(The following is an excerpt from the book "Lost in Transition: Deceit and Conflict in Ethiopia (2014-2022)" published on 25 September 2025 by Befekadu Hailu.)
The Tigray war allowed many foreign "Ethiopia
experts" to emerge and speak authoritatively on behalf of Ethiopians.
Despite having published books or articles on Ethiopia and visited the country
several times, these experts often lacked proficiency in local Ethiopian
languages. As a result, they were usually blind to the nuances of some complex
issues. Some were overtly partisan to one of the warring parties, while others
maintained a veneer of impartiality. However, almost all of them displayed
partiality towards one side or the other.
Fana Gebresenbet and Yonas Tariku, researchers at the
Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University, strongly
criticized the role these experts played in spreading misinformation and
disinformation about the Tigray war. They went so far as to name
and shame some of these experts from Europe and North America, accusing them of
a lack of professionalism. This sparked a debate and response from some of the
accused.
Fana and Yonas observed that the tweets and opinion pieces of these experts “easily show whose side they are on and the extent to which they are willing to defend that side’s actions.” They added, “most scholars (both Ethiopians and foreigners) were reduced to mere activists rather than voices of reason and resolution.” However, considering the concerns that Ethiopia’s survival as a state was at stake, they said, “it is understandable that Ethiopian scholars inevitably had to choose a side.”[1]
