Ethiopian Diaspora Calls EU to Act In Accordance With Its Founding Values, Stand by Ethiopia

Addis Ababa November 16/2014 /ENA/ The Ethiopian Diaspora Associations in Europe called on the European Union (EU) to act in accordance with its founding values and stand by Ethiopia and its people.
The Ethiopian Diaspora Associations made the call in a letter written to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

The letter stated that the seemingly coordinated information warfare on Ethiopia by several news organizations and social media platforms is part of the multi-pronged hostility of the West towards Ethiopia.   

As if democratic legitimacy is irrelevant for EU’s foreign policy, it has been consistently taking a hard-line position vis-à-vis Ethiopia while turning a blind eye towards the present and past transgressions of the TPLF, it added.

According to the association, EU first punished Ethiopian people by withholding development aid and is now threatening punitive sanctions, be it on selected entities.

“It has also collaborated with the USA and other nations to haul Ethiopia repeatedly in front of the UN Security Council for what is largely an internal affair of a sovereign country that is battling an armed insurrection.”

These paradoxical attacks remained relentless even after the joint investigation report by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the UN Human Rights Office found no indications of genocide or evidence of the use of rape and/or blockade of humanitarian aid a weapon of war by Ethiopian government.

TPLF took all these as tacit endorsement by the Western countries and went on its aggression in neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara, triggering untold human suffering and destruction of property as a recent Amnesty International report documented.

“To our surprise, these “despicable acts by TPLF fighters that amount to war crimes, and potentially crimes against humanity” and which are also said to “defy morality or any iota of humanity” did not draw any condemnation from the EU,” the letter stated.

Furthermore, it said that “we suspect that the seemingly coordinated information warfare on Ethiopia by several news organizations and social media platforms is part of this multi-pronged hostility of the West towards Ethiopia.”

These establishments are engaged in cover-ups, exaggeration or outright fabrication of information with the aim of exacerbating the suffering of Ethiopian people and discrediting their government.

Many are also determined to silence reasonable Ethiopian voices and media outlets while allowing or echoing the vile messages of the TPLF and its agents, the letter added.

“Ethiopia is a trusted ally, not an enemy or a pariah state. Therefore, we demand that the EU act in accordance with its founding values and stand by Ethiopia and its people,” it said.

The letter further stated that “We consider that the consolidation of democratic gains, including the recent national elections and the pursuit of structural reforms (institutional, economic and social) are essential to providing lasting solutions to problems that Ethiopia is facing.”