EVN (Sept 21) — Canadian journalist, author, and historian Jeff Pearce noted that the Amhara genocide is real and ongoing. He contended that what happened in Tigray during the war did not amount to genocide, but war crimes.
In the second and final part of the two-part interview with EVN, Pearce weighed in on the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia, offering his perspective on the Amhara Genocide and the events in Tigray during the war.
“People are making a false equivalence between the TPLF and Fano,” Pearce asserted. “The fact of the matter is that you cannot make a comparison between a terrorist oligarchy force which attacked their fellow soldiers in the middle of the night on November 3rd, 2020, gangs of marauding thugs with machetes attacking innocent Amharas, and a band of volunteers, essentially, who call themselves Fanos, to defend their people. There is no comparison.”
Pearce went on to address the use of the “Tigray genocide” hashtag, suggesting it was a calculated strategy by the TPLF to garner international attention and sympathy.
“The paradox is that there was no Tigray genocide,” Pearce emphasized. “Yes, there were deaths and incidents in the war that have to be accounted for. As a matter of fact, there were soldiers who were sent to prison when they overstepped, when they committed crimes. But there was no Tigray genocide. There were war crimes. There were atrocities. But there was no Tigray genocide.”
“The Amharas have a case that Abiy betrayed them,” Pearce declared. “I even feel betrayed on behalf of the people I interviewed and worked with. They are good people. They are coming for the Amhara. Who are they coming after next? You don’t think they will next ride roughshod over the Guragie and the Afar and other ethnic minorities,” he said highlighting the broader implications of the ongoing crisis in Ethiopia.
Pearce said that Eskinder Nega is a symbol of resistance against oppression and tyranny. “Eskinder had to opt for armed struggle because the Amhara people are facing annihilation,”
He wondered why they weren’t Western reporters reporting on the plight of the Amhara. “Why don’t they find Eskinder Nega, who is pretty much as close to Ethiopia’s Nelson Mandela as you can get right now.”
Pearce’s remarks highlighted the urgency of shedding light on the suffering of the Amhara people, emphasizing that the struggles faced by this ethnic group needed to be brought to the forefront of international discourse.
Pearce made a pointed comment on Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s future. “He needs to know that one day he is going to be removed from power, and a democratic administration will replace him.”
Addressing the role of Western media in the conflict, Pearce raised questions about their coverage. “Where were the Western media? They didn’t bother to investigate what happened to the Amharas, he noted.
He pointed out that they insert biased narratives like ‘Amharas want to be on top of the food chain.’ We know that Fano picked up the rifle because they were massacring them. It was not because Fano was asked to fold into the defense force. Fano was saying TPLF was not putting down arms as required by the Pretoria agreement. TPLF is not disarming and still wants Welkait. TPLF is abrogating the Pretoria Peace Agreement. They were supposed to disarm,” he said.
Pearce’s critique of Western observers, policymakers, and journalists urged them to educate themselves thoroughly about the Ethiopian conflict, emphasizing the importance of a well-informed approach to reporting and policy-making.
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Jeff Pearce traveled to Ethiopia to document the Mai Kadra massacre, among other things
