Gebrselassie, volunteer for the front in Ethiopia's civil war: "If not, they will come to my house"

• Interview "If I were 20 years old, I would lose two hours in the marathon"

For more than a decade, even before that 2010 New York City marathon where he announced his hasty farewell to athletics,

had been flirting with a political career in Ethiopia, the nation that reveres him as a redeeming messiah. The extraordinary popularity of the double Olympic champion spread to every corner of the country thanks to his business and solidarity work, so no one could be surprised by his approach to Prime Minister

for the past three years. What few counted on was that Ahmed - the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner for ending the war with Eritrea - would declare a ruthless military offensive in the Tigray region a year ago, while Gebrselassie, the athlete who went on to history for his perpetual smile, he was in favor of marching to the front as soon as possible.

“We Ethiopians must not allow this to happen, so I am prepared to serve my country wherever it needs me. Do you expect me to say "until death"? Yes, that's the highest price you pay in a war, ”Gebrselassie, 48, told the state news agency ENA on Wednesday. His unquestionable taking sides did not admit nuances. After a year of armed confrontations against the northern rebels, led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), there are thousands of dead and almost two million displaced. Not to mention famines and atrocities. Some international observers are already pronouncing the cursed word: genocide.

In this context of desperation and exacerbated hatred, Gebrselassie's life, like that of any other Ethiopian, has fallen apart.

His fortune, estimated at more than 40 million dollars, and his commercial network, which ranged from tourism to automobiles, threaten ruin.

He himself knows that two of the rebels' first targets will be their offices and mansion in Addis Ababa, where the TPLF is advancing daily via the A2 highway.

From Mount Entoto, Haile could almost see them by now.

It is a magical place for him and until a few months ago he was still running around there.

So now, instead of hiding, he will face the inevitable.

There is no way I can sit still.

They will come to my door, they will come to my house », he advanced.

Lilesa and the Oromos

Gebrselassie's fiery rhetoric was joined by

, 2016 Olympic runner-up in the marathon. Italian invaders] to save my country from the front line, ”proclaimed Lilesa, whose political activism never went unnoticed. In fact, during that unforgettable Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, his gesture of crossing his arms over his head as he crossed the finish line unleashed an entire storm in Ethiopia. It was his way of supporting the cause of the Oromo ethnic group, persecuted by the party of the then prime minister,

, who would resign in 2018.

The influence of Lilesa in Ethiopia, being important, is not even remotely close to that of Gebrselassie, who had been developing an important social work through the promotion of athletics, the fight against AIDS or the protection of children. He had not only created Haile Resorts, where he gathered his luxury hotels, but also the YaYa Africa Village, a high-performance center where

came to stay

. However, in June 2020, everything would start to fall apart after the murder of

, a famous singer, known for his defense of the rights of the Oromos. Just a few days later, the aggrieved took to the streets, causing terrible riots. Several hotels in

were burned.

Today, almost a year and a half later, the legend who astonished the world with his running on tiptoe, points out the Western powers without shame.

"We have seen how Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya have been destroyed or disintegrated, but Ethiopia is a nation with more than 120 million people, so any attempt at destabilization will go against it," he warned.

For now, on Wednesday France, Germany and the United Kingdom ordered their citizens to leave the area.

What would you do when the existence of a country is at stake?

Leave it all.

Unfortunately, nothing ties you to what you had anymore.

It's the Gebrselassie tragedy.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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