BY HABTAMU MULU
This age of information which was realized by the prevalence of social media has reconfigured a new order. Technology has grown increasingly and it allows people who are far away from one other to communicate more easily. It has also transformed and revolutionized the information flow and it can be also a manufacturer of fake news and cyber propaganda. The media has produced false and misleading information daily despite some serving as a source of trusted news.
Ethiopia has become a victim of social media. The social media fabricates events based on hearsay, which can then be used as evidence later on. The country’s adversaries often cook false information, misinformation, disinformation, and biased news to smear the image of the country. Particularly, “the Ethiopian Conflict” is the most misinformed scenario without a doubt.
The terrorist TPLF group which held the nation as captives for closer to three decades tried too hard to control the narratives around the war in Ethiopia by intensively spreading false news and distorted contents. Propaganda, sloppy journalism, and fake news are what TPLF was most known for.
The TPLF groups which are pathological liars lie compulsively, often with no concern for how their lies will affect others. Presumably, they lie to avoid accountability or protect themselves from embarrassment.
As a habit, it had been using propaganda during its infantry era to spread and sow fear among the people and government of Ethiopia during the Derg Regime. Now in this war which it launched and orchestrated purposely TPLF, it took its fake news expertise to a whole new level with the help of some foreign powers located especially in western countries.
Historically, they are habitual liars that tell several small lies throughout their lives that add up to a bigger one. Their campaigners and lobbyists fabricate a limitless amount of false information and it distorts the truth on the ground to show their desired image to the global community. The fabrication can be done on both mainstream and social media platforms.
The purpose of this type of fabrication is to make people believe that there is no other side to what they are seeing and that the only way for them to be happy is by following TPLF’s ideology whoever created the propaganda. Although fake news is the nature of TPLF and what it is made for it merely can’t be successful in misinforming the whole world without its western allies. Lying has become a common tactic for them and their supporters to spread “fake news” through various channels to strengthen their position and discredit the Ethiopian government’s positions.
The Ethiopian conflict (it’s not even a conflict for me; it’s clearly a democratically elected government trying to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a sovereign nation against a terrorist group) is misrepresented starting from the very beginning of the war. TPLF and its allies in fake news narrated as if the war was launched on the 4th of November when PM Abiy gave an order to the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) to protect the country. But the fact is TPLF started the war on the night of November 3 when it inhumanly attacked the northern command located in the region.
TPLF’s two top Persons, the late Sekoture Getachew and Gen Tsadekan (the latter was dubbed “the smartest African general” by the BBC), unequivocally conceived to start the war on the 3rd of November both claiming as self-defense. They deliberately created false narratives by internet trolls. They attempted to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct society’s behavior to achieve a response that furthers their desired intent of destabilizing the country.
Since then, with the help of the western mainstream media, human rights groups, and also governments and associations of states, TPLF achieved a high rate of success in spreading fake news. The influence of mainstream media is undeniable. It influences how people think, decide, and act. The western mainstream media has played an important role in aborting the idea of democracy in Ethiopia.
Sadly, these mainstream media outlets take a negative turn in recent years when it comes to reporting on certain events happening in Ethiopia. We expect that they are often influenced by governments, powerful organizations, or advertisers that own them. They are not as reliable to the solid facts of Ethiopia as they used to be.
That’s because of the continued growth of fake news. It seems now that most Ethiopians are becoming more skeptical about the information they get from these media outlets. This is because of many allegations of fake news on Ethiopia in recent years – both by journalists and politicians who have used this method to achieve their goals. Regrettably, they digitally manipulated content out of context, and misleading contents and fabricated contents spread by this group on the social media platforms.
The terrorist group aimed its fake news at three main targets. First, it directed its manipulated contents to the people of Ethiopia to sow fear and psychological impact on Ethiopians. Its second target was the international community at which it tried to create blurry sights towards Ethiopia and the situation in Ethiopia. Third, it impacted the people of Tigray by tremendously fabricating fake news that create a sense of psychological havoc and devastation on Tigrayan youths that led to illogical sacrifice under a psychological impact. During these times at which
TPLF outreached dozens of fake news to the Western MSM usually echoed the terrorist group’s claims. For continuous months, the most sang fabricated issues were the Fake Tigray Genocide myth and the use of starvation as a war instrument by GoE which were both nullified by the EHRC and UN OHRC joint investigative team (JIT) report. However, both agendas were and are being advocated for by the western MSM.
In these all regards, TPLF proved to be not only pathological liars but also has a strong problem of integrity among itself. We have witnessed how these terrorists are changing their words like litmus paper does in a laboratory. TPLF top officials like Getachew Reda , who is the expert on disinformation and fake news, and Debretsion have been seen to twist their tongue on many occasions mainly to confuse and gain the support of Tigray people and the IC. The recent defeat they suffered at the hands of Ethiopian popular forces has exposed how mentally unstable these TPLF officials are. It was the most destructive tragedy that they faced. indeed, no matter how much the victors are justified in our actions, their defeat brings terrible consequences in its wake. They were defeated both physically and psychologically. Yet, their single story is different.
As we know TPLF criminals said that they have withdrawn their ‘forces’ from Afar and Amhara regions in northern Ethiopia, a step towards a possible ceasefire after 13 months of a brutal war. TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda stated that “The Tigrayan troops were pulled out of Amhara and Afar, and made the decision to retreat to Tigray because we want to open the door for humanitarian aid.”. But the truth is that The TPLF retreated from Afar and Amhara regions because they were defeated by the Ethiopian national defense force. The TPLF has suffered significant losses and is now claiming a ‘strategic retreat’ to compensate for its failure. They still have pockets of resistance in the Amhara region, as well as other fronts where they are striving to reopen the battle.
Before they were open to negotiation, Tsadkan Gebretensae (dubbed “the smartest African general” by the BBC) was 100 percent certain of capturing Addis Ababa. The west bought into this swagger and fabricated a TPLF victory. After all this rampant, he said that “Tigray withdrawal came under drone attack and after talks with allies on transition lagged behind the military advance. Also due to the U.S. sanction threat on Tigray’s govt. Tsadkan concealed massive atrocities committed by his forces in Amhara & Afar regions; he also presented Tigray as a defender of multinational federalism despite decades of Tigrayan occupation of Raya & Welkait. Promoting the idea of withdrawal by the TPLF is a fallacy, lies, and slander, and it is words aimed at insulting the heroic soldiers who sacrificed everything they possessed to preserve the security, unity, territorial integrity, and stability of their country. Even if it’s hard to figure out where their head is, there are no excuses for their crimes against Ethiopia, no matter how many falsehoods they manufacture.
To sum up, time and process are getting TPLF’s well-orchestrated building of lies naked days in days out. The more they lie, the more they are exposed. The super-fast nature of TPLF lies made it difficult to catch the location of their points, sometimes even for their supporters and propagators. For us who closely follow their inherently toxic nature of fake news and propaganda, there is no place for them in the truth arena. So we don’t look after them in places of facts. We know where to find them, they are LIE FARM!
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The
The January 4/2022
