Ethnic Conflicts

In an article published in January 13^th this year, Simon Marks and Declan Walsh report an incident where close to 200 Ethiopians lost their lives as a result of an ethnic conflict between majority and minority tribes. The incident took place amid efforts and promises by the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, to restore unity and peace in the country. As part of his efforts to achieve the above goal, Prime Minister Ahmed is reported to have launched a serious military operation in November last year, aiming to capture local leaders who were defiant. This, according to Marks and Walsh (2021), is part of the reason why the recent skirmishes took place: the diversion of soldiers to regions where conflict is rampant has hampered ability of the government to respond to clashes in a timely manner. In fact, the Prime Minister’s efforts seem counterproductive especially going by the report that ethnic clashes have only worsened in recent months (Marks & Walsh, 2021).

Describing the latest conflict, Marks and Walsh (2021) say that the attackers targeted minority residents, asking them to vacate the land which they (the attackers) claimed to be theirs. More worrying is the report that although Prime Minister Ahmed visited the area and calmed the tensions, another attack was executed the following day, killing approximately 100 people (Marks & Walsh, 2021). In reference to what may be considered failure or inability by the government to address the ethnic conflicts, calls have been made for the Ethiopian government to deploy more security forces.

The article by Marks and Walsh (2021) is important to the global community for several reasons. Firstly, it touches on a human rights issue. Disgruntled majority tribes opposed to the idea of minority tribes living among them are perpetrators of the deadly clashes described in the article. In an era where it is held that every person, regardless of his/her ethnicity, is entitled to certain basic rights, the brutal killing of innocent people as documented in the article definitely grabs the attention of the global community, particularly humanitarian groups. Secondly, the article is significant to the global community because it creates the impression that Ethiopia needs reinforcement from the international community to be able to contain ethnic skirmishes in the country. This conclusion is drawn from the report that ethnic clashes have only worsened despite government’s efforts to contain them.

The conclusion that the recent ethnic clashes in Ethiopia are significant to the global community shows that external influences play a role in resolving ethnic conflicts. As Najafov (2017, p.1) states, “ethnic conflicts do not only produce domestic results, but also affect international relations and foreign policy”. This explains why it is common for states to intervene when other states are facing ethnic conflicts, even if for the mediator’s own interests. Other than states, there are international organizations whose primary mission is to safeguard peace across the world. For example, organizations such as the United Nations and the African Union may intervene and call the warring parties to put an end to the conflicts. Additionally, religious organizations and non-governmental groups may also be engaged to resolve the issue by mediating between the conflicting groups.

Claims of bias are not uncommon where media news is concerned. Readers or viewers, even though they are given the same piece of news, tend to react differently to the news depending on how they see or receive the news (Stray, 2012). The article by Marks and Walsh (2021) is not insulated against this effect. Looking at the title, one cannot detect any element of bias as the authors provide statistical evidence illustrating that Ethiopia is indeed troubled. Marks and Walsh (2021) provide examples of ethnic clashes that have been witnessed in the country recently, and which indicate that there is indeed a problem in Ethiopia that warrants intervention from outside.

Nonetheless, the article seems biased against Ethiopian Prime Minister, especially in regard to what he is doing to restore calm. Marks and Walsh (2021, para.2) allege that the Prime Minister “came to power in 2018 promising to unite Ethiopia but has struggled to contain a growing wave of ethnic violence”. To some readers, this statement creates the picture that the Prime Minister is a failure in that he cannot devise strategies of resolving the ethnic violence issue. In short, the words and tone used in the article have the effect of making it sound not neutral. For instance, Marks and Walsh (2021) write that the Prime Minister has diverted soldiers to one region, overlooking other areas that require the same service from the military. Such a report could imply to some readers that Ethiopia’s prime minister is not effective in terms of governance.

A second element of bias in the article is arguably the concept of majority tribes being the perpetrators of violence. Much as it is true that minority groups are often victims of harassment, Marks and Walsh (2021) seem to exaggerate the cruelty of majority groups in the way they describe how they killings occurred. The authors claim that attackers fired guns and slashed everyone they came into contact with. Torching houses and beheading helpless victims is not an uncommon thing, but one would be led to wonder whether the victims had not done anything to aggravate the fury of the attackers. Apart from this, the report that at least 100 individuals were killed just a day after the Prime Minister had visited the area begs the question: weren’t there any police officers deployed to keep vigil at least for a few days following the first attack? One would conclude that there is either a misrepresentation of facts or some exaggeration with the motive of depicting Ethiopia’s Prime Minister as having failed in his leadership. This latter statement seems credible going by the remark that humanitarian organizations have, on countless occasions, called upon the government to beef up security but to no avail (Marks & Walsh, 2021).

References

Marks, S. & Walsh, D. (2021, Jan 13). Dozens die in ethnic massacre in troubled Ethiopian region. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/world/africa/ethiopia-ethnic-killings.html

Najafov, Z. (2017). Internationalization of Ethnic Conflicts and Impact on Regional and International Security. Journal of Political Sciences & Public Affairs, 5(4).

Stray, J. (2012). How do you tell when the news is biased? It depends on how you see yourself. www.niemanlab.org/2012/06/how-do-you-tell-when-the-news-is-biased/