Reading news about Western media reports of the ethnic clashes in Moyale, a border area between southern Oromia-Ethiopia and Kenya, one cannot avoid noticing the conspicuous wrong framing of the "Ethiopian National Defense Forces" as 'containers and peacemakers.' These kinds of narrative projections of a strong Ethiopia plays and replays the age-old predominant, but flawed Western views of the Ethiopian state and ruling elites as dependable champions of stability, counter-terrorism and so forth in Ethiopia and the Horn.
Media outlets such as the BBC, CBS, and the VOA have rushed to giving all sorts of dangerous credits to the ENDF as a stabilizing force. This is problematic not only for ignoring the composition of the ENDF, a military force dominated by ethnic Tigire officers and commanders, but also because it makes it difficult for groups suffering massive human rights violations under the current ethno-apartheid regime such as the Oromo and Ogaden to tell their stories. It makes it an uphill battle for us to prove our just causes for freedom, self-rule, democracy and all other basic human needs.
Our Ethiopianist friends opposed to the regime will be happy to see such international headlines on ethnic clashes since they affirm their "one-Ethiopia" narrative that the current ethnic federalism is not working. Yes, federalism is not working currently. But, the reason clashes happen is not inherently because of ethnic federalism, but because the regime follows an outdated colonial policy of divide and conquer in Ethiopia--this has nothing to do with federalism or the sacred article 39 and why they are not working.
What is shocking in this coverage is how the reports are hardly victim-centered. The reports portray the Ethiopian forces as "containers" and "stabilizers", while most people in the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia know that this is not true at all. In fact, many of the Horn and the Oromian-Ethiopian populations groups know that Ethiopia is behind every major wars (or inter-state) or ethnic clashes such as the one that just caused the deaths of tens of peoples and the displacement of 30,000 members of the affected communities. The framing of the ENDF as "the stabilizing force" hides the fact that the very same force is a force of instability engineered to uphold the mono-ethnic apartheid system in Ethiopia.
Have you ever seen reports in major international news media about the massive human rights abuses and crimes against humanity that have been committed by these forces over the last twenty-one years in major Western media such as CBS, BBC, the VOA, where the West has sided with the peoples/civilians who suffer the most? The story of the civilians who suffer the most are reduced to nothing more than numbers here. In contrast, the ENDF forces are qualified and elaborately described to the levels of saintly "containers" of the so-called ethnic clashes! Oops!
The reality is that the regime wants instability at any cost in order to thrive by depicting itself or by getting depicted by the West as a "peacekeeper" nationally and regionally. Instability and terrorism will never go way from the Horn unless the current authoritarian regime is dismantled or unless serious changes are bought about by any means possible. How can an authoritarian-terrorist regime stamp out terrorism where it does not exist? Isn't terrorism the regime's main money-legitimacy maker even in places like Somalia?
One of the most important areas of engagement for the Oromo and other Ethiopian diaspora media networks is to try to expose such false framing by correctly portraying the Ethiopian regime as a war-maker, which it truly is. Calling a spade a spade is likely to hasten our common search for a just and equitable system. The effect of shoddy framing is overwhelming because such framing colonizes the minds of Western audience exposed to it, making it difficult for pro-peace, human rights, freedom, democracy and and stability forces who are contending with the narrowly-based government of Ethiopia.
It is profoundly unprofessional and unethical for these news media to strip the Ethiopian regimes forces of self-interest and to portray them as "objective interveners" who are out to contain instability. Most peripheral areas of Oromia, including, Moyale, have seen several large-scale inter-ethnic clashes sponsored by the Ethiopian government itself who shows up last-minute to proclaim that they have contained the situations. The only time you see officials act is when they get on the phone to give international interviews, not when they prevent or stop violence. These clashes happened countless times in the past. If the Ethiopian regime is a real container and, not the one fomenting inter-ethnic strife, why has it never played preventative roles so far? Why did it have to wait for weeks and months until tens are killed and 30,000 are displaced internally and externally? Does the regime care since the affected populations are not co-ethnics with the ruling group? Why don't these media tell us the missing important perspectives? These are tough questions for which there are no easy answers. Always what is omitted is more important than what is reported in Western media about Oromia-Ethiopia.
It is obvious that in these areas a diverse mix of state and non-state armed forces operate. The region is literally a salad bowl of armed forces such as: simple unidentified militias and bandits and profiteers of violence, and serious armed rebels opposing Ethiopia such as the Oromo Liberation Army and the Ogaden National Liberation Army, and the ENDF and the Kenyan army.
Framings such as Ethiopian forces contain deadly tribal clash by CBS and similar others by the BBC and the VOA play the role of legitimizing the makers of war as "peacemakers" and "containers". The discourse normalizes the very fascist regime as a humanitarian-type on par with Western states who claim interventions on benevolent grounds. Mostly the sources of such lopsided frames are high-ranking Ethiopian government officials, and at rarer times humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross/Crescent. The victims are never adequately interviewed for their experience of the violence and displacement and what they think the causes are. People bleeding and dying or dead persons are not presented in pictures. People have personal stories to tell--some surely lost loved ones such as sons, daughters, husbands, relatives, property, connections to the homeland (qee'ee abbaa) classmates and so on. These media have denied them that opportunity to tell those personal heart-rending stories. None of those are told. All we partially know is numbers. Don't Western media rush to obtain victims' testimonies in the West even over superficial incidents such as extreme hot or cold temperatures? Why can't they do this when it is Africans who suffer on large-scale? When it is us, they present stories conveniently by drawing on stereotypical Western images of doomed 'tribalism' and 'ethnicity'.
Simplified causes are always mouthed by government officials who are the main party to the protracted conflicts in Oromia. Legitimizing official narratives on "Ethiopia as container", the VOA cites Bereket Simon, an Ethiopian government spokesman, as saying:
And CBS cites another EPRDF government official:
Links:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501710_162-57482416/ethiopian-forces-contain-deadly-tribal-clash/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19028609
http://www.voanews.com/content/thirty_thousand_enter_kenya_to_escape_ethiopian_ethnic_clash/1449052.html
Media outlets such as the BBC, CBS, and the VOA have rushed to giving all sorts of dangerous credits to the ENDF as a stabilizing force. This is problematic not only for ignoring the composition of the ENDF, a military force dominated by ethnic Tigire officers and commanders, but also because it makes it difficult for groups suffering massive human rights violations under the current ethno-apartheid regime such as the Oromo and Ogaden to tell their stories. It makes it an uphill battle for us to prove our just causes for freedom, self-rule, democracy and all other basic human needs.
Our Ethiopianist friends opposed to the regime will be happy to see such international headlines on ethnic clashes since they affirm their "one-Ethiopia" narrative that the current ethnic federalism is not working. Yes, federalism is not working currently. But, the reason clashes happen is not inherently because of ethnic federalism, but because the regime follows an outdated colonial policy of divide and conquer in Ethiopia--this has nothing to do with federalism or the sacred article 39 and why they are not working.
What is shocking in this coverage is how the reports are hardly victim-centered. The reports portray the Ethiopian forces as "containers" and "stabilizers", while most people in the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia know that this is not true at all. In fact, many of the Horn and the Oromian-Ethiopian populations groups know that Ethiopia is behind every major wars (or inter-state) or ethnic clashes such as the one that just caused the deaths of tens of peoples and the displacement of 30,000 members of the affected communities. The framing of the ENDF as "the stabilizing force" hides the fact that the very same force is a force of instability engineered to uphold the mono-ethnic apartheid system in Ethiopia.
Have you ever seen reports in major international news media about the massive human rights abuses and crimes against humanity that have been committed by these forces over the last twenty-one years in major Western media such as CBS, BBC, the VOA, where the West has sided with the peoples/civilians who suffer the most? The story of the civilians who suffer the most are reduced to nothing more than numbers here. In contrast, the ENDF forces are qualified and elaborately described to the levels of saintly "containers" of the so-called ethnic clashes! Oops!
The reality is that the regime wants instability at any cost in order to thrive by depicting itself or by getting depicted by the West as a "peacekeeper" nationally and regionally. Instability and terrorism will never go way from the Horn unless the current authoritarian regime is dismantled or unless serious changes are bought about by any means possible. How can an authoritarian-terrorist regime stamp out terrorism where it does not exist? Isn't terrorism the regime's main money-legitimacy maker even in places like Somalia?
One of the most important areas of engagement for the Oromo and other Ethiopian diaspora media networks is to try to expose such false framing by correctly portraying the Ethiopian regime as a war-maker, which it truly is. Calling a spade a spade is likely to hasten our common search for a just and equitable system. The effect of shoddy framing is overwhelming because such framing colonizes the minds of Western audience exposed to it, making it difficult for pro-peace, human rights, freedom, democracy and and stability forces who are contending with the narrowly-based government of Ethiopia.
It is profoundly unprofessional and unethical for these news media to strip the Ethiopian regimes forces of self-interest and to portray them as "objective interveners" who are out to contain instability. Most peripheral areas of Oromia, including, Moyale, have seen several large-scale inter-ethnic clashes sponsored by the Ethiopian government itself who shows up last-minute to proclaim that they have contained the situations. The only time you see officials act is when they get on the phone to give international interviews, not when they prevent or stop violence. These clashes happened countless times in the past. If the Ethiopian regime is a real container and, not the one fomenting inter-ethnic strife, why has it never played preventative roles so far? Why did it have to wait for weeks and months until tens are killed and 30,000 are displaced internally and externally? Does the regime care since the affected populations are not co-ethnics with the ruling group? Why don't these media tell us the missing important perspectives? These are tough questions for which there are no easy answers. Always what is omitted is more important than what is reported in Western media about Oromia-Ethiopia.
It is obvious that in these areas a diverse mix of state and non-state armed forces operate. The region is literally a salad bowl of armed forces such as: simple unidentified militias and bandits and profiteers of violence, and serious armed rebels opposing Ethiopia such as the Oromo Liberation Army and the Ogaden National Liberation Army, and the ENDF and the Kenyan army.
Framings such as Ethiopian forces contain deadly tribal clash by CBS and similar others by the BBC and the VOA play the role of legitimizing the makers of war as "peacemakers" and "containers". The discourse normalizes the very fascist regime as a humanitarian-type on par with Western states who claim interventions on benevolent grounds. Mostly the sources of such lopsided frames are high-ranking Ethiopian government officials, and at rarer times humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross/Crescent. The victims are never adequately interviewed for their experience of the violence and displacement and what they think the causes are. People bleeding and dying or dead persons are not presented in pictures. People have personal stories to tell--some surely lost loved ones such as sons, daughters, husbands, relatives, property, connections to the homeland (qee'ee abbaa) classmates and so on. These media have denied them that opportunity to tell those personal heart-rending stories. None of those are told. All we partially know is numbers. Don't Western media rush to obtain victims' testimonies in the West even over superficial incidents such as extreme hot or cold temperatures? Why can't they do this when it is Africans who suffer on large-scale? When it is us, they present stories conveniently by drawing on stereotypical Western images of doomed 'tribalism' and 'ethnicity'.
Simplified causes are always mouthed by government officials who are the main party to the protracted conflicts in Oromia. Legitimizing official narratives on "Ethiopia as container", the VOA cites Bereket Simon, an Ethiopian government spokesman, as saying:
Government spokesman Bereket told the French news agency the federal police intervened and the situation is now under control.
And CBS cites another EPRDF government official:
Mesfin Assefa, an official in the Oromia region, said Sunday that federal and local forces restored order and that fighting has stopped. Fighting between the Borana and Garri tribes has broken out over the last week.
These reports are not about the victims who have suffered massive dislocations and deaths over the last twenty-one years. They are all about building an image of a fragile pro-Western regime, which faces serious challenges from opponents at a time when the country's President (PM) is absent from public life either because he is seriously sick or dead. Framing is all about dirty words such as "stability", not about peoples or human lives.
Some people would like to think that information from blogs are less reliable than from the conventional news outlets such as CBS, BBC, and VOA, but the truth is that some blogs such as Oromo Press are better than these media outlets in telling citizens and subjects what is truly going on in this most abandoned and ravaged part of the world.
Some people would like to think that information from blogs are less reliable than from the conventional news outlets such as CBS, BBC, and VOA, but the truth is that some blogs such as Oromo Press are better than these media outlets in telling citizens and subjects what is truly going on in this most abandoned and ravaged part of the world.
Links:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501710_162-57482416/ethiopian-forces-contain-deadly-tribal-clash/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19028609
http://www.voanews.com/content/thirty_thousand_enter_kenya_to_escape_ethiopian_ethnic_clash/1449052.html