It has been quite a while since the global media and their paymasters waged information warfare against Ethiopia. The spread of fake news and misinformation have been meant to put pressure on Ethiopia into succumbing to the interests of the west.
In fact, the ongoing race to impose sanctions against Ethiopia on baseless accusations has been fueled by international media outlets spearheaded by CNN. The media has been continuously getting itself involved in smear campaigns against the country.
Notwithstanding the fact that CNN has been working round the clock with a view to tarnish the good image of the country making use of fabricated stories. It is to be recalled that President Biden signed an executive order threatening across-the-board new sanctions with the intention of sojourning the escalating war in the northern parts of Ethiopia.
Supporting Biden’s executive order, the European Parliament also threatened to impose sanction against Ethiopia. EU’s position in fact attracted oppsotion from Ethiopian diaspora in Belgium and Luxembourg. The community issued a letter protesting the imbalanced resolution issued by the European Parliament.
Lauding the genuine concern and support of the EU in addressing the humanitarian crisis in affected regions, the community called on the parliament to have an objective and impartial assessment of the conflict.
The community called on the parliament to hold the terrorist TPLF accountable for attacking Ethiopia’s Northern Command in a preemptive strike that sparked the conflict that we are witnessing today.
As part of its commitment to tarnishing the image of Ethiopia, the group devised a scheme to obstruct aid to the Tigray region at the cost of innocent lives, they said.
The community urged the parliament to give attention to the plight of people in the Afar and Amhara regions who are suffering from deliberate attacks against their lives and properties by the TPLF.
They also urged the European Parliament to take note of the misdeeds of some aid agencies that tampered with data to influence policy decisions against the interest of the people and government of Ethiopia.
For many though, spreading fake reports are being used to impose sanction against Ethiopia.
In the current circumstances, as CNN’s cooked up stories have no end, it has recently shown up with a fabricated story entitled “Ethiopia used its flagship commercial airline to transport weapons during war in Tigray.”
Without tangible evidence, the media reported saying the incumbent government has used the country’s flagship commercial airline to shuttle weapons to and from neighboring Eritrea during the civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
In a similar vein, as the media strongly wants the United States of America to place sanctions on Ethiopia, it is engaged at the current juncture in spreading a new wave of false allegations by breaching journalism ethics and standards. By way of illustration, the media reported saying, “Atrocities committed during the conflict also appear to violate the terms of a trade program that provides lucrative access to the United States market and which Ethiopian Airlines has benefited greatly from.”
As a matter of fact, the desired goal of the media is to impact the Ethiopian Airline and twist Ethiopia’s arm imposing embargo on companies that contribute dearly to the country’s economy.
Despondently, CNN moves heaven and earth time and again with a view to bewildering the international community with misinfor mation and disinformation working in unison with paid activists, lobbying firms and things of that sort and make its dream become a reality. Instead of familiarizing the international community with the honest truth going on across the country, the media ends up condemning the government of Ethiopia bringing cooked-up stories into play time after time.
In spite of the fact that the media is expected to acquaint the international community with credible information, it is busy spearheading fake news and misleading the international community while fanning coverage in mass media.
Refuting CNN’S report, Ethiopian Airlines strongly denied the recent allegations by media regarding the airlines’ involvement in transporting weapons.
Ethiopian Airlines is a multi-award-winning global airline which is one of the senior members of IATA and member of Star Alliance for a decade, and which has been providing safe and reliable air transport service to the continent of Africa and the rest of the world for the last 75 years and that has been commended for its humanitarian and commercial operations in good and bad times. Accordingly, Ethiopian Airlines strictly complies with all National, regional and International aviation-related regulations, the statement added.
Hence, Ethiopian Airlines strongly refutes the recent allegations by CNN and would like to confirm that to the best of its knowledge and its records, it has not transported any war armament in any of its routes by any of its Aircraft. The mentioned air waybills in the CNN article clearly show that the nature of goods transported on the alleged flights was “Foodstuff and Refill” as declared on the document as per IATA standards. The alleged pictures are not known to Ethiopian Airlines.
We would also like to confirm that we don’t have any employees suspended or terminated due to their ethnic background. There is no employee in Ethiopian Airlines suspended or terminated from our payroll due to their ethnic background. This can be verified from our Human Resources records.
On top of the four-fold (4X) growth registered in all parameters in the last decade, which repositioned our airline as the leading Airline in the Continent of Africa, Ethiopian Airlines demonstrated unique and top of the line level of creativity, agility, resilience, and speed of decision making in managing the devastating global pandemic crisis.
Thus, we would like to assure all our passengers and the public that Ethiopian Airlines strictly complies with all International aviation related regulations & standards, doesn’t deviate from any civil aviation regulations in all its operations, it has never been engaged in any weapons transportation and kindly requests correction in this report.
Approached by The Ethiopian Press Agency, regarding the report of CNN, Abadula Gemeda, board member of the Ethiopian Airlines said, “The report on the Ethiopian Airlines is a false and misleading one. It goes without saying that the Airlines is a company that goes along with international airline rules.
He went on to say, “The misleading report on the Ethiopian Airline is part and parcel of the international pressure on Ethiopia, and tarnishing its reputation. “The Airlines serves as an emblem of Ethiopia.”
He stressed that Ethiopian Airlines is a company that complies with international aviation regulations. “It has not ever got off the international aviation regulations,” he added.
He elucidated that on account of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no airlines worldwide that did not ask for subsidies. Furthermore, many employees were forced to leave their job. However, during those tough times, Ethiopian Airlines stood tall against all the odds. “The management and the entire staff of the Ethiopian airlines are hard-working.”
“As the Ethiopian Airlines has been in service for more than seven decades, CNN would like to drive the airline out of the market by engaging itself in a smear campaign,” he concluded.
BY ADDISALEM MULAT
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD OCTOBER 10/2021
