For some time, negative reports on Ethiopia’s Tigray State have been constantly seen on Western media trying to dye Ethiopia with biased as well unbalanced and unfounded information in the name of humanitarian aid and humanity. Some international media house deliberately engaged on using blistering words to sensitizing it.
We are hearing sensational words as “genocide” and “sexual abuse”. As well try to prescribe where the security forces should stationed and quizzing the federal government denying what it had done in the region. In my view, the law enforcement operation had it not be reversed the whole horn Africa will be in an unpresented chaos and misery.
Thank you for the hero defense force of Ethiopia it foiled and pushed those who are behind the attack in the region. In my view, such accusations call into question the political purposes behind them, it not humanitarian nether nor humanity affairs. Media houses try to ignore 600 civilians were killed in massacre in Tigray by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front militias and informal youth groups called ‘samri.’
The world knows that in September, Tigray defied the Federal Government and the constitution by going ahead with regional parliamentary elections, which the federal government had ordered postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Ethiopian lawmakers voted to cut funding to the region in October, incensing Tigray leaders.
At the same time on the night of Nov. 3-4, T.P.L.F. forces attacked a federal military base in Tigray and attempted to steal its weapons. The T.P.L.F. has said it struck preemptively, as federal forces prepared to assault Tigray, which a lie the fact is it wants to come to power or destabilize the nation.
A media house should go through the whole picture rather dissecting to gain any kind of political game, to any kind group. Where there is conflict, humanitarian crisis and displacement is inevitable and efforts should be exerted to avert. At the same time those who committed crime should stand before the court, the government is trying to bring those who committed the crime accountable.
It should be well noted that TPLF is the source of all conflicts that results in the internal displacement of people, so undermining and efforts to cover up the groups ill intentions is fallacious. The Federal Government had done all it could to restore communications and access humanitarian aid but still some remnant groups are still to confiscate food and medicine to the communities and also rob it for their own purpose affecting the supply chain as well working in damaging the roads to the remote parts of the State.
The allegations made by international media houses and some paid writers are intuitions and nations have been hyped up over and over again, as if lies repeated a thousand times can become truth. We should trust the millions rather than a few who want to trade professionalism to cultivate their own cult of activism. The question is who should trust those few, or to trust hundreds of millions who have actually been to the State Tigray.
Recently, more and more people in the world have shown rational thinking and voiced objective and just views on Tigray State and keep on supporting the government stance and humanitarian aid practically and refrain from one side channel who are consumed in hate and lurking to destabilize the Horn Africa. The media house should stop fabricating fake news through data abuse, information distortion and false witness accounts using the fixers on the ground.
The lack of knowledge and rational thinking may lead to bias. Bias affects one’s judgment. Misjudgment and unprofessionalism may cause real harm. As an Ethiopian’s saying goes: listen to both sides and you will be enlightened; heed only one side and you will be benighted. It’s hoped that all people could listen more to the voices of people of all ethnic groups in the State, to the voices of the Ethiopia people, and to objective and reasonable voices all over the world. Ethiopia welcomes media houses and institutions who want to cover the true picture of the State, but opposes investigation based on presumption of guilt.
BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
The Ethiopian Herald June 6/2021
