Muluken Tekleyohanes | Ambassador Media | 05-08-2025 | Germany
On Sunday, the world stood still in horror as news broke of a tragic shipwreck off the coast of Yemen, where over 140 Ethiopian migrants—mothers, fathers, young people desperate for a chance at life—lost their lives in the unforgiving waves. They died unnamed, undocumented, and worst of all—unacknowledged by the very government whose flag they carried in hope.
While international media outlets and humanitarian organizations expressed outrage and sorrow, the Ethiopian government—once again—chose the path of cowardice and shameful silence. A short, toothless statement buried in obscurity, not even posted on the Foreign Ministry’s official platforms, was all the regime could muster. No national mourning. No official press conference. No dignity extended to the dead.
This was not just a tragedy at sea. This was a mirror held up to the face of a regime that has consistently turned its back on its people. These were not random migrants. These were displaced Ethiopians—fleeing a country riddled with civil war, ethnic violence, economic collapse, and government brutality. Many were escaping the very policies and persecutions of this regime.
Journalists, intellectuals, activists, and ordinary citizens have been silenced, jailed, exiled, or killed. Ethiopia today is hemorrhaging its youth and its conscience—not because of foreign invasion, but because of a government that wages war on its own citizens. The mass exodus of Ethiopians is not a mystery. It is the direct result of government failures and atrocities.
And now, over 140 of our fellow citizens—fellow human beings—have perished in the sea, and the Ethiopian state acts as if they are a national embarrassment rather than a national loss. Shame.
This is not just a diplomatic failure. It is a moral collapse.
Where is the leadership? Where is the humanity? Where is the accountability?
We, at Ambassador Media, demand more than a whisper. We demand truth. We demand justice. We demand that the Ethiopian government acknowledges its role—not only in its failure to protect these citizens abroad, but in creating the very conditions that drove them to such desperate journeys.
The international community must also stop treating the Ethiopian regime with diplomatic gloves. A government that cannot even mourn its dead—let alone protect its living—does not deserve blind engagement or aid without accountability.
To the families of the victims, to the Ethiopian people, and to history: we will not forget. We will not let this silence be the final word.
Muluken Tekleyohanes
Ambassador Media
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