For the past one month, the entire world has been justifiably horrified by the events in Ukraine. Ever since Russia started its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, thousands have died, and millions have become refugees leaving their homes. The Western world has acted as one and has imposed strict sanctions on Russia while providing Ukraine with Billions of dollars worth of aid and weapons. Meanwhile, there are other conflicts around the world, including in Ethiopia, Yemen and other places, with more civilian deaths and more refugees, which continue to get ignored by global media and powerful nations who suddenly seem very vocal about Ukraine.
The civil war in Ethiopia
The Tigray war in Ethiopia started in November 2020, leaving tens of thousands dead, millions as refugees, and hundreds of thousands in a famine-like situation. The civil war started when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to a military base in the northern region of Tigray, which borders Eritrea and Sudan. Abiy Ahmed accused Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF), the party ruling the region, of attacking the base and announced that the Ethiopian military had bombed the facility in retaliation.
Soon, militias from the neighbouring Amhara region of Ethiopia, and forces from adjoining country Eritrea joined Ahmed’s troops starting this long-lasting conflict in Tigray. Surrounded from all sides, TPLF continues to fight and resist Ahmed’s forces, but the war has had a devastating effect on the local population.
Roots of the problem
Since 1994, Ethiopia has had a federal system in which different ethnic groups control the affairs of the 10 regions in the country. The TPLF was the leader of a four-party coalition that governed Ethiopia from 1991 and was the most influential party in the region. However, discontent among the coalition led to a reshuffle in 2018, resulting in Abiy Ahmed being appointed the Prime Minister.
Ahmed set up a new Prosperity Party and removed key Tigrayan government leaders accusing them of corruption and repression. Tigray’s leaders accused Abiy Ahmed of trying to centralize power and destroy Ethiopia’s federal system.
The tensions between the two escalated in September 2020 when Ahmed postponed elections in the country citing Coronavirus as the reason. Meanwhile, TPLF held elections in Tigray, which were deemed illegal by Ahmed’s government, and the war broke out a few weeks later.
Current situation
As per reports, the situation is really dire in Tigray right now. Even by conservative estimates, around 50,000 have died in the war due to violence, starvation, and diseases. Over 2.5 million have been displaced as refugees, and live in the neighbouring regions in abject poverty. Over 4 million desperately need food assistance to survive as famine has gripped the region. However, unfortunately, the world’s heart doesn’t bleed for them the way it does for European refugees.
The millions of refugees, along with dealing with food shortage, also have to deal with communicable diseases such as malaria, cholera, as well as reduced access to treatment for non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health services.
Yemen civil war
The civil war in Yemen began in September 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi insurgents seized the capital Sana’a and took control of the government. By March 2015, they had taken control of most of the country leading President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi to flee the country and go to Saudi Arabia.
In response to Iran-backed Houthis seizing control of Yemen, Saudi Arabia announced a military intervention in Yemen against the Houthis. A 9 country coalition of countries from the Middle East and North Africa led by Saudi Arabia started a bombing campaign against the Houthis in 2015.
The bombing campaign later expanded to include a naval blockade, and then ground forces of the coalition in Yemen. The United States provided intelligence and logistical support to the coalition and accelerated the sale of weapons to the coalition states.
The war has been absolutely devastating for the civilian population of Yemen. As per UN estimates, 377,000 people have died due to the war since 2015. Diseases and starvation have wreaked havoc on the locals, with the majority of the casualties being children. Thousands of children have died due to a Cholera outbreak that infected a million people. Poor sanitation and no access to clean drinking water have led to various water-borne diseases among the population.
Over 4 Million people have been displaced since the start of the conflict, and now nearly half the country’s population lacks enough food in the country of 30 million people, as per the world food program.
As the civilian population in these regions continue to starve and fall to diseases, the world refuses to move beyond token gestures to help them. United Nations recognizes that these are the two biggest humanitarian disasters staring the world today, but even then the efforts to end the conflicts are nowhere in sight.
There are no sanctions placed on Ethiopia and Abiy Ahmed (a Nobel Peace Prize winner) to pressurize them to stop the violence in Tigray. There are no talks to stop buying oil from Saudi Arabia till they stop bombing Yemen, in fact, the USA wants to replace the Russian oil supply with oil from Saudi Arabia.
The forgotten civilians of these countries may rightly think that they are the children of a lesser God, or maybe God just cares for the blonde, blue-eyed refugees.
