The world needs to know what is going on in Ethiopia, as it's slowly getting more tense and dangerous every second.

Ethiopia's irregular conflicts of ethnic nationalism are once again being seen in Ethiopia, as 239 citizens and secutiy personnel have been killed in the past month or so.

Right now, the Oromo people in Ethiopia are facing ethnic supression and are getting tortured by the government. Years of persecution are showing up again in Oromia, with opposing voices being silenced and cries being stifled.

Wait, can you explain me the actual conflict itself and why there's fighting?

To put it into simple words, the ethnic conflict is mostly between the Oromo and Ethiopian-Somali groups (although Ethiopia has more than 80 ethnic groups). In 1991, Ethiopia's population was divided into nine regional states based largely on ethnicity — it was nearly 50 million people at the time.

First picture below is a map of Oromia and Ethiopia, as the conflict is most prominent between these two (Image credit: Aljazeera).

2nd image is a more detailed map, showing the other eight ethnicities (other than Oromo) that are in the Ethiopian region.(Image credit: The Caravel)

Since then, for the past 29 years, the two ethnic groups have been experiencing irregular conflicts over resources, including land and water. This has left many displaced.

Ethnic Amharas who were evicted and displaced from the Benshangul-Gumuz and Oromia regions still have yet to receive government assistance

Most ethnic Oromos, who have been living in Ethiopia's Somali region have been evicted in 2017 and remain displaced.

Ethnic Somalis who have been kicked out of Oromo regions as a counterattack have also been displaced

It just goes to show that even if people from these ethnic groups come and live in peace together, politics and nationalist groups make it exremely hard to continue that way.

In comes Abiy Ahmed.

Abiy Ahmed Ali, a Nobel Peace Prize winner (for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.) came into power in 2018. He was a hopeful figure, as he promised to bring democratic change to Ethiopia, something that is rarely seen in one of Africa's most repressive nations.

Ahmed’s PREVIOUS efforts to address ethnic conflict across Ethiopia have been mostly successful. His government has managed to improve relations between the Oromo and Somali groups. He was even able to bring ethnic Gedeos, who were displaced largely from Oromia, back to their homes.

But things are seemingly going south...Abiy's government is responsible for the latest unlawful arrests and killings of the Oromo people in the latest protests. Some of his biggest supporters and have now turned into his biggest opposition.

Tensions are simmering and specifically from the past few months, Ahmed can be seen struggling to rein in the resurging ethnic nationalism that is currently happening.

Why are strong bouts of violence reappearing again?

The most devastating and recent conflicts and protests happened in 2017, before Abiy came into power. However, they started again this year after the killing of Hachalu Hundessa

Hundessa was a 34-year old Ethiopian singer and activist for the rights of the Oromo. He was a powerful political voice and made many enemies during his musical career.

Because of his death (which the cause is unknown), protests and ethnic violence started around the capital and regional state of Oromia. Over 9000 people have been arrested after deadly clashes last month. Rights groups fear that the government is going back to non-democratic tactics and procedures. And as mentioned before, 239 citizens and security personnel have been killed.

If Abiy fails to address the tensions, more people will be killed and it can be the next devastating outbreak of violence in Ethiopia.

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