TPLF Propaganda Wing Devastated as Government Arrests TMH Journalist

April 16, 2021

Individuals who infiltrated the Tigray Interim administration to support TPLF insurgency arrested, claim EDF 

Some of the captured journalists, and patrolling Ethiopian Defense Forces (Photo : EDF)

Borkena

Ethiopian Defense Force Special Operation Union on Friday disclosed that it has captured two journalists  who have been working as part of the propaganda wing of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – about which the Ethiopian government says that it has entirely lost its capacity to resist the Ethiopian Defense Force. 

It was said that  Fistum Berhane, a journalist for Tigray Media House, and Tamrat Yemane,  a journalist for the Aiga Forum, were arrested in Mekelle after a search operation by special commandos of the Ethiopian Defense Force. 

They were arrested in a studio rented out in a residential house from where they were supplying information to the TPLF propaganda machine based in the Diaspora. They were in live transmission at the time when they were arrested, it was added. 

Electronic devices used in producing news contents ,and clothing and medicines that were prepared to be dispatched to the guerrilla forces were seized during the search operation, according to information from the Defense Force. 

Getachew Reda, spokesperson of TPLF, had been appearing on Tigray Media House live to update TPLF supporters in the Diaspora, and also to provide media in the west with information to accuse Ethiopia of alleged “genocide” in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. 

It is undisclosed if the arrested journalists are brought to the capital Addis Ababa where dozens of TPLF leaders are arrested after they were captured during a military operation following the control of Mekelle by the Ethiopian Defense Force in early December 2020. 

The third battalion of the special operation unit has been undertaking a 24/7 patrol in Mekelle, according to a report by ENA. Commander of the Unit said it has been possible to minimize acts of robbery and disarm light and heavy weaponry that were in the hands of individuals in the city, it was said. 

This is the same battalion of the special operation unit that controlled fortified trenches of TPLF in Soroka, Dansha, Baaker, Mesober and Chercher, among others, soon after the Ethiopian government declared what it called a law enforcement operation in the region.

Arrests in the Tigray Interim administration 

The report by Ethiopian News agency also announced that individuals within the Tigray Interim administration structure are arrested. 

However, no additional information is provided about their identities. 

The interim administration was named after the Ethiopian Defense Force controlled Mekelle with the mission to transition the region until an election is organized.