Ethiopia: hate speech in Ethiopia – Abiy Ahmed resurrects old demons

In Ethiopia, a wave of resentment against Tigray is unleashing on social media, likely fueled by the government’s anti-TPLF rhetoric. Did Prime Minister Abiy go overboard?

About a month after the conflict began in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, the propaganda machine is in full swing on both sides.

Daily reports of fighting between the Ethiopian Army and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) fighters continue to leak, despite Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announcing several days ago that the fighting had ended after government troops They will march towards the capital of the region, Mekele.

Meanwhile, TPLF-linked media are reporting on their own military successes, for example in the historic town of Axsum in central Tigray.

Tigray’s verified information is scant due to ongoing communications outages. This only makes the battle for interpretation sovereignty outside the region even stronger.

The general tone is becoming harsher as well: Abiy recently described the renegade TPLF leadership as “criminals” and “hyenas,” terms that are now being repeated and spread across social media.

On the Facebook page of DW’s Amharic language service, a barrage of disparaging comments has been popping up in the direction of Tigray for weeks. DW Amharic Editorial Director Ludger Schadomsky reports a significant increase in problematic and incendiary posts.

Even if most of the comments are directed against the “TPLF junta” or the “TPLF mafia”, the Tigrayans have also been denigrated as “sons of the military junta”, for example, or a people that must be “destroyed. and removed “. One publication mentions the hatred of the “100 million Ethiopians” for “five million Tigrayans.”

Observers say similar comments are pouring in on Ethiopian media social media accounts.

Piled up anger against the TPLF elites?

So is this an expression of resentment towards Tigray’s TPLF elites, who held the top political, economic and military positions between 1991 and 2018 when Abiy took office?

“It is clear that there is a pent-up anger against the Tigrayans by their rule every year,” writer and Ethiopia expert Martin Plaut told DW.

Only 6% of Ethiopia’s total population lives in Tigray. Much of today’s anger remains deeply rooted in the fact that for decades Ethiopia’s northern minority claimed a large chunk of the country’s resources for themselves.

“Many feel that the TPLF elites are now finally getting paid for their actions,” says Plaut.

Furthermore, the prime minister’s office, with its use of harsh language in recent days, has contributed to these feelings of frustration and resentment to surface, says Annette Weber of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP).

However, Weber cautions against interpreting hateful comments on social media as general hostility towards Tigray.

“It is not so much animosity towards Tigray, but rather against the TPLF,” he told DW. “And this is already anchored in the last 30 years of the TPLF government.”

Even the anthropologist and historian Jan Abbink of the University of Leiden does not see widespread ethnic hostility towards Tigray and its citizens. It is unfortunate that people with radical views, some of them within the diaspora, want to influence the mood of the country. But, Abbink emphasizes, the government still makes sure to make a clear distinction between the TPLF and the civilian population.

“The government and state institutions in Ethiopia, but also parties in parliament and activists, are trying, with few exceptions, to differentiate and defuse such tendencies,” Abbink told DW.

How big is the TPLF support base?

However, Plaut considers Aby’s anti-TPLF rhetoric dangerous.

“I don’t think you can distinguish so clearly between TPLF and Tigrayans,” he says. “It just doesn’t work.”

The TPLF only won 90% of the vote in the September regional elections, but that vote is still considered controversial.

“Even if these elections were certainly not the most free and fair, independent observers on the ground at the time claimed that the result more or less reflected the mood in Tigray,” says Plaut.

Politically, however, Abiy’s communication strategy appears to have worked well so far. The prime minister and his fellow campaigners frequently point out that the TPLF has rejected offers for talks in the past two and a half years, questioned the legitimacy of the government, and undermined national security by supporting rebel movements in Ethiopia.

This approach has paid off for the government: at least for the moment, much of the country seems to agree on a common enemy, the TPLF, and is less inclined to argue ethnic and political differences.

“I was surprised myself that Abiy suddenly acquired so many new supporters,” says anthropologist-historian Abbink. However, he also warns that this wave of support could be short-lived without further reforms.

“Conflicts in other parts of the country, for example on the border between Oromia and the Somali region or between smaller groups in western Oromia, will not simply disappear,” he explains. “They must be resolved.”

National dialogue on the cards

Weber believes that other long-standing tensions within Ethiopia will continue to simmer beneath the surface, even as the Tigray crisis drags on.

“This conflict in Tigray has now covered up many other things, but these internal disputes are far from resolved,” he says. “And I think without a dialogue that draws a large number of people to the table, including young people, that they develop a common idea of ​​’what kind of state do we really want to live in?’ … Without something like that, it will be difficult to recover. “

A first step towards reconciliation, also with Tigray, could be the elections, which were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are now scheduled for May or June. But even if the guerrilla war in Tigray feared by some experts does not materialize, can the wounds of the current conflict heal in just a few months?

“I think the government now has to make big deals, not necessarily to the TPLF, but to the population,” Weber says. “Offers that show they are serious about your interest in elections and participation.”

“Tigray is an essential part of Ethiopia, historically, religiously and culturally,” says Jan Abbink.

In any case, it is important now that new leadership is established in the region. Despite all the hostilities, there is a deep desire on the part of the central government – and the people of Tigray – for democratic, transparent and productive relations.

This article was adapted from the German by Benita van Eyssen.