BY GETAHUN LEGESSE
ADDIS ABABA – Some paid lobbyists in the West have conspired and executed extensive disinformation and misinformation campaigns against the Ethiopian government and produced misleading information about the law enforcement operation and the current situation of the country which time has exposed the lies in bits and pieces.
Among them, Alex DeWaal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation, tweeted as the people of Tigray has been sealed off from the world since the onset the of the war. He forwarded that aid agencies are beginning to send their staff back in, and what they describe is disturbing: hospitals robbed, people living in fear and unable to obtain food or money, deaths from hunger and treatable illnesses.
Whereas, the Ethiopian government insisted that these reports are overly exaggerated and the problem is under control. The government, in collaboration with international partners, has managed to deliver the desired support for 2.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in the area.
Another TPLF’s confidant and a fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Martin Plaut has forwarded a false accusation against the Ethiopian Airlines for discriminating Tigrayan employees. He falsely claimed that the airliner has sacked all its Tigrayan staff.
The TPLF sympathizer falsely presented government’s military response to the treasonous group as an ugly campaign of targeting all Tigrayan men and women, even if they have nothing to do with the war. He fabricated the claim that Tigrayans have lost their jobs, been attacked and harassed.
Even The New York Times, contrary to its profound reputation, relying on unnamed and fabricated sources to present a fake news on its December 12, 2020 edition, it said: “Even the CEO of the national carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, who is an ethnic Tigrayan, was barred from leaving the country earlier this month, according to a pilot at the airline, and a foreign diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.”
Plaut tweeted as if the whole country waged war against Tigray State cognizant of the fact that the military response only targeted to the criminal TPLF group. His claim to the presence of Eritrean and Somali troops in Tigray’s soil is also unsubstantiated by independent sources.
James Jeffrey, Freelance journalist focusing on migration, with a specialty in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa was unconvincingly contradicted Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s recent remark about no civilian causality has happened by the Federal security forces during the law enforcement campaign.
Devoid of reliable and credible sources, Jeffery tried to exaggerate the tragedy of the law enforcement operation and the displacement of people.
By the same token, Director of Sahan, a research think-tank focused on the Horn of Africa, tried to accuse Prime Minister Abiy about civilian causalities by Federal security organs without presenting any evidence for his claim.
Rashid Abdi, researcher and analyst in the Horn of Africa on his part falsely tweeted that the instability in Ethiopia bars foreign investors from doing business in the country.
The Ethiopian Herald 10 Fedruary 2021
