History of Ethiopia (post-WWII)

While you will likely seldom hear about Ethiopia or Eritrea in the media, both countries have a rich yet tragic history. Both countries have been ravaged by war, but those are not talked about in the media. As we've seen, the media has an agenda. It is not independent; it serves various powerful interests. This is why some events are talked about more than others. It's not about which events are more important but rather, which events can be twisted in ways that benefit the powerful interests our media is beholden to. Since 2018, Ethiopia has been experiencing its latest iteration of civil conflict, which is ongoing. The deadliest period during the ongoing Ethiopian civil conflict was the Tigray War, which lasted exactly two years (to the day) from November 3rd, 2020 to November 3rd, 2022.

Between 162,000 and 378,000 Tigrayan civilians were killed, according to a consensus at Ghent University, by the Ethiopian and Eritrean armies. Some put the estimate as high as between 385,000 and 600,000. At least 120,000 Tigrayan women and girls were raped. Over 2.2 million Tigrayans were internally displaced. The two armies worked together to carry out a genocide in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The entire Tigray region, totally over 5.9 million people, was placed under siege for the duration of the war, leading to a crisis of food and healthcare. Transportation in and out of Tigray, along with entry of humanitarian aid, were blocked by the armies of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Communication services, such as telecoms and Internet, were shut down, placing Tigray into an information blackout. Fuel, medicine, and medical supplies were also obstructed from entering Tigray. Tigray is dependent on Ethiopia's national power grid for electricity. During the genocide, the Ethiopian government cut off that access to electricity, forcing Tigrayans to rely on wood for cooking, shelter, and warmth, which in turn has led to rapid deforestation in Tigray. Hospitals across Tigray were forced to shut down due to lack of food, medical supplies, and electricity. 

The Tigray genocide was a silent genocide. Silent in the sense that the much of the world has no idea it happened because media outlets around the world remained silent. Even today, the crisis in Tigray is ongoing with approximately 2.4 million facing starvation and 878,000 internally displaced in refugee camps. It is not just the numbers but the sheer brutality committed during the Tigray genocide. Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers tortured Tigrayan women by forcing nails, glass, and metal rods up their genitalia and into their wombs. Of the 120,000+ cases of rape, an estimated 73% of those cases were aimed at forcibly sterilizing women with the ultimate goal of preventing Tigrayans from reproducing. The Tigray genocide was caused by a series of factors going back decades. Ethiopia is a country (one of many) that's tragically all too familiar with internal war and conflict. Ethiopia and Eritrea were both ravaged by 30 years of constant war, both with each other and internally, between 1961 and 1991. 

The Eritrean War of Independence, fought for the entirety of those 30 years, resulted in the death of 265,000 soldiers as well as between 150,000 and 280,000 civilians on both sides. During WWII, both Ethiopia and Eritrea became British protectorates. In 1952, the United Nations established the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea, turning the two countries into one federation and relieving it from its protectorate status. However, while Ethiopia and Eritrea stopped officially being a British protectorate, Ethiopia would continue to serve western imperial interests. Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, would deviate much of his predecessor, Empress Zewditu, in his vision for Ethiopia. While Zewditu was more of a traditionalist who wanted to maintain Ethiopia's traditional Orthodox Christian culture, Selassie wanted to take Ethiopia in a different direction. Selassie embraced modernization and wanted to have closer relations with the Anglo-American West and the newly formed United Nations, as he was also an internationalist. Selassie wasn't evil, more so misguided, and as such, he was used as a pawn by more sinister elements. In 1953, Selassie signed a mutual defence treaty with the United States. Then, in 1962, Selassie illegally annexed Eritrea in an attempt to turn it into another Ethiopian province. Eritreans resisted and fought back. A couple years before the war, in 1958, a famine struck the Tigray Province, killing approximately 100,000 Tigrayans. Selassie's response was negligent; it was characterized by inaction to alleviate the famine alongside efforts to cover it up. 

Richard Nixon, back in 1957, said that Ethiopia is "one of the United States' most stalwart and consistent allies." Of course, as soon as the Eritrean War of Independence started, the United States was providing Ethiopia with military aid to carry out their illegally occupation and annexation of Eritrea. Between 1953 and 1977, the U.S. provided Ethiopia with over $280 million of military aid (not adjusting for inflation). What's not so well known is that the Eritrean War of Independence quickly became a proxy war between Israel and the Arab socialist states. The Ethiopian government quickly became close allies with Israel. Israel supported Ethiopia's annexation of Eritrea because it wanted to have access to the Red Sea. As such, it provided Selassie with military assistance against Eritrean rebels. Israel made itself be one of Ethiopia's most reliable suppliers of military assistance to ensure the Ethiopian government's allegiance to them, and then continued to provide them military assistance in an attempt to seize control of the Red Sea. This would ensure that Ethiopia's control of the Red Sea translates to Israel's control of the Red Sea. On the other side, countries like Ba'athist Iraq and Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Gaddafi's Libya, Communist China and Cuba, and even some of the Gulf States gave support to Eritrean rebels. Some for geopolitical reasons, such as the case for the Ba'athists and communists and Gulf States, and others out of solidarity with Eritrea, such as the case for Sudan and Libya. 

Things would take a drastic turn in 1972. That year, a famine began in the Wollo province of Ethiopia. Within two years, between 40,000 and 200,000 had perished in the Wollo famine. Famine combined with war resulted in mass discontent. Peasants revolted as even in the midst of famine, landowners continue to collect exorbitant rent from tenants. Ethiopia imploded. In the chaos, Ethiopia's own Bolshevists seized power in a coup d'état in 1974. This group was known as the Derg and just like the Bolsheviks in Russia did in 1917, the Derg immediately began their reign of terror and plunged Ethiopia into a civil war. The Ethiopian Civil War, fought from 1974 to 1991, resulted in the death of between 304,000 and 993,000 Ethiopians according to the World Health Survey. A campaign of Red Terror was unleashed across Ethiopia from 1976 to 1978, in which at minimum 10,000 were killed. Realistically though, the real number was likely way way higher. Amnesty International estimates the death toll of the Ethiopian Red Terror to be as high as 500,000. Some even say it could be as high as 980,000. Given the communists' bloody history, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. The Derg set up a forced collectivization system similar to that of Stalinist Russia and executed anyone who opposed them. 

The already oppressive Selassie was now replaced with an even more tyrannical and bloodthirsty Derg. In 1977, the United States would withdraw support from Ethiopia due to the latter's alignment with the Eastern Bloc. That same year, the Soviet Union began giving their support to the Bolshevized Ethiopian state. Between 1977 and 1991, the Soviet Union provided over $11 billion (in 1990s money) of military aid to the Derg and later the People's Democratic Republic (PDR) of Ethiopia. Cuba switched sides from supporting Eritrea to supporting the Derg in Ethiopia. Israel, however, continued to supply military assistance to the Ethiopian state, especially in its war against Eritrea. It was during the Ethiopian Civil War that the predecessors to a 'faction' called the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) emerged. The EPRDF is more of a coalition than a faction, as it is made up of four separate political groups. Tigray was first to form its resistance to the Derg called the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in 1975. Amhara and Oromo would form their resistance groups in 1982 called the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), then known as the Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (EPDM), and Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), then known as the Oromo People's Democratic Party (OPDP). 

In 1983, a widespread famine struck Ethiopia and Eritrea. In Ethiopia, Wollo and Tigray were the most severely impacted. An estimated 7.75 million people were affected by the famine. Between 1983 and 1985, the famine killed between 300,000 and 1.2 million people. Nearly 200,000 children were left orphaned by the famine, approximately 2.5 million were internally displaced and another 400,000 fled Ethiopia as refugees. This famine was undoubtedly war-related and given the regions affected, it is also hard to doubt that it was deliberately caused, or at least worsened, by state policy. The Derg slaughtered hundreds of thousands in the Ethiopian Red Terror, so it is certainly not beyond them to have used man-made famines as part of their counter-insurgency strategies. It is, after all, something that communists have done over and over again. In total, between 614,000 and 3.2 million may have been killed in Ethiopia by the actions of the Derg. The Derg regime would collapse in 1987 and gave way to the PDR of Ethiopia, a short lived communist state that would collapse in 1991, the same year the Soviet Union fell. 

The EPRDF would take power following the collapse of the PDR in Ethiopia. Unfortunately, many of the same problems plaguing previous governments in Ethiopia would also be present in the EPRDF. Despite claiming to be in favour of "revolutionary democracy," the EPRDF ruled as an authoritarian regime in practice. Whereas the Amharas were dominant in Ethiopia during the reigns of the Amhara monarches such as King Sahle Selassie, Emperor Menelik II, and Emperor Haile Selassie, under the rule of the EPRDF, the Tigrayans now had the dominant role. EPRDF rule was effectively TPLF rule. The Amhara and Oromo parties would push back over the years, but TPLF would remain dominant. Meanwhile, Eritrea won their independence in 1991. Ethiopia has been devastated by 17 years of civil war along with a great famine and brutal Derg repression. After 30 long fought years, Eritrea emerged as the victor in the Eritrean War of Independence. Unfortunately for Eritrea, this would not be the end of it. In 1998, a war broke out between Ethiopia and Eritrea that lasted two years. Between 70,000 and 300,000 were killed in this Eritrean-Ethiopian War. Other countries would see it as an opportunity. The United States, Israel, Romania, Georgia, and China would sell small amount of arms to both sides. Bulgaria would send around 100 tanks to Ethiopia. However, two countries that played a bigger role in this war were Russia and Ukraine, with Russia backing Ethiopia and Ukraine backing Eritrea. 

Ethiopia would become an important U.S. partner in its Global War on Terror. So much so that Ethiopia was regarded by the U.S. as an "anchor state" in the Horn of Africa to counterbalance Islamist groups in Somalia. The CIA has even allegedly used Ethiopia as a base for black sites, a euphemism for torture facilities used to torture suspected terrorists; the most infamous example of which being Guantanamo Bay. In 2006, the U.S. military, including CIA paramilitary forces and U.S. Special Forces, invaded Somalia alongside the Ethiopian army. The invasion lasted three years before Ethiopia withdrew. Over a million Somalians were displaced and over 20,000 killed. Keep in mind that Somalia has been in a state of civil war since 1991 to this day. Between 1996 to 2003, the Ethiopian army repeatedly sent detachment of troops into Somalia to support militias in regions such as Bay, Puntland, and Gedo. The Ethiopian government perceived the formation of any strong, stable government in Somalia as a security threat. As such, after 9/11, they accused the Transitional National Government (TNG) of Somalia, which was an attempt at establishing a central government in Somalia, of being Islamic extremists who support Osama Bin Laden. 

Ironically, the TNG's successor would actually be, in part, made up of Islamic extremists. The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) succeeded the TNG as the acting government of Somalia alongside a provisional government set up by the international community called the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Shortly before the U.S. and Ethiopia invaded, the ICU successfully defeated a group of warlords, called the Somali Warlord Alliance, who were funded and backed by the CIA. The TFG supported the U.S. and Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. During the invasion, however, the TFG fell apart because it was a farce to begin with, just like the U.S-established Afghan government from 2001 to 2021 was a fake government that fell to the Taliban shortly after the U.S. withdrew. With all the resources at the disposal of the international community, they can't seem to establish a functioning government in a third world country. It's also as if keeping countries like Somalia and Afghanistan unstable is the entire point. The ICU would also be overthrown during this invasion, but they never went away. They simply devolved into groups like Al-Shabaab. Somalia's woes have not ended. Since 2009, over 76,000 have been killed in the Somali Civil War as of September 2024 and according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED). 

Back in Ethiopia, resentment would build against the TPLF dominated government. Mass demonstrations broke out in Ethiopia from 2014 to 2016, only to be meant with human rights abuses and violence. Over 5,000 were killed in these demonstrations. The U.S. continued to support Ethiopia politically and militarily even as it exerted dictatorial rule and committed human rights violations. Since 1973, the Oromo Province has been in a state of conflict as the Ethiopian central government had a history in the 20th century of attempting to suppress Oromo language and culture. The resentment against the TPLF dominated government resulted in them being ousted in 2018. That same year, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) was formed and immediately started an armed insurgency against the Ethiopian central government. After being ousted, the TPLF returned to the Tigray region in 2019. The following year, due to COVID-19, the Ethiopian government postponed elections to an undetermined date; originally, they were supposed to take place in August 2020. The Tigrayans rejected this and hosted their own regional election in September 2020. In response, the Ethiopian government moved troops towards Tigray. On November 2nd, the Tigrayans launched an attack on the Northern Command. The Ethiopian response sparked the Tigray war and genocide. 

Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Palestine (among others) are beautiful countries with rich histories and yet they are brushed aside, treated as disposable by the world order. Why is that? It's not random. There are real, cold and calculated individuals and systems that has deemed these countries are unworthy of the same recognition and dignity as other countries. It is not by accident or by chance, but by design.