Dedebit, 2022: Abiy cannot ask us to look away

We are angry at the expectation that Ethiopians should turn every civilian tragedy into a debate about which leader deserves their loyalty. We refuse that bargain. Abiy Ahmed’s leadership during the Tigray war deserves fierce scrutiny because protecting people is the responsibility of government. It cannot be postponed until after a victory speech. Dedebit belongs at the centre of that scrutiny.

Consider what that means before reaching for a slogan. A place of refuge should offer a family some chance of surviving what it has already escaped. Our anger is directed at a politics that asks the public to accept devastation as background noise while the reputation of the leadership occupies the foreground. No prime minister’s image deserves more protection than a displaced child.

This record does not establish that Abiy personally selected the target or ordered this particular strike. We will not invent that evidence. But the absence of such proof does not cancel political responsibility. The head of government should have to explain how military operations protect civilians, who investigates when protection fails, and how survivors can obtain answers without being dismissed as supporters of an enemy.

Our demand is for an independent investigation able to examine targeting decisions, operational records and the chain of command. Officials should preserve evidence and answer specific questions. Where evidence establishes individual wrongdoing, accountability should follow through a fair process. National pride cannot serve as a substitute for that work. A state worthy of its citizens should welcome the distinction between defending the country and shielding misconduct.

Criticizing Abiy does not require us to defend the TPLF. Nor does criticizing the TPLF require silence about government forces. That forced choice insults the dead and traps the living inside factional arguments. A civilian’s right to survive does not depend on which language they speak, which region they come from, or whether their family has ever supported an opposition party.

For readers exhausted by this regime, anger can be a refusal to accept the same evasions again. It should sharpen our demands: open the record, protect witnesses, investigate impartially, support survivors and allow public criticism. It should never become a licence to blame an entire ethnic community or to celebrate another family’s suffering.

We return to 2022 because remembrance without accountability is too easily absorbed into another ceremony. Dedebit should make it impossible to discuss military success without asking who paid for it. Abiy owes the public more than assurances about intentions. We want verifiable answers about conduct and consequences. A government cannot measure its strength by the weapons it commands and ask us to ignore the people beneath them.