Thread by @terrefebiruk

Thread on the situation in #Ethiopia and particularly #AddisAbaba, in light of the events in #Burayu.

1/ It’s been an extremely difficult couple of days for #Ethiopia and I do not say that because lives were lost and violence has rocked parts of the city. Addis is resilient and has seen a lot in the last 100 years.

2/ I say that because the violence was not perpetrated by the government (as has been the case in the past), but by a mob of young criminals who felt entitled to steal, rape and massacre by ethnically identifying their 23 victims. See @AaronMG 's article reuters.com/article/us-eth…

3/ While predictable that this might be Ethiopia’s predicament given structural factors introduced in 1994, I want to plead with some of my twitter community to be more selective in the language you use and the blame you place.

4/ As Ato Lemma Megersa stated today in his press conference, there are forces in this country that want to outright stir ethnic tensions to the tipping point. The instrumentalisation of a young mob of violent criminals to stir this pot is not unthinkable at all.

5/ In many ways, the flag politics and resulting tensions of last week provided an excellent prelude to make the #Burayumassacre seem like #Qeerro led initiative to reinforce the politics of fear.

6/ This massace is clear example of how easy it is in this country to instrumentalise criminals to act in name of a movement and thereby stir ethnic tensions. Even IF some Qeerros were involved (which seems to have been), does that mean we dismiss the whole movement + the #OLF?

7/ Disagree or agree with each other’s politics, but all political parties want a peaceful Ethiopia with a competitive exchange of ideas. Of course, there will always be rogue individuals.

8/ It does not help that social media “activists” (some of which are no longer relevant) use this massacre to further pursue their own agenda. Protests in #SNNPR today illustrate how quickly things get out of hand.

9/ It also does not help that security forces really looked out of depth in the last couple of days. There was a clear lack of coordination and certainly something that needs to be investigated, the explanation that #Burayu is inaccessible to vehicles (while true) can't hold.

10/ Point is: Let us not underestimate that there are bigger forces behind these mobs. These are not bored, young men who kill for fun. As some intelligence suggests, these are criminals (of all backgrounds) organized by biggers forces that want to cause havoc in Ethiopia.

11/ That is not to say that there aren’t individuals who believe in the superiority of their own group identity. Those people exist for sure (on all sides), but even the most racist, hate-mongering individuals are not capable the grotesque inhumanity that came to life in #Burayu.

12/ Find it in your heart not to generalize about particular identities. Find it in your head to differentiate and to understand this in the context of a still ongoing power struggle in Addis. Differentiate between regional and federal police and security forces. Differentiate.

13/ I am angry and sad too, but I am even more scared by what I read online and on twitter in particular. Blame individuals, blame specific institutions, but don’t blame entire groups. Our social contract is extremely fragile at the moment and we need to recognize that.