Victory in the Battlefield, Defeat in the Cyberspace: Ethiopia’s Agonizing Reality

The Queen of Sheba

January 17, 2021

The Ethiopian government has successfully—and thunderously—crashed the putsch perpetrated by a TPLF cabal in short few weeks. The victory—and the defeat—and its execution and pace will be a new, and important, addition to the annals of conflict in the Ethiopian history.

The cabal—supported by its paid operatives, shenanigans, and “white-TPLFs”—huffed and puffed as it heinously struck—and massacred—the Ethiopian National Defence Forces of the Northern Command—in their sleep. Then they deceived, misrepresented, lied, and screamed as they were annihilated by the wounded, but highly-spirited, and well-disciplined, army. 

The Dominant, But Misleading, Narratives 

First, the cabal misled the world by accusing the Command of attacking it first to justify its offensive as a counter attack. The regular and the social media—fortified with “digital Weyanes” and their paid so-called analysts—were abuzz accusing the Northern Command—the victim—as a villain. Then weirdly appeared a triumphant cabal spokesperson on its favourite TV media, admitting a pre-emptive, and thunderous, strike on the Command. 

To be sure, only the US official, a Secretary of State, vigorously condemned the attack on the Command. The firm position of Djibouti was expressed in awarding Ethiopia’s top army commander its highest prize following the culmination of the major operation. The rest fiddled, fudged or waffled around the criminality of the cabal.

As the fortunes of the conflict turned south, the cabal and its operatives incessantly contrived to internationalize the conflict by roping others, including the United Arab Emirates. They accused that the drone attack was operated by UAE. This turned out to be also a fabrication, but facts did not matter. The idea was as much to diminish the victory of the Ethiopian forces as it was to raise the cabal’s moral and ego that were bruised mortally.

The deafening lies escalated as the cabal forces got routed from one city, town, village to another—in a humiliating defeat. However, the cabal forces and their shenanigans orchestrated a media blitz with vengeance in a rather coordinated manner involving personalities in the major media, including the BBC, Aljazeera, Reuters, New York Times. Only the BBC is known to have apologized, so far. But, it did not really matter—the damage was already done. The cabal scored again.

In one of the most barbaric turn of events, the cabal forces perpetrated the genocide in My-Kadra. In this tragic incident, over a thousand unarmed, largely seasonal laborers of mostly Amhara descent, were savagely slaughtered. While Amnesty International and others condemned the atrocities, the UNHCR attempted to apportion the blame, in the process diminishing the full force of the condemnation, as I wrote in “Dispensing Culpability: UNHCR’s Glaring Double Standard”. 

Then came the looting and destruction of airfields, bridges, roads, communication infrastructure, churches, mosques, schools, offices, and hospitals by retreating, but marauding, cabal forces.  An avalanche of lies, fabrications, and diversions were unleashed, once again demonizing the government. What is deeply deplorable is the absence of a robust global voice asking the most obvious, and basic, question: Why would a government force which is taking over would do anyone of these “shootings on the foot”? 

Yet another one came from the UN blasting the Ethiopian government for preventing access to the affected regions when its own forces broke the agreement. The UN sent a belated apology for that—but the damage was already done—again. This mattered little, as accusations, incriminations and demonization of the victim continued unabated. 

The European Union has withheld aid and threating more—based on lies and fabricated stories cooked by the cabal forces—sold by paid-operatives—such as Martin Plaut, Alex de Wall and Kjetil Tronvoll—masquerading as analysts, fellows and researchers hiding in academic institutions. 

Ethiopia has lost the diplomatic and cyber battles even as it won the just “ground war” which it conducted in the most professional way. It has been out-manoeuvered, out-witted, and out-bested—on the cyber field. The cabal has beaten the Ethiopian government from its death caves through its propaganda machines operating globally.

Academia: A Hideout for Mercenaries 

The paid enablers, shenanigans and apologists of the TPLF cabal abound—thanks to the looted fortunes that made it possible. Two of the most apologists of the cabal, Alex de Waal and Martin Plaut, may probably beat anyone else in their incredible zeal to fabricate, falsehood, and incitement. I noted some glaring falsehood and incitement in my earlier piece on Plaut in this piece: “Abiy’s “Horrendous Misjudgement”: TPLF’s History of “Fight from the Hills””. Here, I only wish to share his outlandish emotions, in his own words, as Sibhat Nega, the God father of the cabal, was captured in a dramatic manner. 

Plaut, on January 10, 2021, tweeted: “I have been crying non stop in my room for 24 hours straight. Very sad day for all of us. Chief Sibhat Nega, you will be missed!” I would leave it to readers to make up their minds of this “fellow” at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, on his independence, objectivity and integrity. 

In his latest piece, this mercenary war monger, who hinted to Tigreans to “fight from the hills”, now directly incites Ugandans, in similar fashion, to “Take to the bush and fight a guerrilla war” in protest to Musevini’s victory. One wonders, why the Ethiopian, and now the Ugandan, governments do not log official protest to his institution.

So much for fellowship which licenses such mercenaries to take refuge in such institutions.

Alex de Waal—who claims to be, a “Research Professor and Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at The Fletcher School, Tufts University”, USA, and another hired gun—like Plaut, sobbed on the killing of one of the architects of the cabal in his cave hideouts fighting the army. In an undeserving eulogy “In Memoriam: Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopian Peacemaker and Patriot” he wickedly contrasted his death with the former distinguished Ethiopian foreign minister Aklilu Habtewold who was dragged out of prison and killed by the Dergue. And yet, this cabal minister, who is one of the architects of the TPLF, is notoriously known in Ethiopia for his bizarre lies on the Ethio-Eritrea border arbitration, the state of GERD and the Nobel Prize of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, among others.

Like his partner-in-crime, shamefully blurted “The circumstances of Seyoum’s killing aren’t clear…. Eritrea—which may well have carried out the assassinations—is remaining silent.” This is yet another glaring and orchestrated, but futile, attempt to diminish the caliber, competence and ability of the Ethiopian army from crushing the rebellion to pursuing and killing its fugitives. Oh, yes, to garner sympathy from the world, by playing the disabilities of the disgraced “elderly Tigrayans killed in the same incident,” he pathetically listed blindness, heart issue and walking difficulty.

So much for the director of, so called, World Peace Foundation.

One thing has become starkly clear that these former correspondents, turned “fellows”, seem to have no qualms in selling their souls to the best bidder. It is really important for students and academics in international politics and development to closely study the integrity of these paid-operatives—and challenge them in their respective institutions. 

Rape Charges: The New Fabrication

Of recent, rape seems to be the new-found allegation against the Ethiopian government and its army. I deliberately wanted to note this in a separate section here. The cabal forces—and their shenanigans—who have excelled in the art of fabricating a story and then broadcasting it through their “respectable fellows” and “research professors” are now cooking up this new allegation against the government.

But, months before the conflict in Tigray, there were documented reports and broadcasted news of rampant rape in the region. If there was any widespread rape before the conflict, it may have been exacerbated by the tens of thousands of criminals recklessly unleashed from prisons by the cabal itself as it was fleeing.

The Ethiopian army has an impeccable record of discipline and professionalism in all the places it served—regionally and internationally. The recent picture showing the “excessively humane” treatment of its captured enemy combatants and fugitives in their caves—that included washing their feet—is simply biblical! Regardless, the attempt to stain all Ethiopia’s assets continues to be part of the plot of the loosing cabal—and its enablers.

In Conclusion

To be sure, in the murky world of cyberspace, it is not always the facts that particularly matter—as do perceptions. In this fast world, the quest for facts have become more unwieldy, cumbersome, sluggish, and as such, increasingly less significant. 

Ethiopia has done a fantastic job in neutralizing the attack of the cabal—on the battlefield. But it has regrettably failed in communicating the narrative appropriately, expeditiously, vocally, and systematically. The Ethiopian government is now reaping the fruits of its sloppiness in this key front.

This chronic Achilles heel will continue to cost Ethiopia—dearly. Thus, the need for an immediate action cannot be overemphasized.

The Queen of Sheba may be reached at QueenOfSheba2020@outlook.com