Der Vortrag von Dr. Teklehaymanot Weldemichel (University of Manchester) findet statt im Rahmen des Geographischen Kolloquiums "Geographien der Zerstörung: Urbizid - Genozid - Ökozid". Die Vortragenden werden u.a. die Frage diskutieren, wie und warum sie sich in unterschiedlichen Themengebieten und Kontexten auf die normativ-rechtlich geprägte "-zid"-Begrifflichkeit beziehen. Dieser Vortrag der Reihe findet auf Englisch statt.
The ongoing Tigray war, waged between November 2020 and November 2022 followed by the renewed fights in recent weeks, offers a critical lens through which to examine the emerging geographies and geopolitics of mass violence in the Horn of Africa. This talk explores how domestic political projects intersected with regional intervention, remote warfare, siege, starvation, and information control to produce devastating violence while simultaneously rendering its victims increasingly invisible. Drawing on my own extensive scholarship and broader evidence on the Tigray war, I argue that invisibility was not merely a consequence of conflict but a mode of governing violence. Communication blackouts, restrictions on humanitarian access and independent reporting, territorial enclosure, and political narratives worked together to constrain what could be seen, documented, and contested. The talk situates Tigray within broader transformations in warfare, where drones and other remote technologies increasingly converge with older practices of siege and deprivation. It also examines the recent re-escalation of tensions in and around Tigray, alongside shifting alliances and regional rivalries that reshaped the “post-war” landscape following the 2022 ceasefire agreement. The talk concludes by considering what these dynamics reveal about the regional circulation of violence and the limits of international law, accountability, and humanitarian protection in the Horn of Africa.
