Ethiopian government has encouraged ethnic nationalism to eradicate Tigrayans, says historian Charlotte Touatti

Lousanne University specialist in Horn of Africa explains that the Ethiopian prime-minister has established an alliance with the Ahmaha ultranationalist  to take control of the historical northern region of Tigray through ethnic cleansing

Adriel Gadelha, Katharina Brito e Milena Ogeia

The Ethiopian civil war that began in November 2020 in the Tigray region has killed more than 500 thousand people. According to some specialist’s the death toll can be as high as 800 thousand. A peace agreement has been negotiated by the government and the Tigray Peoples´s Liberation Front in November 2022, but the hostilities have not ceased.  Charlotte Touati, a historian from the Lausanne University (Switzerland) and specialist in Horn of Africa and Middle East says that Amhara’s nationalism insufflated by the prime minister Abiy Ahmed – 2019 Nobel Peace Prize – has led to the genocide of the Tigray’s population with the help of the neighboring country Eritrea. In this interview to Olhares do Mundo (World View) Charlote explains the ethnic conflict in Ethiopia. Charlotte is also the founder of the Cawl Girls, an association that gives support to the victims of sexual violence in the Tigray War. According to her, 120 thousand women were raped in the conflict to signal to the  Tigray women – some of them fighting alongside men for regional control – that they “should not become too emancipated”.

We see that Ethiopia is a country with a past of great achievements. What factors led to war and misery?

Ethiopia has a special place in world history. In the King James translation of the Bible, Aethiopia symbolizes Africa in a generic way. As early as the 18th century, it was the land of return, of freedom for slaves behind a black king. And in 1896, the troops of Emperor Menelik defeated the Italian colonial army. This was a momentous event, the first time that ‘natives’ had defeated a modern European army. The legend of Aethiopia was coming true!  Throughout the 20th century, Emperor Haile Selassie embodied Pan-Africanism and the non-aligned struggle. But this image is far from ideal inside the country. Indeed, although Ethiopia is the only country that has not been colonized, it is in itself an empire. The Amharas, the ethnic group from which the emperors came, subjugated by force the other peoples that form today’s Ethiopia. The Amharas base their legitimacy on the legend of the Queen of Sheba, on the heritage of the kingdom of Aksum and on the fact that they are the protectors of the Ark of the Covenant which //is supposed to rest in Aksum. But Aksum is in Tigray, so the Tigrayans, who are the real Aksumites, have always posed a threat to Amhara rule. The Tigray war is a direct result of this identity crisis.

Can we say that the Amhara nationalism is in the root of the Tigray conflict?

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed [in power since 2018] wanted to reactivate the imperial myth, so he turned to the Amhara ultra-nationalists who demanded the eradication of the Tigrayans. As a historian I can say that this was genocide in the sense that they wanted to eliminate an entire population for ethnic reasons. The demands of the Amharas have joined those of Isayas Afeworqi, the Eritrean president [in power since the Eritrean independence in 1991], who also wants to destroy the Tigrayans. Indeed, he fought alongside them when their country was still part of Ethiopia. Together they put an end to the Derg regime [socialist military junta that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991] and ousted [its leader] Mengistu in 1991. The Tigrayans took power in Ethiopia and Eritrea became independent. Only the borders were never defined, which led to the 1998-2000 war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Isayas Afeworqi maintained a state of emergency in his country by portraying the Tigrayans as an existential threat in order to stay in power for thirty years. This is the background. So in 2018, what was sold as a peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and which earned Abiy Ahmed the Nobel Peace Prize, is in fact a war pact between the Isayas, Abiy Ahmed and the Amhara nationalists with the removal of Tigray at stake.

The Tigrayans ware part of the federalist political multiethnic coalition that ruled Ethiopia from 1991 to 2019. Its leader was from the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front. How did the TPLF deal with the ethnic tensions?

The Ethiopian peoples are logistically, religiously and culturally diverse. What united them for centuries was the yoke of the ultra-centralizing Amhara emperors. For a long time, Ethiopian culture was identified with the Amhara culture. This state of affairs continued under the red terror of the Derg [violent political repression and murder campaign by the Derg government against opposition], but when the Tigrayans ousted Mengistu, they established a federal, decentralized system under the 1994 constitution. Each nation (essentially defined by its language) being autonomous in its territory. It is true that this opened the Pandora’s box, each nation that was once repressed was finally able to express its particularism and this also involves nationalism. These are the hazards of young democracies. It should also be added that some Amharas have still not accepted to become “just” one nation among the others.

Has the peace agreement been able to restrain violence?

The Cessation of Hostility Agreement is not secure as there is nothing concrete. The Ethiopian government has succeeded in imposing blackmail on humanitarian aid. The siege imposed on Tigray is unprecedented in modern history and access to basic services which are fundamental rights have been used as bargaining chips, including politicized, when they are unconditional. The CoHA includes the disarmament of the Tigrayan forces, and that the population goes under the protection of the Federal Army (ENDF). Rape has been used as a weapon of war. It is estimated that 120,000 women have been raped, including by ENDF soldiers. This is a catastrophe for the victims, some of whom can no longer see a uniform without being terrorized.  In terms of accountability, we have little hope. The Ethiopian government wants to propose a domestic transitional justice process. There is every indication that the process will not be independent.

Female violence has been used historically as a war weapon. What explains this attack on Tigray´s women?

As I have already mentioned, the founding myth is that of the Queen of Sheba, but in the Kebra Nagast, which was written in the 13th century and contains her story, many very learned developments were added over the centuries to justify that women could not ascend the throne. There is also the figure of Queen Gudit (Judith) who is said to have ruled in the 10th century, but Ethiopian societies remain very traditional and patriarchal. The Tigray led the way. Many women joined the resistance in the 1970s to join the TPLF [Tigray Peoples Liberation Front] from a Marxist-Leninist perspective, but also to fight against patriarchy. When the TPLF entered Addis Ababa in 1991, women were said to make up 30% of the Tigrayan workforce. Even today, many of them are still fighting. A few years before the war, and with an acceleration in 2019, the relationship between men and women has changed a lot in Tigray under the impulse of feminist groups. Speech was liberated in the wake of the #MeToo movement much faster than in other parts of Ethiopia and this is also why rape was used as a weapon of war, to signal to Tigrayan women that they should not become too emancipated.

How can Ethiopia rebuild itself after this civil war?

For young people, the absence of justice risks feeding resentment and indeed leading to violence in several years. Justice for the victims and even words for the trauma are needed. I don’t see how Ethiopia can rebuild itself without a reconciliation process, which requires a frank debate. At the moment, we are seeing a return to business as usual, also on the part of international stakeholders. How do you expect Tigrayans to forget 800,000 dead, 120,000 women raped, the destruction of an economic, medical and university system that is exemplary for the continent etc.?

FOTO: Acervo Pessoal