Tuesday, June 28: Overlooked Conflicts
With the world's eyes focused on Ukraine, spare a thought for Ethiopia
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, much of the media’s attention has rightfully been focused on Eastern Europe and the ongoing devastation. At the same time, there have been other conflicts that seem to evade the focus of mainstream networks. Ethiopia has been undergoing an ethnic civil war for over a year, leading to a humanitarian crisis involving nearly nine million Tigray people.
The Tigray are an ethnic minority, making up about 6% of Ethiopia’s population, and they have largely been rounded up, with men sent to detention facilities, while women and children are separated and forced into squalid camps. Estimates suggest that so far half a million Tigray have died, with another 7-9 million people on the verge of massacre. It’s necessary to rely on these estimates as Ethiopia cut off internet access to the Tigray region last November. Journalists who have tried to report have been hurt or forced into exile, and the Western media seems widely uninterested.
“There is nowhere on earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat than in Tigray” - Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director, March 2022
As the coverage of Ukraine’s devastation continues, spare a thought or a prayer for the Tigray people.
Side Items
It sadly looks like WNBA star Britney Griner is gonna spend an undetermined amount of time in a Russian prison
In a win for religious groups, the supreme court ruled that praying at school sporting events is legal, so catch me outside the next local high school football game shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ until I get kicked out
An Amtrak train derailed after hitting a dump truck in Missouri, killing 3 people and giving car enthusiasts another reason for their anti-train vendetta