and Eritrea invaded Tigray.
In the meantime, in the same hall, Tigray couldn’t defend herself not even by a proxy when the world opted to remain indifferent. The venal and useless AU as well turned its back on Tigray when it gave a diplomatic support to Abiy Ahmed the aggressor when the former knew well that the “Law and Order Operation” was a naked ruse.
Tigray refused to be broken and relegated to the footnotes of history, nonetheless. Instead, her Generals, in an extraordinary courage stood right back up after as they put it, licked the dirt on the precarious ground.
The Tigrean Generals depended on the just cause and on the people of Tigray including on the receptive and strategic mountains of Tigray when the aggressor and invader rolled his tanks, bomber jets in tandem with the huge savage Eritrean army, Somali mercenaries and Amhara special forces as well and Tigray, the giant in spirit—armed with an extraordinary valor and courage destroyed them all. The world refused to notice much less inspired.
The blockade went on, the blackout went on, food aid including essential medicines were made out of reach in a bid to starve Tigray to death and the world refused to notice, instead, the international community remained concerned lest Abiy Ahmed’s Ethiopia breaks apart and moral standing was replaced with political expediency. The travesty of justice lasted for almost sixteen months and counting when the world chose to be inspired with selected sense of judgment instead.
The first chapters of history begin with the narratives of the powerful, they say, but the last chapters are always written by those who are armed with a just cause and steeled determination to defend what is close to their courageous and brave heart. That is the story of our own private Tigray. The world refuses to notice and gets inspired. Tigray certainly doesn’t crave for recognition for her time will come for time as they say is the hidden factor.