The article is not aimed at His Majesty, it is about the arrest of a:
" Abdi Mohamed Omar, the former president of the country’s volatile Somali region, is accused of setting up the covert torture centres to suppress opposition to his tyrannical rule.
According to the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), Omar was “arrested for allegedly being behind the human rights violations as well as the ethnic and religious clashes that have happened in the Ethiopian Somali region” after the country’s attorney general began examining possible charges."
The only mention of His Majesty is in relation to His use of big cats as symbols of power (a common theme amongst rulers over the ages, despite Him being the conquering lion).
Even the current PM Abiy Ahmed is now housing Ethiopia's endemic black lions on the palace garden lawn for all to see, you can't tell me that's not a flex.
As for His Majesty's "oppression," of political opponents, come on! what ruler in all of history lays down for their opponents? what is it that you're questioning?
The famine in Ethiopia that has garnered all the stigma happened after His Majesty was deposed, in the early 80's. This was during the brutal Derg regimes' stranglehold on Ethiopia's people and resources. Frankly, if a journalist hadn't filmed it, and if MJ hadn't sang "we are the world," no one would even be talking about this. Famine has existed throughout the world since time, it has existed in Ethiopia at multiple times in specific regions because nomadic people who rely on their livestock become trapped in a very arid region when a drought occurs; livestock die and subsequently so do people. Famine during His Majesty's rule is no easily solved problem no matter how much someone wants to help. Traveling through Ethiopia today isn't easy in many areas, roads are seriously screwed up and as soon as you're off the beaten path, roads are sometimes non existent. Now rewind 50-60-100 years, what do you imagine was the condition roads then? Getting the level of humanitarian aide to where it was needed was near impossible. There are other factors too, His Majesty had to deal with corruption of local officials stealing resources He had allocated, and the soil quality after the Italians had rained mustard gas all over the country; how are adequate crops to grow for man and livestock when the earth has to recover from being poisoned?
His Majesty strived for modernization, much of the infrastructure He created has literally and figuratively paved the way for resources to get where they are most needed. The Ethiopian leaders of today follow this example daily whether they acknowledge their inspiration or not.
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