Grief Mixes With Anger Over Christian Ethiopian Deaths
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Version 0 of 1. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — In a downtrodden neighborhood called Cherkos, not far from the headquarters of the African Union, an olive-green tent stands as a tangible symbol of this nation’s grief. Two bereft families have gathered under its shade to mourn the loss of Eyasu Yikunoamlak and Balcha Belete, Ethiopian migrants who were killed in Libya by militants claiming to represent the Islamic State. “Eyasu was a good person who just wanted to make money to help our mother, who is very sick,” said the victim’s brother, Seyoum Yikunoamlak, as women in black scarves wailed around him. “He was a follower of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and that is why they slaughtered him.” Mr. Seyoum said he had helped his brother pay $4,400 to a smuggler for an illegal journey to Italy. But on Sunday, a video surfaced online revealing that his brother was among about 30 people who appeared to have been shot or beheaded by masked militants in Libya. The Ethiopian government is trying to determine how many were Ethiopian citizens. The killings are the latest warning to Ethiopians seeking passage to foreign countries for economic opportunity. People trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea risk drowning en route, as happened just days ago when a boat carrying hundreds capsized off the Libyan coast. Ethiopians traveling to the Middle East for work have faced mistreatment, mass deportations or, as in Yemen, outbreaks of war. Immigrants to South Africa have endured a surge of xenophobic attacks this month. Many young Ethiopians are still desperate to leave their country, Africa’s second most populous. Baherab Yemane, 25, grew up in Cherkos and wants to escape. He complains that Ethiopia lacks opportunities and free speech. “Look at our neighborhood,” he said. “You can see we are living in a cycle of poverty. That’s why we want to leave.” Though one-third of its citizens live below the poverty line, Ethiopia boasts one of Africa’s fastest economic growth rates, exceeding 10 percent annually over the past decade, according to official figures. With its formidable military and pervasive intelligence network, Ethiopia is also a linchpin of stability in the volatile Horn of Africa. “We do what we do, and we do it right,” said Getachew Reda, a communications adviser to the prime minister. “So there is little, if anything, we are going to change in terms of the level of security domestically. We will be taking whatever action is necessary to neutralize any threat to Ethiopians here and abroad.” Social media activists had called for a Thursday demonstration to protest the killings, but those plans were pre-empted by a government-organized gathering on Wednesday. Schools and government offices were closed, and civil servants were bused to the city center. Tens of thousands clogged the space by midmorning. Nesredin Ahmed, 50, drove to the demonstration in a truck plastered with signs denouncing the Islamic State. He is among the approximately one-third of Ethiopians who are Muslims, but he said he did not fear marginalization. “The terrorists were working under the guise of Islam, but that is not Islam,” he said. “We are against them, and the government is against them as well.” Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn addressed the crowd in Amharic, Ethiopia’s national language, to denounce violent extremism and discourage illegal migration. “We need to work and grow together, in our own country, with dignity, so that we can protect ourselves from incidents like these,” he said of the violence in Libya and South Africa. But after the speech was over, underneath elevated tracks that will soon support sub-Saharan Africa’s first urban light-rail system, young men hurled rocks at a group of federal police officers. The police responded by firing small canisters of tear gas to disperse the crowd. Some onlookers, including one foreign journalist, were beaten and detained by officers in blue camouflage uniforms. “I think people got angry because they didn’t hear what they wanted to from the government; we were hoping for some kind of solution, but all we got was a political message,” said Ephrem Aweke, 32, who was filming the proceedings with his cellphone when federal officers called him over to interrogate him. “Then one of them came out of nowhere and hit me in the face and kicked me.” Mr. Getachew, the adviser to the prime minister, contended that the police had done their best to protect the demonstrators in a difficult environment. “People always feel emotional after these kinds of tragedies, and they tend to act on a spur-of-the-moment basis,” he said. “That can be what happens when you have this huge outpouring of grief in public.” In Cherkos, Mr. Baherab said his own grief over recent events had forced him to reconsider his dream of migration. “I don’t know why the people in South Africa and Libya did this, because Ethiopians are no different from anyone else,” he said. “They were just in search of better lives.” |