The Impact of Incitement by Public Officials in the Commission of GenocideThe Case of Ethnic Amharas in the Oromia Region

Abstract Insecurity has worsened in one of the eleven regions of Ethiopia, Oromiya, due to the killings of innocent Amharas. While there is increasing academic attention on the origins, causes, and nature of this threat, the role of the incitement of public officials in the commission of the killings and/or genocide in the region remains understudied. Accordingly, foregrounded by the need to unravel this gap, this qualitative study contributes to the literature through organised empirical research by examining Ethiopia’s public officials’ speeches and/or incitement, which might have helped in the commission of ethnic Amhara genocide in the Oromiya region since 2018. Three critical world events served as the main theoretical foundations for the analysis of incitement to genocide: the Nuremberg Prosecutions, the United Nations Genocide Convention, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. It was found that both Prime Minister Abiy’s and Shimelis Abdisa’s speeches have mounted to qualify as incitements to genocide by being concomitant to the context, purpose, and causation. It is thus sufficient to remark that the speeches are used to further instigate genocide against ethnic Amharas. The study’s central argument holds that the causal link between the speech in question and the massacre in the region doubles the synthesis, although the UN Convention does not require a direct causal link.