The truth is the best propaganda: Ethiopian Embassy Photoshop Fails

Written By: Kassahun Addis

The regime in Addis Ababa and its diplomatic missions around the globe spend more time bedeviling members of the Diaspora opposed to the lack of democracy in Ethiopia. While they should be working to promote the interest and safety of citizens abroad, they spend resources spying on individuals, dividing communities and fundraising. This is on top of unofficial import export business most embassy officials are engaged in.

The original picture

The photoshopped picture in the tigraionline.com article

This short piece is to put further light on how low these embassies go to achieve their goals. A picture caption of a story published on Tigraionline.com by the Public Relation head, Tsehaye Debalkew, of the embassy ask "What evidence do you want more than a picture?" (See the article written by Ato Tsehaye, an official working for Ethiopian embassy in DC, USA )

How far will the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC go to taint everyone opposed to the systemic and gross violation of basic human rights in the country as hate mongers, Eritrea loving, power mongers? Well, the answer is they will use basic paint program from their desktop and do amateurish Photoshop of pictures showing Ethiopians rallying against the Saudi abuse of their fellow country men and women.

Ato Tsehaye Debalkew accuses what he calls the “few Diaspora" of “character assassination." The irony is that he, and the office he represents, manipulated a picture, or used manipulated picture, to assassinate the characters of the "few Diaspora" Then to add insult to our intelligence, he captioned it "What evidence do you want more than a picture?"

I wouldn't have been surprised if sharing of this fake picture was only circulated in social media. Apparently there were already 50+ shares of this picture. Well, that is unregulated sphere and anyone can do anything. But coming from an official, spokesperson, of the embassy and carried by tigraionline, a semi official website, I felt obliged to put this together.

#SomeoneTellSaudiArabia'ns to stand with #Ethiopia'ns to Stop Human Rights Violation

For me, the people of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and #Ethiopia are two people with the same behavior. Especially, until the former have gotten the oil to become rich. Both are religious people who lived under series of regimes that used religion as a tool to get legitimacy and rule in a totalitarian way. Even now, both of our rulers are accumulating economic power by exploiting resources of each of us.

Our relationship as two people started when the prophet's family came here seeking security protection and continued when ours flock to Saudi seeking economic liberation. Our King (Armah) said he would never give the prophet's family to his enemies even had he had proposed a mountain of gold. We want to hear that from the people of Saudi Arabia today.

Currently, Saudi Arabian billionaires are engaged in farming investments in Ethiopia which the people called "land grabbing". Thousands of local people are displaced from their birthplace for the farm whose fruits will be collected to feed Saudi Arabians. On the other hand, our poor citizens are coming to your country. We believe that you may be experiencing in some activities that are inconvenient to your society. We also believe you have a lot of ways to solve this rather than brutality against humanity.

A few Ethiopians have committed crimes in Saudi Arabia and it is not fair to conclude Ethiopians are criminals. Similarly, because a few Saudi Arabians are committing crimes against Ethiopians, we cannot say Saudi Arabians are against Ethiopians. It is in this understanding that I call Saudi Arabians to stand hand in hand with Ethiopians for the respect of humanity, rule of law and love between the people.

ነዋሪዎቹ ለምን እርሻውን አቃጠሉት?

በቅርቡ ከሰማናቸው ዜናዎች ውስጥ አንዱ ‹‹በጋምቤላ በሕንዳዊው ኩባንያ ቨርዳንታ ሐርቨስት የተያዘው እርሻ በአካባቢው ሰዎች እሳት ተለቀቀበት›› የሚል ይገኝበታል፡፡ የአካባቢው ነዋሪዎች እርሻውን ማቃጠላቸው ስህተት እንደሆነ አምናለሁ፤ ነገር ግን በዚህ ጽሑፍ በነርሱ ቦታ ሳልሆን ልፈርድባቸው አልደፍርም፡፡ ይልቁንም በዚህ መረጃ ላይ ተመስርቼ ‹‹ለምን›› የሚለውን ጥያቄ ለመመለስ እሞክራለሁ፡፡

ፕሮፌሰር አለማየሁ ገብረማርያም የዛሬ ሁለት ዓመት (ኦክቶበር 16፣ 2011) ‹‹ቀጣዩ እሳት በምን ይመጣ ይሆን?›› በሚል ስጋታቸውን የጻፉት በዚያው ክልል ትልቅ የእርሻ ቦታ የገዛውን የካሩቱሪስታን ኩባንያ የመጀመሪያ ምርቱን የሰደድ እሳት ከበላበት በኋላ ነበር፡፡ ይህ በሆነ ልክ በሁለት ዓመቱ ነው ዘንድሮ ሌላኛው የሕንድ ኩባንያ እርሻ ላይ ነዋሪዎቹ እሳት የለቀቁበት፡፡

ብዙ የሚታወቀውና 300ሺሕ ሔክታር የእርሻ መሬት በየዓመቱ ተከፋፍሎ የሚከፈል 50 ሚሊዮን ብር ሊዝ የተከራየው ካሩቱሪስታን (ካራቱሪ) ነው፡፡ የግብርና ድርጅቶቹ የሥራ ማስኬጂያ ገንዘባቸውን የሚያገኙት ከዚሁ አገር በመሆኑ ኢንቨስትመንቱ በዚህ ረገድ የሚያስገኘው ጥቅም የለም፤ እንዲያውም ‹ካራቱሪ 62 ሚሊዮንብር የባንክ ዕዳውን መክፈል አልቻለም፡፡ ይባስ ብሎ የሠራተኞች ጡረታ ተቆራጭ እና የገቢ ግብር ለመንግሥት አላስገባም› ብሎ ሰንደቅ ጋዜጣ የዘገበው በቅርቡ ነበር፡፡ ከመሬት ሊዙ ይገኛል የሚባለው ጥቅም ‹‹የቴክኖሎጂ ሽግግር›› ነው፡፡ ነገር ግን የአካባቢዎቹን ነዋሪዎች እያበሳጨና በሌላም፣ በሌላም ከወዲሁ በተለይ ለነዋሪዎቹ አለመመቸቱን ምልክቶች ያሳያሉ፡፡

ይህን የእርሻ መቃጠል ስናነሳ በታሪክ ወደኋላ ተጉዘን ዘመነ መሳፍንት ላይ እንደርሳለን፡፡ በዘመኑ አቅም ያለው ሁሉ ባላባት የነበረበት እና ምስኪኑን ገበሬ በተደጋጋሚ እያስገበረ ያስመርር ነበርና የወቅቱ ገበሬ ገና ወታደሮች መምጣታቸውን ሲሰማ የገዛ መኸሩ ላይ እሳት ይለቅ ነበር ይሉናል የታሪክ ባለሙያዎች፡፡

ታሪክ ራሱን ደገመ!

ሰሞኑን አንድ ወዳጄ ያዋሰኝ በ2011 በFSS የታተመ የደሳለኝ ራሕመቶ ጥናት (LAND TO INVESTORS: Large-Scale Land Transfers in Ethiopia) መንግሥት የመሬት ልማት የሚለውን መቀራመት ችግሮች በአምስት አንኳር ነጥቦች ያስቀምጧቸዋል፡፡ እኔ በራሴ አገላለጽ እንደሚከተለው እዘረዝራቸዋለሁ፡-