A brief history of history: Part one

It’s only genocide when it suits the military-industrial complex and not its own numerous crimes against humanity

- ADAM ROWLANDS

THE Cambridge Dictionary defines genocide as 'the crime of intentionally destroying part or all of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, by killing people or by other methods'.

The U.S. government recently accused the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces of committing genocide during its ongoing war with the Sudanese military.

During my time in the border area between Egypt and Sudan, I spoke to many Sudanese refugees, fleeing the conflict and the stories they told me confirm the view of the U.S. government.

Working in the Amhara, Tigray and Oromo regions of Ethiopia I witnessed the systematic destruction of houses and the forced removal of Ethiopian citizens, as well as the use, by the Ethiopian government, of drone strikes which killed dozens of people in the Amhara region. Local and international media and aid organisations estimate the numbers killed in the last 12 months to be in the hundreds, with thousands more displaced.

Genocide and crimes against humanity have in recent years been a common occurrence in Ethiopia, with numerous international watchdogs, aid agencies and human rights organisations accusing Addis Ababa of both.

It seems illogical that the then U.S. President, Joe Biden, recently informed Congress that his government no longer viewed the actions of the Ethiopian government as illegal.

Meanwhile, the following international agencies have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of both genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza: