By Muluken Tekleyohanes Editor in Chief and GM –
Ambassador Media – Hesse, Germany (1 Feb, 2026)
War by Design, Silence by the World
What is happening in Ethiopia today is not a tragedy of misunderstanding. It is not an accidental escalation. It is not a conflict that “got out of control.” It is a deliberate war strategy, driven by armed groups and sustained by a government that has chosen violence over protection, drones over dialogue, and power over people.
The TPLF and the so-called “Tigray Peace Force” ignited this war and deliberately expanded it beyond Tigray into the Amhara and Afar regions, dragging millions of civilians into a conflict they did not choose. Villages were burned, communities displaced, livelihoods destroyed, and ethnic divisions weaponized.
Yet instead of protecting civilians and stopping the expansion of violence, the Ethiopian government has responded with militarization, drone warfare, and repression, targeting civilian areas in Amhara and Tigray alike. These drone strikes do not distinguish between fighter and farmer, between soldier and schoolchild, between battlefield and marketplace.
This is not security policy. This is collective punishment.
This is not national defense. This is state violence.
This is not peace-building. This is war governance.
Civilians Are Not Collateral Damage
In Amhara, families live under the constant fear of aerial attacks. In Tigray, communities already shattered by war face renewed terror from the sky. In Afar, displacement and hunger grow while the world watches in silence.
Children are being raised to recognize the sound of drones before the sound of school bells.
Mothers are learning evacuation routes instead of lullabies.
Farmers are abandoning fields that once fed entire regions.
This is the reality of modern warfare in Ethiopia: remote-controlled violence, unaccountable power, and invisible victims.
The government’s claim of “security operations” cannot hide the truth: civilian suffering has become an accepted tool of control.
A Government That Chooses War
When a government ignores diplomatic solutions,
When it dismisses dialogue,
When it answers political crises with military force,
When it invests in drones instead of development,
When it treats entire regions as enemy territory,
…it is no longer governing — it is ruling through fear.
The Ethiopian state today is not acting as a neutral protector of its citizens. It is acting as a conflict actor, actively shaping the battlefield rather than stopping it.
This is why the claim of “fighting terrorism” rings hollow when bombs fall on civilian neighborhoods.
This is why the narrative of “law enforcement” collapses when children are buried.
International Silence Is Complicity
The international community’s response has been dangerously weak:
• Statements without enforcement
• Condemnations without consequences
• Dialogues without pressure
• Diplomacy without accountability
Silence does not equal neutrality.
Inaction does not equal peace.
Diplomatic politeness does not equal justice.
When crimes continue and the world does nothing, silence becomes participation.
A Call From the People, Not Politicians
This is not a call driven by ideology.
This is not a partisan message.
This is not ethnic propaganda.
This is a human appeal — from civilians, survivors, displaced families, and communities trapped between armed groups and state power.
We demand:
1. Immediate International Intervention
Not symbolic visits — real political pressure, monitoring mechanisms, and enforcement.
2. Independent International Investigations
Into drone strikes, civilian killings, displacement, and human rights violations across all regions.
3. Protection of Civilians
International monitoring missions, humanitarian corridors, and civilian protection frameworks.
4. Suspension of Military Support
No weapons, no drones, no technology that enables civilian harm.
5. Inclusive Peace Process
A real peace process — not elite negotiations, not propaganda agreements, but people-centered reconciliation.
Ethiopia Does Not Need More Weapons — It Needs Justice
It does not need more drones.
It does not need more soldiers.
It does not need more propaganda.
It needs:
• Truth
• Accountability
• Justice
• Healing
• Protection of civilians
• Political courage
• International responsibility
Message to the World
To the international community:
Your silence is not neutrality. Your caution is not wisdom. Your delay is not diplomacy.
History will not ask what statements you issued.
It will ask who you protected.
It will ask who you believed.
It will ask who you stood with.
And it will ask why, when civilians were dying, the world chose comfort over courage.
Final Call
We call on:
• The United Nations
• The European Union
• The African Union
• Human rights organizations
• International courts
• Global media
• Civil society networks
Act now.
Not tomorrow. Not after more graves. Not after more displaced families. Not after more orphaned children.
Now.
Because peace delayed is justice denied.
And silence, in the face of mass suffering, is violence by another name.
Prepared by Muluken Tekleyohanes Ambassador Media – Hesse, Germany
For humanity. For justice. For peace.
