🛑 Travellers on an intercity train in Austria were startled on Sunday when a recording of an Adolf Hitler speech was played on board.
Instead of the normal announcements, a crowd could also be heard shouting “Heil Hitler” and “Sieg Heil” over the train’s speaker system.
The operator said there had been several such incidents in recent days.
One passenger on the Bregenz-Vienna service told the BBC that everyone on the train was “completely shocked”.
David Stoegmueller, a Green Party MP, said the speech by the Nazi German leader was played over the intercom shortly before the train, an ÖBB Railjet 661, arrived in Vienna.
“We heard two episodes,” he said. “First there was 30 seconds of a Hitler speech, and then I heard ‘Sieg Heil’.”
Mr Stoegmueller said the train staff were unable to stop the recording and were unable to make their own announcements. “One crew member was really upset,” he added.
In a statement sent to the BBC, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) said: “We clearly distance ourselves from the content.
“We can currently assume that the announcements were made by people directly on the train via intercoms. We have reported the matter to the police,” the ÖBB said.
It is understood that complaints have been filed against two people.
Mr Stoegmueller said he had received an email from a man who was on the train with an old lady who was a concentration camp survivor. “She was crying,” he said.
He said another passenger remarked that when other countries had technical problems, it involved the air conditioning breaking down.
“In Austria, the technical problem is Hitler.”
Hitler was born in Austria and emigrated to Germany in 1913 as a young man.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on October 13, 2022
💭 A year and a half ago, a soldier filmed a civilian massacre perpetrated by the Ethiopian army in the region of Tigray. Now captured by Tigrayan forces, along with many Ethiopian soldiers, the region is trying to bring those responsible to justice.
‘A military drone is flying over my city as I write’
As the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region intensifies, the BBC gets an exclusive report from its main city.
💭 ‘I don’t know if my family is alive or dead’, says campaigner on ‘forgotten’ war
The region has been cut off from the world during two-year conflict with Ethiopia
A Midland woman said she had no idea if her relatives were alive or dead in a brutal conflict described by some analysts as more bloody than that playing out in Ukraine. Leandra Gebrakedan, from Willenhall, has not heard from her relatives in Tigray for 18 months.
💭 As much of the world’s attention is focused on the bloodshed in Ukraine, the head of the World Health Organization saya there is ”nowhere on earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat” than Ethiopia’s Tigray region..
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the situation in Tigray from where he hails was “catastrophic,” saying the region had been “sealed off from the outside world” for about 500 days.
“No food aid has been delivered since the middle of December,” Tedros told a press briefing, adding that about three quarters of health facilities assessed by WHO in the region had been destroyed. He said there was no treatment for about 40,000 people with HIV in the region.
“Yes, I’m from Tigray and this crisis affects me, my family and my friends very personally,” Tedros said. “But I, the director general of WHO, I have a duty to protect and promote health wherever it’s under threat,” he said. “And there is nowhere on earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat than Tigray.”
Tedros said the U.N. health agency had now documented 43 attacks on health care workers and facilities in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last month.
WHO has now opened supply lines to many cities in Ukraine, but some access challenges remained. The agency continued to call for attacks on health workers and facilities to stop.
But Tedros said the crisis in Ukraine was “far from the only crisis to which WHO is responding,” citing ongoing problems in Yemen, Syria and Ethiopia.
Earlier this year, the government of Ethiopia sent a letter to the World Health Organization, accusing Tedros of “misconduct” after his sharp criticism of the war and humanitarian crisis in the country.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on October 13, 2021
Week after week, the Ethiopian government blockade of Tigray prevents aid agencies from moving life-saving relief of food, medicine, shelter items, fuel, and cash necessary to stop famine that continues to grow virtually uninterrupted. Today, almost a million people in northern Ethiopia are experiencing famine conditions.
Here’s what you need to know this week:
Ethiopia’s blockade of Tigray continues…
Despite protestations, the blockade put in place on June 27 continues to prevent relief assistance from entering Tigray. From September 5-7, 147 trucks of humanitarian supplies arrived in the northern Tigray region via neighboring Afar, bringing the number of humanitarian trucks that entered Tigray since July 12 to 482—a far cry from the estimated 100 trucks needed every day, or 8,700 trucks since the blockade came into effect. In addition, the blockade denies many critical supplies, including communications equipment, cash, and fuel, without which humanitarian operations cannot continue. Even personal phones, hard drives, can-openers, and multivitamins are restricted from being brought in by aid workers who manage to travel.
…and is driving and human suffering and famine.
On September 16, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released a weekly humanitarian update, providing the latest information on the impact of Ethiopia’s blockade on Tigray. Virtually every sector was forced to suspend activities, as new reports of starvation deaths have emerged.
Food relief aidremains suspended for a lack of supplies, cash, and trucks. Since March 27, the UN and NGOs nearly completed a three-month distribution for 5.2 million people, and with reduced supplies reached 1.4 million people in a second round. This roughly translates to four months of food for a population denied the ability to access communications, banking, or markets to support themselves.
Access to potable watervia trucking was reduced to 25 percent coverage due to shortages in cash and fuel. Insufficient or unpotable water drive disease outbreaks, particularly for those weakened by malnutrition.
Health servicesare only partially functioning, with supplies for only 20 percent of the population at a time when disease outbreaks continue to rise. The European Union initiated Humanitarian Air Bridge arrived in Tigray with nutrition supplies, and the World Health Organization (WHO) airlifted supplies from Dubai for 150,000 people. While these massively expensive innovations are welcome, that they are necessary in the first place speaks volumes about the brutality of the blockade and the lengths to which the world is going to find solutions.
Nutrition assistancefor children under five was suspended for children in outpatient and in-patient care due to shortages in cash, fuel, and supplies. The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) was quoted as saying 30 percent of children under five and 80 percent of pregnant and lactating mothers now suffer from malnutrition. This is double international emergency standards for malnutrition in children and more than 5 times emergency thresholds for nursing mothers.
Some 45 days ago, UNICEF noted, “This malnutrition crisis is taking place amid extensive, systematic damage to the food, health, nutrition, water and sanitation systems and services that children and their families depend on for their survival.” It is usually children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable groups that bear the brunt of famine. Yet, since this warning from UNICEF, it bears repeating – less than 10 percent of the needed supplies to keep people alive have been allowed entry to Tigray, months after empirical evidence proved famine conditions.
Hunger and alleged atrocities are spreading beyond Tigray.
The conflict now risks expanding into a wider civil war that threatens Ethiopia and regional stability. As the war spreads, so does hunger with the UN estimating that 1.5 million more people are food insecure in the areas where the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) has advanced in neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar in recent weeks. Their advance includes fresh accusations of atrocities that warrant independent investigation alongside alleged crimes committed in Tigray. Active conflict has prevented UN and NGOs teams from accessing conflict-impacted areas. Historically, these areas were some of the poorest subsistence communities in the region and will require assistance in addition to the 5.5 million people FEWSNET defined as ‘in crisis’ and ‘without assistance will descend into famine’ in Tigray.
Western donors have given generously to Ethiopia for decades, pouring tens of billions of dollars into Ethiopia’s economy, heavily subsidizing Ethiopia’s budget. All told, western donors contribute at least 37 percent of Ethiopia’s budget through humanitarian, development, security, and other support. Yet their efforts to raise alarm at the avalanche of credible atrocities including war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide have been met with outright rejection by Ethiopia and at the UN Security Council—with China blocking efforts to put the crisis on the Council’s agenda. Even the role of perhaps the most destructive force in this conflict—Eritrean forces (EDF)—has not been addressed by the Council. Clearly, the status quo much change.
The Biden administration is stepping up the pressure.
In the face of continued violence that continues to spiral out of control, U.S. President Biden issued an Executive Order that paves the way for a sanctions regime that can target any party responsible for prolonging the conflict in northern Ethiopia, those that commit human rights abuses, and those obstructing humanitarian access including Ethiopia’s blockade of Tigray. Given the challenges facing the population, this is a step in the right direction but must be implemented and not an idle threat to be effective.
Famine will continue to grow as the blockade impedes food aid, medical and nutrition supplies, fuel, and cash. There needs to be an immediate ceasefire and end to the blockade to ensure assistance is possible to those affected in Tigray, and now in Amhara and Afar.
“The severity and scale of the sexual crimes committed are particularly shocking, amounting to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.”
“All of these forces from the very beginning, everywhere, and for a long period of time felt it was perfectly OK with them to perpetrate these crimes because they clearly felt they could do so with impunity, …. it is intended to humiliate both the women and their Tigrayan ethnic group but described the violence as some of the worst she had ever seen.”
Hundreds of women and girls have been gang-raped, subjected to genital mutilation and weeks of sexual slavery by Ethiopian soldiers, Amnesty International has revealed.
Drawing from interviews with 63 survivors, the report sheds new light on a scourge already being investigated by Ethiopian law enforcement officials, with at least three soldiers convicted and 25 others charged.
Some survivors said they had been gang-raped while held captive for weeks on end. Others described being raped in front of their family members.
And some reported having objects including nails and gravel inserted into their vaginas, ‘causing lasting and possibly irreparable damage’, Amnesty said.
‘It’s clear that rape and sexual violence have been used as a weapon of war to inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on women and girls in Tigray,’ said Amnesty’s secretary general Agnes Callamard.
‘Hundreds have been subjected to brutal treatment aimed at degrading and dehumanizing them.
‘The severity and scale of the sexual crimes committed are particularly shocking, amounting to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.’
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 6, 2021
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was once the toast of the international stage. On December 10, 2019, he delivered his Nobel Lecture at the Oslo City Hall after winning the Nobel Peace Prize. “I…accept this award on behalf of Africans and citizens of the world for whom the dream of peace has often turned into a nightmare of war,” Abiy said.
In less than a year, however, Abiy would unleash the nightmare of war. Those who know him—not only Ethiopians but also fellow African leaders—describe in Abiy a noxious combination of naiveté, ego, and ambition. When Abiy, like other reformers-turned-dictators before him, unilaterally postponed elections, officials in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region defied his prohibition and held the vote as originally scheduled. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), one-time partners of Abiy who had fallen into opposition—triumphed in polls that were largely free and fair.
There is nothing more dangerous than a Nobel Peace Laureate scorned. In the wake of election, Abiy sent his forces into Tigray where, alongside Eritrean troops, they perpetrated massacres, ethnic cleansing, collective punishment, and mass rape. Ethiopian diplomats and their state-controlled media repeatedly either denied atrocities or blamed them on the TPLF. Abiy’s government, meanwhile, continued to target older, more established Tigrayan leaders in a short-term strategy that prioritized vengeance over unity as the old guard TPLF leaders such as former foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin were the primary voices among the Tigrayan movement to value Ethiopian nationalism; the younger generation sees little to any benefit in remaining part of Ethiopia’s multi-ethnic mosaic.
Few outside Addis Ababa, however, believed Ethiopian denials: Countries innocent of such charges do not prevent access to the territories alleged to be site of humanitarian crimes. Nor is it possible to coordinate the narratives of refugees and eyewitnesses fleeing war.
Nevertheless, in recent months, Abiy’s government has repeatedly said that they had defeated the TPLF, and dismissed anyone raising questions about the situation in Tigray as engaging in propaganda, even as videos emerged of Ethiopian troops captured en masse by the TPLF. Then, the TPLF re-took the regional capital Mekelle. That action was a shock to Ethiopians whom Abiy and state-controlled television daily assured that Ethiopia had roundly defeated the Tigrayans.
Taking his cue from dictators like Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Abiy has now decided to seek revenge on journalists who dared to speak the truth. Consider the case of Tsedale Lemma, chief editor of the English-language Addis Standard, an independent outlet which has sought to cover events in Tigray fairly. On July 3, Seyoum Tehome, a pro-government blogger, suggested summarily executing an imprisoned journalist and advised arresting Lemma. In effect, those surrounding Abiy and amplifying his bubble now seek to ensure that failure to uphold Abiy’s delusions is a capital crime. In Minsk, Moscow, and Ankara, suchcastigations are often lethal.
The United States is at its best and most effective when it stands up for freedom in a bipartisan way. It is time for Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Congressional Black Caucus (full disclosure: I was in the past a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation fellow) and the Republican leadership as well to tell Abiy that the world is watching, and that retribution against Ethiopian journalists for telling the truth will have real and biting consequence.
Abiy and his associates may believe they can pivot to China or whether any sanctions, but they would be foolish to believe that they will personally escape unscathed.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 6, 2021
For the last few years, political tensions have been simmering across Ethiopia due to competing political visions and narratives and sharp disagreements about the past, the present and the future of the country. Those tensions eventually boiled to full-fledged war, when on November 04, 2020, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali – claiming that the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces based in Tigray were pre-emptively attacked, launched a military campaign against the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) and its leadership. The military operation initially labelled by the Ethiopian government as ‘law enforcement’ brought together a disparate band of actors – the Ethiopian National Defence Force, the Eritrean Defence Forces and the Amhara Regional Forces. What materialized was a full scale to campaign of destruction resulting in what the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdeo Church – alongside other notable international observers – have called a “genocide” designed to wipe out Tigrayans.
This campaign is now in its eighth month. From the outset, reports trickling out from underneath the draconian communication blackout imposed by the government, revealed extensive human rights violations and atrocities against civilians. Thousands were displaced and massacred, women and children raped, aid blocked from reaching millions, heritage and religious sites desecrated, critical infrastructures and refugee camps targeted and destroyed. These atrocities and the magnitude and total nature of the war directed against Tigrayans, their culture and identity shocked the world. In the words of the United Nations and human rights organizations, atrocities against civilians are described as cruel and “beyond comprehension”.
In light of all this, the persistent and sustained ideological and religious support given to the war by Ethiopian religious leaders and influencers, has been one of the most troubling elements of this brutal conflict. Most prominent in this regard have been the significant numbers of evangelical Christians who remain some of the most vocal proponents, cheerleaders and advocates for the war, even now.
“Blessed are the warmongers”
Evangelical Chrisitians came out in support of the war the Ethiopian government launched on Tigray from the start. In the first two weeks, gospel singers, influential figures and pastors enthusiastically took part in a social media campaign calling Ethiopian to stand with the Defense forces against Tigray in what was essentially a civil war. Ironically, even the country’s reconciliation commission, made up of the country’s top religious leaders, including evangelical leaders, joined the public endorsement of violence and death. It bears noting that there is of course nothing wrong with Christians to publicly display patriotism. Such enthusiastic support and war mongering in the context of a civil war where millions of fellow members of the Ethiopian religious institutions – brethren in faith and citizenship – are subjected to death and destruction was not only in bad taste but unethical and clear contradiction of Christ’s teaching of being peacemakers.
“Blessed are those who rejoice in the destruction of a city”
The euphoria that followed when the federal government announced the capture of the regional capital Mekelle was unparalleled in the recent history of the country. Prior to the capture, a top army general warned residents of Tigrayan capital, Mekelle – a city of a half a million people – that there would be shelling and that “there will be no mercy”. While millions of Tigrayans across Ethiopia and the world waited with deepest dread and grief to hear about the news about their loved ones in Mekelle and across Tigray, their Christian brothers and sisters were out on the streets cheering and jubilating the fall of the city. The former Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Dessalegn, who professes a Christian faith, wrote at the time “Praise God for his mercy upon us” – a twisted but befitting doxology for a city that was shown no mercy.
“Blessed are those who pronounce Christian fatwas”
In the course of the current war in Tigray, Evangelical Christians continued to play an active role in providing religious justification for the war. Weeks into the conflict, ‘prophecies’ about the capture of TPLF (Tigrayan) leaders circulated on social media. A prominent theologian and preacher with thousands of followers on social media wrote that “what is happening in Tigray is God’s judgement” a warped theology that portrays God as the author of death and suffering. The idea that God delights in the death of the innocent is anathema to the central teaching of Christ who came not to judge but save the world. The same person also wrote that “to be a Christian and support the TPLF is similar to becoming a drug-dealing Christian” conflating religious and political convictions.
“Blessed are those who go extra mile to deny massacres”
Three months into the war, a prominent theological scholar wrote an op-ed, denying the massacre of hundreds in the city of Axum. The massacre, as it turned out was not only true, but also referred as as “ranking among the worst documented so far in this conflict” was perpetrated by Eritrean soldiers and verified by Amnesty International, who had interviewed 41 survivors and analysed satellite images. The author, in the name of being objective and providing context, wrote a diatribe about how evil the TPLF is and justified the “law enforcement operation” of the government. While this Op-ed posed as a critical query into media claims – which is an essential and legitimate task – what it ended up being was a blanket denial of an atrocity crime and “whataboutism”. Political considerations or past injustices, however, cannot justify massacres, rape, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war nor can it excuse using assymetric access to media and information to gaslight and to silence Tigrayans speaking out about atrocities being committed on thier families.
“Blessed are those who suppress the critics”
One particular phenomenon that has emerged in the course of the war is the use of prophetic messages and scripture either to silence critics of Abiy Ahmed or portray him as a victim of international pressure. Once videos and reports started to emerge, war crimes and atrocities committed by Ethiopia defense forces, Amhara regional forces and Eritrean defense forces became untenable. The pressure from the international community increased. Tigrayans as well as concerned citizens both at home and abroad started to criticise Abiy Ahmed and his war policy. In the midst of this rising criticism, evangelical Christians began misquoting Romans 13:1 to silence any legitimate criticism of the government. Moreover, some went an extra mile to portray anyone who dared to criticise Abiy as having the spirit of the Anti-Christ. Still others used scripture to portray Abiy Ahmed as king David who was distressed by the rousing anger of people.
“Blessed are those who denigrate bearers of God’s image”
In addition to offering justifications, ideological and theological support and religious legitimacy including to the proof-texting and misinterpreting the scriptures, Christians have also failed Tigrayans by ignoring and contributing to the hate rhetoric against them.
In the first instance anti-Tigrayan othering and “us” ”them” rhetoric ramped up to alarming degrees in the last three years. However, the church kept silent. This is a grave failing by omission. But beyond the silence, religious figures have since the start of the war come out into the open with hate speech against Tigrayans. A prominent scholar and theologian who is a visiting Assistant Professor at a reputable Christian University in the United States recently called Tigray a “curse” that should be allowed to “go to hell”.
A Protestant television transmitted the “exorcism” seen in the clip below which directly and openly demonizes Tigrayans and Tigray. The video shows a woman “possessed” by a “spirit” that has been killing and attacking the Ethiopian national defense forces in Tigray and is aiming to destroy Ethiopia. In a bizarre and worrying coincidence another video of “exorcism” openly demonizing Tigrayans has surfaced in Eritrea.
The critical question is what would Jesus do about the war in Tigray? More importantly, why do evangelical Christians, who claim to worship Christ Jesus – who has taught his disciples to be peacemakers, love their enemies and modeled a life of servant – chose to side with the state that is determined to wipe out Tigrayans and collaborated with a foreign army to bring death, destruction and despair to millions? The Evangelical tradition in Ethiopia prides itself as bible-centered, and as focused on personal renewal and insists and claims to offer the promise of eternal life – but its silence and outright complicity in the current war on Tigray has only brought the thin foundation of its social ethics to the fore. Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, came to seek and save the lost, not to steal, destroy and kill – and it is imperative for his disciples to follow his footstep and stand in solidarity with all who suffer. In the midst of war, the spiritualization of politics and the politicization of religion should be tamed before it engulfs the whole country. Ethiopians of all persuasions bear the image of God, regardless of where one stands in the current politics – all deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 6, 2021
A Protestant television transmitted the “exorcism” seen in the clip which directly and openly demonizes Tigrayans and Tigray. The video shows a woman “possessed” by a “spirit” that has been killing and attacking the Ethiopian national defense forces in Tigray and is aiming to destroy Ethiopia.
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Addis Ethiopia Weblog 