By Ghion W. Dessie

I just read a news article on The New York Times that questions the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali of Ethiopia. It was a one sided article that only showed a quarter of the truth. It totally misrepresents the facts that led the Ethiopian government to undertake a law enforcement mission in the Tigrai region of Ethiopia.

Here is what the article says about the reason why Abiy ordered a “military operation” against the TPLF: “But in early November Mr. Abiy ordered military operations and airstrikes in Tigray, a region whose leaders had defied him by proceeding with an election that had been called off because of the pandemic.”

Obviously, the situation is more complex than what the writer depicted. There were many developments that the writer purposefully ignored because it doesn’t serve the writer’s obvious agenda of ridiculing the recent decisions of the Nobel Peace Prize committee. To mention a few a few of these developments: the government alleges and independent sources confirm and even the TPLF itself boastfully admitted that the TPLF attacked federal military camps killing soldiers and seizing many federal military bases and artilleries including some short-range missiles (if the writer did some digging he would have realized that TPLF’s mouthpiece Getachew K Reda and another high ranking official by the name Secutre Getachew are on tape confirming that they preemptively attacked the country’s military base and are capable of firing missiles that could reach Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa); 500+ mostly ethnic Amhara unarmed innocent civilians were recently massacred by the TPLF in Tigrai region; there were similar series of killings of again innocent and unarmed Amharas and other Ethiopians in different parts of Ethiopia which the Federal government is accusing the TPLF of orchestrating; the TPLF, for the last two years, has refused to turn in criminals accused of gross violations of human rights and corruption to the Federal government; the Tigrai region is currently being led by the military warlords that have committed so many war crimes and human rights abuses in Ethiopia for 27 years prior to Abiy’s term in office; the so called election the author is referring to in the article ended with the ruling TPLF winning 99.9 percent of the votes. Most of these facts have been verified by independent media outlets.

Did the author of the article mention any of these FACTS? Of course not! Who cares about the detail?! Facts were swept under the rug to make the headline attractive. Facts were sacrificed for a catchy headline. It’s almost as if CONTEXT doesn’t matter anymore- FACTS don’t matter anymore. The author wanted his readers to believe that Abiy, the Nobel Laurette, just woke up one morning and decided to wage war on his own people. This is Yellow Journalism at its best.

Does the writer of the article know anything about Ethiopia? Did he even bother to do a few minutes of research before writing the article? Has he bothered to reach out to the Ethiopian government and asked for its side of the story?

All of the facts I mentioned above have everything to do with the law enforcement mission Abiy’s government is undertaking in the Tigrai region against the TPLF and the criminals hiding in Mekelle. The selective outrage displayed in this article is so hypocritical of the New York Times and a complete and utter failure of professional journalism. Such dubious misrepresentations and intentional omissions display sub-standard click-journalism and media sensationalism the likes of which is common among modern day amateur YouTube broadcasters.

#TheNewYorkTimes #AbiyAhmed #NobelPeacePrize

የኢትዮጵያ ብሔራዊ ምርጫ ቦርድ ነሃሴ 23 ቀን 2012 ዓ.ም ሊያከናውነው አቅዶ ለነበረው አገራዊ አጠቃላይ ምርጫ ለድምጽ መስጫ ቀን የሚያገለግሉ ቁሳቁሶች ግዥን ማጠናቀቁ ይታወሳል፡፡ በዚህም መሰረት ቀድመው ወደመጋዘን ከገቡት የመራጮች ምዝገባ ቁሳቁሶች በተጨማሪ የድምጽ መስጫ ቀን የሚያገለግሉ ቁሳቁሶች ወደመጋዘን እየገቡ ይገኛል፡፡ ለድምጽ መስጫ ቀን የተገዙ ቁሳቁሶች 

1. ከግልጽ የሆነ ድምጽ መስጫ ሳጥን – 213,622
2. የሚስጥር ድምጽ መስጫ መከለያ – 156,600 
3. የድምጽ መስጫ ቀን የአስፈጻሚዎች ቁሳቁስ- 58,400 
4. ልዩ የምርጫ ቁሳቁሶች ማሸጊያ ፕላስቲክ ( plastic seal)  እና የእሸጋ ስራ ስቲከሮች – 798,300 

ሲሆኑ ከነዚህም መካከል በመጀመሪያ ዙር የራሳቸው ልዮ መለያ ቁጥር ያላቸው የድምጽ መስጫ ሳጥኖች ወደመጋዘን ገብተዋል፡፡ በቀጣይ ዙርም ቀሪዎቹ የድምጽ መስጫ ቀን ቁሳቁሶች መጋዘን ገብተው የሚጠናቀቁ ይሆናል፡፡ 

ምንጭ: የኢትዮጵያ ብሔራዊ ምርጫ ቦርድ 

PRESS RELEASES from The Congressional Black Caucus – June 23, 2020

In recent months negotiations have stalled and there has been an escalation of tensions on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that impacts, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan.  The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) encourages the continued cooperation and peaceful negotiations of all stakeholders in the construction of the GERD. These negotiations should be based on mutual benefit, good faith, and the principles of international law. The multi-billion-dollar GERD project was announced in 2011, and will have a positive impact in the region by providing Africa’s biggest hydropower dam that will generate approximately 6,000 megawatts of electricity, thus allowing Ethiopia to export power to neighboring countries.

The Congressional Black Caucus urges the United States and all other international actors to respect the 2015 Declaration of Principles trilateral agreement signed between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, and to continue to play an impartial role, only seeking the counsel of the African Union and diplomats on the ground in the region. In particular, the African Union has a pivotal role to play by expressing to all parties that a peaceful negotiated deal benefits all and not just some on the continent.

The GERD project directly affects the flow of water, the supply of energy, and the food security of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Recently, the region’s agriculture sector has suffered due to abnormal precipitation droughts. With Egypt’s rapidly growing population nearing 100 million, the GERD will help improve water supply and take pressure off the Nile river, which supplies an overwhelming majority of the country’s fresh water. In Ethiopia, the country is currently facing a drought that is expected to directly impact nearly 20 percent of its population combined with a locust outbreak that has eaten more than 80,000 acres of crops in recent months. In Sudan, the GERD dam will contribute to the country’s water regulation and sediment reduction, and expand agricultural projects, increase hydropower production, and provide flood control.

The GERD project will have a positive impact on all countries involved and will help combat food security and lack of electricity and power, supply more fresh water to more people, and stabilize and grow the economies in the region. The Congressional Black Caucus supports a peaceful negotiation to the implementation of the GERD project, and stands ready to support the African Union and all stakeholders on peacefully achieving a mutually beneficial agreement.