The video of the barbaric act committed by the terrorist group “Islamic State” on Ethiopians couldn’t have come at a worse time.

I am referring to the 29:11 minutes footage, released on Sunday by Islamic State‘s al-Furqān media, and reviewed by HornAffairs. It shows the execution of dozens of men, some by beheading others by shooting, in in southern and eastern Libya.

It has no oral description regarding the identity of the men. Yet, the video captioned some of the men as “the worshipers of the cross belonging to the Ethiopian Church”. Given the context, it is certain that the group was referring to followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Though, followers of the Eritrean Orthodox Church might have been lumped together.

While there is no good time for such news, it is sad we had to stomach this nightmarish footage at a time when our people were victimized by the ungrateful xenophobes of South Africa, when the traditional cruelty of the Yemenis is exacerbated by anarchy and when we are awaiting for the details of the hundreds who sunk in the Mediterranean Sea in the weekend – as some could be ours.

The footage released by the Islamic State makes no mention of the political leaders or policies of the Ethiopian government. The term an-Naṣārá was used to refer to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, according to Horn Affairs’ editor Abdulbasit Abdulsemed, who is versed in Arabic and Islamic teachings.

It was absurd that the Associated Press attempted to draw a link between the massacre and Ethiopia’s military intervention in Somalia quoting the video as saying “Muslim blood that was shed under the hands of your religion is not cheap”. An expression of determination routinely used by extremists.

Ethiopia is not a state of Orthodox Christianity, nor of any religion for that matter. However, the Islamic State perceives her as one, as it is the case with many Arab elites. Thus, in essence, the group meant to attack the Ethiopian state, not any political or religious portion of it.

That resonates with the well-known view of some Islamic extremists that Ethiopia is “a land of the ultimate heresy”– Irtad. An influential viewpoint, although appears to contradict the Prophet Mohammed’s dictum not to attack the Habesha people unless in self-defense.

We shall thread this carefully.

The cowardly act of the Islamic State’s will not and should not test our resolve in the war against terror, which we embarked on for good reasons. Yet, we shall not be dragged into a war that is not our business.

Talks of joining the fights in Libya are both premature and ill-advised.

Yes, Egypt, on which Islamic State committed similar crimes last February, is bombing Libya. But we are not Egypt. As the Wikileaks cables revealed, the Arab nations, including Egyptian generals, were hostile to the just war we had with the Islamists in Somalia. Therefore, we can expect no functional company on the ground or in the media if we take that route in Libya.

In fact, I dare say, let alone a military retaliation, even an extended war of words will serve the group’s objectives.

My conjecture is that the group had two objectives with the latest video: One, the symbolism of picking a fight with Ethiopia – the “Irtad” – which “obstructed” the expansion of Islam about fourteen-hundred years ago. Two, the hope of recruiting Ethiopian Muslims, as we are historically known to be brave fighters.

Therefore, any retaliation will only have a promotional effect for the group, while causing bad publicity for us in Arab media.

The proper way to respond to this is by reaffirming our commitment to secularism, which appears to be tottering in the face of populist political calculations.

But that is not all.

Needless to say, the tormenting news coming from all directions – from South Africa to Libya, from the Gulf of Eden to the Mediterranean Sea, are a function of our poverty. A challenge we shall overcome by rethinking everything we are doing including our handling of the while elephant in the room – the illicit financial flow.

Again, the series of humiliations that we endured in the past weeks should have been an opportunity to alarm the public and renew our commitment to good governance and socio-economic justice and, no less importantly, to launch a major crackdown on human trafficking.

Alas, the deeply entrenched network of the human traffickers appears to be tying the hand of the government. Which appears to be the main reason that the tragedies are given low coverage on state media.

That is not acceptable. And that is our own “Islamic State” we need to be fighting.

Orthodox Christianity is a proud part and parcel of our history and identity, but we shan’t be dragged into the Westerners’ adventure in Libya.

Our war is at home and the latest tragedies should remind us of that.

********