Ethio-American Journalist Says Reports of Some Western Media Inaccurate and Biased

November 9/2021 /ENA/ Reports of some Western media about the current situation in Ethiopia are inaccurate and one sided, Ethio-American journalist Hermela Aregawi said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, the journalist said broadly speaking the reports have been inaccurate and there are lots of glaring gaps with particular reports within each media organization.

In terms of humanitarian assistance in Tigray, they say there was a de facto blockade and that was not true as humanitarian aid was going into the region.

According to her, "a lot of the reports by CNN are one sided and they have been really speaking the narrative of what the rebels want people to believe in terms of genocide and ethnic cleansing. There have been no reports on CNN about TPLF militia going into the Amhara and Afar regions where thousands died. So, that is really very huge. Things need to be balanced.”

The Tigray militia led fighting in Amhara and Afar regions continued where a lot of people were killed and at least 200 people killed in Kombolacha city.

The New York Times and Wall Street newspapers have also been writing the same narrative as CNN, not recognizing the other aspects of the war that the TPLF militia is doing, Hermela stated.

Whether intentionally or not, the narratives really support a rebel group pretending that the group is a victim and taking the elected government as a culprit, she elaborated.

The journalist further recalled that a couple of days ago there were a group of so-called federalist and confederalists that convened press conference attended by presses like Reuters and New York Times in Washington DC and declared that they were going to forcibly dismantle the Ethiopian government.

Hermela noted that there is no real indication that this group represents anybody in Ethiopia. It looks like it was a group that was created by TPLF allies or officials.

Such kinds of issues might indicate that the U.S government and their media are in some ways helping the TPLF and trying to overthrow the elected government, she said, adding that the narrative is pushing the rebel insurgency as something that is valid.

“When it comes to actually what is beneficial to the U.S and the Horn of Africa, it seems that the USA would want to support a democracy and would want to support the prime minister that has been elected by the majority of the people because that is the thing that's going to lead to peace.”

The US narrative seems to equate the Ethiopian Government with the rebels that are fighting the elected government, she said.    

These days there is a lot of pressure, including a protest in D.C this morning, pushing the U.S to live up to its democratic values, according to the journalist.

Over the past couple of days, Ethiopians also staged mass rallies across the country, engaging in pushing back against this false narrative.

“I think it helps people to release some of their frustrations and makes them get more engaged; and I think it doesn't matter if you're silent about your pain and suffering. No one is going to recognize that or you can expect that the international world will recognize that unless you speak up and make  your feelings known,” the journalist said.

Regarding the continued pressure of the U.S on the Government of Ethiopia, Hermela said the officials have relationship with some of the TPLF leadership. It’s unclear who really is making the decisions in terms of the State Department and the US government.

She revealed that there are lots of personal relationships potentially, some with financial gain.