Thank you for a fantastic question.
I'll go back to the same argument that I was making earlier. An easy initiative that comes at a very low cost for any global actor today is really to put Tigray on the agenda and to clearly state what's going on. There's been a systematic attempt by media, civil society actors and diplomats to really obscure what's going on in Tigray.
It's really interesting that it's taken two years to have this conversation, globally. It's important to ask what was going on during the past two years. In the past two years, we've seen the international community really try to bury this story. There are many indicators that one can point to, such as regurgitating the government's views on things. There's been a very clear interest in not upsetting the Ethiopian government. I think it's important to move from that. It's important to have one's priorities clear.
I think that simply putting this on the agenda will have a ripple effect whereby other western countries and other governments will follow this lead, particularly partnering up with the U.S. I think the U.S. is divided fifty-fifty on this issue. Really pushing from the outside to take a harsher stance on Ethiopia could have an big impact.
I think it's important to point out those countries that are fuelling this conflict. We've seen massive amounts of weapons being flown to Ethiopia from countries like the UAE, Iran and Turkey. Many of them are allies of the U.S. and Canada. Putting pressure on them and exposing their actions and roles in this can be very important.
Finally, I think it's important to distinguish the complex political issues from the mass atrocities. It's fine that we have political conflict. It's one thing that we can't agree on democracy, that certain groups want to rule or that we have flawed elections. It's another thing to use mass starvation as a weapon of war. I think it's important to focus on those core elements, regardless of what happens politically. No one should be using starvation as a weapon of war. No one should be engaging in ethnic cleansing. We shouldn't be putting tens of thousands of civilians in ethnic concentration camps. Really focusing on these narrow, core human rights issues is what's needed in the immediate term. The political questions can be engaged with through different means over the long term. However, immediately, this is what I think should be prioritized.
Thank you.