Does Ethiopia matter?

Ethiopia exists. No one doubts it, but does it matter? Think about it and answer honestly. This country, located in the Horn of Africa, has 115 million inhabitants. Travelling by plane from Madrid to its capital Addis Ababa, with a stopover, takes around ten hours, depending on where the transit takes place. A long and tiring flight. Ethiopia is far from Spain, but it is also far from our hearts. 

Not long ago it became fashionable to travel to this country: its temples and Christian churches, the largest market on the entire African continent and its beautiful natural landscapes served as a tourist attraction. Once there, going off the beaten track meant travelling a road that had nothing to do with what was advertised; going off the beaten track meant entering another, less friendly reality that could not hide the poverty and starvation suffered by a large part of the population. Depending on the route chosen and the hand that guides you, things change as the fields change in each of the seasons of the year. Those who opted for this other route speak of an unforgettable experience, for better or for worse; also of a voice that settles in the conscience and that, at first, haunts you continuously, although with time and the return to everyday life it fades like the flames of an abandoned bonfire.  

Ethiopia is far away not only geographically, but also from our interest, from our gaze. These days it attracts the occasional headline in the media because, along with the hunger and misery so characteristic (and assumed) in this part of the world, a civil war that began in November last year when Tigray rebels attacked a military base is worsening. A year that does not seem to want to open the door to peace. These days, the bombings are coming from the other side: from the official army of Abiy Ahmed's government, in power since 2018. 

Both sides are sowing chaos in an already chaotic land. The dead are in the thousands; the displaced in this northern part of Ethiopia now number two million; and the people who are hoping to survive are relying on NGOs operating in the area number five million. The horrifying thing is that the situation is so dire that not even humanitarian aid is getting where it needs to go. Neither food nor medicine. These are figures provided by the UN, which has also seen seven of its senior officials expelled.  

Ethiopia exists, but neither in coffee bars nor on buses, nor in conversations between friends or family members does it become the protagonist, the subject of debate. It is far away, it is true, but remoteness should not be synonymous with the word insensitivity.