“I’m scared for my dad and my little brother and my little sisters.”
Anxiety has become a recurring feeling for many Ethiopians today who are living abroad and constantly losing contact with their families back home. The problem was evident earlier this year when the government ordered a two-week internet blackout across the country, aiming to stop communication between opposing groups as violent riots erupted in the Oromia region.
“As long as it is deemed necessary to save lives and prevent property damages, the internet would be shut down permanently, let alone for a short-term,” prime minister Abiy Ahmed said during a press conference in August.
A similar situation is happening again in November as political tension escalates in the Tigray region, northern Ethiopia. With the federal government engaged in a combat with an opposing political party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, communication has been blocked off in the region. The road to Tigray is also blocked, making it difficult for journalists to enter the area and preventing access to humanitarian aid.
Ethiopians around the world now worry about the conditions of their family in Tigray, becoming increasingly frustrated by the day as they are unable to call or use the internet to reach relatives.
One Ethiopian woman shared her sorrow in an Instagram video.
“I’m scared for my dad and my little brother and my little sisters,” she said with tears coming down her face. “This is madness. What kind of world have we created? Why did we learn how to hate each other?”
Despite the pain, the heartbroken woman vowed to lead with love.
“I’m not gonna let the world turn me into another hateful person,” she said. “My dad, my mom, they didn’t raise me to be that person. They didn’t raise me to hate people. They didn’t raise me to look down on people who can’t defend themselves.”
Dozens more Ethiopians are still growing anxious about their family in Tigray.
“Indeed, we don’t know what is going on the ground of Tigray region as the main communication channels shutdown including electricity. I can’t [know] how my family members are doing. All I hear is airstrike, and military attack by our government,” one concerned social media user wrote.
“I can’t call my family and check if they’re okay or what is happening,” another person said. “There is no way of knowing what is happening in Tigray!”
While there is a lot of finger-pointing going on during the conflict, many Ethiopians simply want peace for their families.
“My allegiances are with civilians—#Tigray #Ethiopia #HumanityFirst—including foreign nationals like my mom trapped in Abiy Ahmed’s telecommunications blackout. To hell with PP, TPLF, and all these other acronyms. None are the solution. They represent the past. War is for demons,” Massachusetts resident Samuel M. Gebru said.
Human rights organizations and leaders from around the world have condemned Ethiopia’s communication shutdown.
“The Ethiopian government’s blanket shutdown of communications in Oromia is taking a disproportionate toll on the population and should be lifted immediately,” Laetitia Bader, Human Rights Watch director, said earlier this year. “The restrictions affect essential services, reporting on critical events, and human rights investigations, and could risk making an already bad humanitarian situation even worse.”
But Abiy has continued to defend the decision to block communication during times of conflict, saying it’s for security reasons.
Many more people around the world are familiar with the feeling of worrying about loved ones in conflict regions. That was the case for an American resident named Ali, who worried about his family in Iraq.
“The situation in Iraq is very bad. My cousin was killed in Tikrit by the insurgents. I’ve been trying for some time to get my mother and father out, but now with the embassy starting to close, that’s not looking likely at this point,” Ali told immigration attorneys during the time of the conflict.
When war strikes, Americans become anxious about relatives in the affected region. It’s horrendous. You want to hear your relatives survived this attack or that battle. You never want to hear that Uncle Hakim was killed, or even worse, not hear anything at all because your relatives are totally cut off by war from the outside world.
Margaret W. Wong & Associates, LLC
In the early 2000s, Samuel Mansaray obtained a green card and came to the U.S., escaping conflict in Sierra Leone. But he had to wait four years before hearing about his wife and daughters back home.
“When they found my family, I just had to put down the phone,” Mansaray said. “I was so excited, I was so upset. It took me some time to get my composure back.”
The International Rescue Committee has called for all parties involved in the Ethiopian conflict to deescalate tensions.
“An escalation of violence in the Tigray region could have a devastating impact on the people we serve,” George Readings, IRC Lead Global Crisis Analyst, said. “We are currently supporting 90,000 refugees in four camps in Tigray and are concerned about disruptions to essential water, sanitation and hygiene services and the potential need for life saving emergency assistance if violence escalates.”
The U.S. Department of State is mainly focused on helping American citizens who are trapped in conflict regions.
“Our focus must be on helping U.S. citizens,” the department stated. “The embassy or consulate of your friend or family member’s nationality is responsible for helping their citizens. In general, we do not provide evacuation assistance to non-U.S. citizens. Exceptions may be made to accommodate special family circumstances, such as when a spouse or other relative of a U.S. citizen is traveling with the U.S. citizen family member.”
KassDigitalMedia
Cover Photo: John Jennings
Recent Comments