Ephrem Endale Contributer
Sometimes you can’t help wondering what really is wrong with this world. The past few weeks the WHO boss had been entangled in some sort of twitter frenzy. He tweeted all kinds of things about the war in the north of the country, not as a really concerned humanitarian eager to see peace prevail, but as a red-hot combatant right in the midst of it all. During the previous conflict he had this tweet which broke every record for all the wrong things.
There was this widely used picture of Tigrayan kids barely ten, twelve year olds totting Kalashnikovs and supposedly going to the fronts. As the leader of such a prestigious global organization one could expect from him utter shock or something that comes close to that. No; he wasn’t going to go that caring and gentle road. After all something that this ‘modern word’ claims abhorring is the use of children in armed conflicts. What does he do? He captions the picture with the word “Pride!” Outrageous!
One can call the gentleman as irony personified. At times he talks about the sufferings of the people of the region and at other times he defends the very people accused of being responsible for the sufferings. This is a war where thousands and thousands of underage children have been thrown in the midst of all hell and he didn’t utter a single word denouncing the forceful conscription of the region’s children mostly as reports have it snatched from the parents.
Let alone his hatred for the very country which pivoted him to the top of the ladder seems to come out of him in bits and pieces hiding behind this global organization. He should have used his prestigious position (a position he abused over and again and still keeps on abusing) to make his voice heard as loud as possible to save another generation of the region’s from?
I’m not sure if it’s fair to make comparison of how his own children are brought up in contrast to the plight of hundreds of thousands back in the region. The stories of captured children are so harrowing that only being human is enough to chill your blood. It is difficult to find people who say the children deserved it; because they don’t. It is sad seeing generation after generation being sent to their demise because of ego-drunk, inconsiderate have-beens who never try to keep pace with a fast changing world and still wallow in thinking of yester ages. .
As the war in the north intensifies the WHO boss comes with the most hilarious and shockingly selfish tweets of them all; he tweets an image showing a broadly smiling him working out on a bike in his office! He’s having it good, isn’t he? And he writes; “We have busy lives & jobs. It’s hard to make the time to exercise regularly. But I try. In my office I have an exercise bike & sometimes I will take calls while getting my legs moving & my heart-rate up on the bike. The most important thing is to do something & to do it regularly.”
Here is an angry reply tweet;
“Sending Tigray children into battlefield to die in senseless, demagogue and greed based war while you’re chilling on bicycle to digest the delicious food at ur office is the true nature of TPLF thugs: God will hold u accountable for the messes and destruction u cause routinely.”
As mentioned this is the same gentleman who in the past several weeks was encouraging the kids of the region to go into war. No one says he shouldn’t exercise as that would have been stupidity unparalleled. But posting such a picture at a time when thousands of children are falling all over the place and even more being captured is undisguised cruelty. If his idea was winning fans I can assure you he’s a very sad man by now. The condemnations were near universal, not only from Ethiopians but from shocked people from elsewhere too.
One twitter user writes;
“This man has no shame. He sends children to war and they’re dying like flies in the fields and here he is lecturing us on the benefits of exercise. For your crimes against the people of Ethiopia, no amount of exercise would cleanse your heart or conscience.” One reply tweet goes, “You live a luxurious lifestyle in Europe but encourage the use of child soldiers in Tigray, Ethiopia.”
Can someone tell us why this Rashid Abdi gentleman never gets tired of tweeting things that give him away as someone with a real problem upstairs; A few days ago he tweeted; “Ethiopian army has collapsed at a speed that is even astonishing for me. Thousands surrendering to TDF on multiple fronts. Some surrendering to Sudanese forces.” The pity is even the leaders of the group who could lie the whole night without as much of a blink seldom go this far. What’s eating this guy?
One person replied;
“Yeah, you are right, Mr. Analyst. The ENDF has collapsed, yet it controls 360 degrees of its borders. It has encircled the TPLF and none can come in or out of the TPLF-controlled territory. How is that possible, ignoramus?! Your limitless ignorance never ceases to amaze me.” Of course some souls might argue Rashid being Rashid that is no news; but then I’ll tell you some news if you already haven’t heard it. The guy is trying his hand at comedy! He said it himself!
He tweets something like “ENDF has entered Mekele. As 000s of POWs.” And then he throws what he might have thought would be the curve ball of the season.
“I look for humour in dark places. Apologies if at times it falls flat or comes across as insensitive.”
Wouldn’t it have been nice if we could have managed a few seconds of “Ha! Ha!”
“How could you talk about humour when you don’t have one!!! I am glad you realized that you are insensitive and have flat affect in every aspect. You are boring. Buzz off…. Hands off Ethiopia!! Nomore TPLF Terrorist group.” That was one of the replies he got.
While we are at it there is this issue of the reaction of the so-called international community something while not be surprising still sets a very nasty precedence. When the group accused of terrorism by the Ethiopian parliament launched the latest aggression all parties were mute. And when the group’s leaders officially tell the news organizations that they were pushing deep into the Amhara region nothing stirred. Nothing! Then what was sure to happen happened.
The ENDF and allied forces turned the tables to the surprise, and shock, of the naysayers all of a sudden everything over there starts springing to life. The statements coming from the power corridors, as biased and as crude as they have ever been, started coming out in emergency-mode! The same quarters even called for the UNSC to convene once again. One tweet says it all;
“When #TPLF invaded Afar & Amhara & went deep into those territories, the US,EU,UK,@UN &WMSM all went into sleep mode! But when #TPLFTerroristGroup loses they all wake up & start saying ‘stop the war’ ‘Tigray Genocide’ ‘blockade’ ‘Tigray famine’.”
A British politician went as far publicly saying “Tigray is Ukraine.” Well few if any would let him go away with that the few tweets below attest.
“Lord Alton, SHAME ON YOU! Ukraine is a sovereign country! Tigray is a region in a country – as Yorkshire is to UK/England. How would you feel if an African politician tries to create animosity between Yorkshire and England by raising county flag over the country? Ridiculous? Yes!”
And here is a no nonsense reply;
“We call today for the resignation of a colonial warmonger David Alton HL. Tigray is a region in Ethiopia not a country. You are one of those who enabled butchers, murderers & child rapists to evade justice. Ethiopia will not be bullied by those who destroyed Iraq, Libya & Yemen.”
The tweeter gang once again seems it’s trying a ‘full speed ahead’ approach.
Happy New Year!
The Ethiopian Herald September 11/2022