BY SHIFERAW ABEBE
The third axis of this unholy propaganda crusade are foreign journalists and news agencies. These guys are the funniest only if we were not dealing with a serious matter.
Wars are terrible things anywhere, anytime. They take away lives, destroy hard-earned assets and inflict long-lasting emotional trauma. They often cause the most damage to those who don’t deserve any of it at all.
So, my heart goes out to the people of Tigray who have been directly impacted by the recent military operation in that region.
If there is any consolation, it is the fact that the worst possible scenario was averted, thanks to the careful planning and execution of the military operation by the Ethiopian armed forces.
When the operation began early November 2020, we were all bracing for a calamity of a staggering proportion; we were afraid the fighting could turn out to be fierce and protracted, catching tens of thousands, if not more regular folks in cross fires. That didn’t happen and is something to be thankful for.
This does not lessen the gravity of the humanitarian crisis that followed. Millions of Tigreans were left without access to food, drinking water and other basic necessities of life.
For a region that relies on food safety-nets at the best of times, any length of disruption in the transportation system was bound to trigger a serious shortage of food and starvation across Tigray. Initially, the restrictions on personal mobility due to security concerns and the power outage only made a bad situation worse.
Recent reports are encouraging, however. Food distribution is reaching millions, while telecommunication, power, healthcare and other social amenities are restored in much of Tigray.
The federal government has done a commendable job by all accounts, especially when one appreciates the fact that this war was forced on it at the worst of times, dealing with instabilities elsewhere, a lethal pandemic, and multiple natural disasters.
Tigray’s recovery back to normality will take time and patience. Various reports confirm TPLF has left much infrastructure damage behind it to ensure recovery would be hard and creates bitterness among Tigreans toward the federal government.
The Machiavellian mentality has followed TPLF to the grave. By contrast, the federal government’s goodwill and commitment to rehabilitate Tigray cannot be doubted. It didn’t wait for the military operation to be completed fully before it started mobilizing resources for this purpose; no sane person can expect more.
The unholy propaganda campaign… One axis of this unholy propaganda crusade are foreign journalists and news agencies. These guys are the funniest only if we were not dealing with a serious matter.
The efficiency and precision with which Ethiopian defense forces routed the “fearsome, battle-hardened” TPLF is something for military experts and historians to analyze in the future.
But this feeling is not shared with many western news agencies who actually appear to be disappointed because the war was over too soon, depriving them of a news mine of a bloody, drawn-out war. Shamelessly, these news organizations are now nibbling on crumbs of the aftermath stories, often misreporting or exaggerating them.
The individual so-called journalists who have joined the propaganda crusade are not just confirming their western biases, which wouldn’t surprise us. They are working overtime for every penny they are being paid from TPLF loots. With their fake title of “experts” given to them by clueless western media, they produce innuendoes and half-baked analyses for a western audience who are uninformed and, quite frankly, uninterested.
Some of the known names have been a constant critic of the new Ethiopian government ever since their paymaster retreated to Mekele and naturally they are dishonest with their western audiences about what happened before, during and after the war in Tigray.
They know this war was TPLF’s making, that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had stretched an olive branch to TPLF time and again, that TPLF declined to seize the opportunity and instead actively and openly undermined federal authority including by refusing to hand over wanted criminals.
I am sure they at least suspected that TPLF had something to do with the instability throughout the country in the past three years.
The fact is these journalists don’t have an honest interest in the welfare of Ethiopia, Tigray or their paymaster, TPLF, for that matter. They don’t care if the country burns down or descends into a civil war any moment and their dishonest reporting contributed to it.
But, the fact also remains, at the end of the day, what they say or write about Ethiopia shouldn’t matter. Ethiopia’s future will be shaped by Ethiopians and Ethiopians alone. Let alone hired journalists, foreign governments and international organizations have no right to stop Ethiopians from shaping their own future.
Ethiopia has proven that with the right leadership it is capable of not only handling its own internal affairs, but can also foster great and mutually rewarding relationships with its neighbors to make the horn a region of peace that needs western meddling no more.
In just three short years, Ethiopia has swiftly ended hostility with Eritrea, a hostility that was kept alive by TPLF for 20 long years to keep two brotherly and sisterly people at odds with each other.
Ethiopia has played a pivotal role in Sudan’s peaceful political transition, and it has strengthened security and economic relationships with Kenya, Somalia and beyond. With TPLF gone, Ethiopia will be a peace-loving consequential force in
the horn, there is no doubt about that. If this projection vexes anyone’s geopolitical mindset, interest or deep-seated arrogance toward Ethiopia or the horn broadly, so be it; Ethiopians have no choice but be ready to face that challenge. If Ethiopia trades off its sovereignty and independence for crumbs of aid money now, it will remain in bondage to that aid forever.
The past cannot be mended by lies; the future cannot be built with delusions… There is no point in reaching out to hardcore TPLF supporters or those on TPLF’s payroll.
These folks believed TPLF’s promise of burying the Ethiopian army in Tigray. At the very least, they thought TPLF would put up a fierce, protracted battle to force the federal government to negotiate under TPLF’s terms.
To simply state those beliefs and hopes didn’t materialize would be understating the extent of the shock these folks felt when TPLF was virtually decommissioned in a matter of two weeks. Ever since, they are going through the known stages of grief, so little to do for the rest of us until they hopefully emerge on the other end.
The TPLF leaders were criminals. Like it or not, that is how the rest of us believe. They killed or ordered the killing, torture
and jailing of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians during their 27-year tyranny. They should have been locked up and have their day in court the day a new administration was in place three years ago.
That didn’t happen because the new prime minister chose a non-retribution route and the Ethiopian people sucked up their grievances and agreed to let bygones be bygones.
The vast majority of Ethiopians are more than happy that TPLF is gone, but no one is happy about what the common residents of Tigray are going through now and want to help.
You want to help the people of Tigray, then let’s help them together with honesty, not by telling lies about the war or entertaining delusional notions about the future of Tigray or your country, Ethiopia.
Editor’s Note: This piece first appeared on ecadform.com and was slightly edited to make it suitable for this page. The writer can be reached at Shiferawabebe1@gmail.com.
The Ethiopian Herald February 27/2021
