Seven months after Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) fighters were caught staging a film of atrocities by Eritrean refugees, authorities in Addis Ababa revealed how TPLF “dumped more than 300 dead bodies” of their own fighters to transport and prepare them for new propaganda. Meanwhile, over 330,000 Amharas have been displaced and at least 37 killed by TPLF in less than one month, according to witnesses and survivors interviewed by the US-based civic organization Amhara Association of America (AAA). Nearly a hundred thousand more Afar people have also been displaced by TPLF invasion; with many Afar civilians dead.

The TPLF’s latest practice of collecting dead bodies of its fallen soldiers from the battleground was reportedly observed in early July when the rebels began making gains on the ground in Tigray. The Ethiopian authorities posted a public notice of this practice and sent a warning to international media on July 22, however these TPLF atrocities were censored by western media. Independent observers said the objective of the TPLF was to portray all of its casualties in the battlefield as if they were non-combatant Tigrayan civilians, in order to play victim and divert attention from the ongoing atrocities committed by its own fighters. 

Since the Ethiopian government declared unilateral ceasefire at the end of June, TPLF expanded the war into Afar and Amhara regions. “Areas which fell under TPLF occupation have seen extensive atrocities and human rights violations,” said the latest AAA investigative report. For example in Boya area of Kobo town, Alemu Mekuriaw was gunned down by TPLF “in front of his mother when he tried to collect the dead bodies” left behind by the Tigrayan militia. Meanwhile in Ayub village of Raya Kobo woreda, the whole family of Ayele Wolle, including wife and three children were slaughtered by the TPLF militia. Despite most international media having presence in Addis Ababa, most of these reports of massacres by TPLF continue to be censored by western media, as many foreign journalists only cover stories by TPLF supporters who fled to Sudan in November. According to critics, this partisan and unethical media practice has led to several infamous cases of “alternative facts” reported by western media, which include the notorious Maikadra massacre of over a thousand Welkait-Amharas by TPLF militia, that was falsely portrayed as a massacre of Tigrayans. These false western media reports, including by CNN and Telegraph, have not been retracted despite overwhelming evidence that ethnic Amharas, not Tigrayans, were the victims in Maikadra. 

According to the UK Society of Editors, Telegraph reporter Will Brown, one of the early journalists who falsely reported sensational articles depicting the Amhara victims in Maikadra as if they were perpetrators was given the National Press Award. Critics of such journalism incentive system say western reporters are rewarded and encouraged to produce clickbait stories of maximum human suffering in Africa that perpetuate violence and embolden rebellions, since western media sensationalism often advanced the narratives of insurrectionist rebel groups like the TPLF. 

As TPLF forces continue the war despite the government’s humanitarian ceasefire, the rebels have also invaded the Afar region, thru a human wave tactic that included using Tigrayan child soldiers, according to Tigrayan journalist Araya Tesfamariam. Tens of thousands of Afar civilians have since been displaced by TPLF’s invasion according to Afar human rights activists, while dozens have been massacred, before Afar security forces pushed back against the rebels last week. These atrocities in July during the government’s ceasefire remain unreported by western media in order to portray the rebels as brave and disciplined fighters, according to critics. Among these western agencies was the New York Times (NYT) that was allegedly forced to retract its unethical description and images of TPLF child soldiers, lionizing the underage rebel fighters, who were exploited by Tigrayan soldiers after TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael admitted calling on Tigrayan children to join the war. 

To downplay these war crimes and atrocities by the TPLF, and to defame the government of one of the rare black African Nobel Peace Prize winners, western media have reportedly reverted back to depending on TPLF members who fled to Sudan.  According to a Financial Times (FT) report, over 30,000 (or the majority) of refugees who fled to Sudan are active TPLF fighters, being trained by Khartoum. Similar reports by UNHCR confirmed that a large group of TPLF fighters went into Sudan as refugees since November. However, western media has downplayed such reports that revealed how most Tigrayan refugees who fled to Sudan were in fact TPLF miltants.  The independent media ESAT has also reported several groups of TPLF soldiers funded by Egypt and trained by Sudan have attempted to re-enter Ethiopia thru Welkait/humera (also renamed Western Tigray by TPLF) but were defeated by the joint forces of the Ethiopian federal army and Amhara security forces. The aggressions by TPLF have since united the Ethiopian public nationwide, as people from all regions contributed troops to defend the country against the Egyptian and Western-sponsored TPLF insurrection. 

The conflict in and around Tigray is expected to escalate as the rainy season comes to an end. The small window of opportunity to achieve permanent ceasefire also collapsed as TPLF was emboldened to continue the war capturing the Raya region and committing atrocities without facing international criticism. Meanwhile, US President Biden sent controversial USAID administrator Samantha Powers, which critics say worsened the crisis. “After months of partisan backing of the former (TPLF) dictatorship, the USA has little leverage and even less credibility to bring to this conflict. With anti-US sentiment in Ethiopia surging, why would Washington deploy s regime-change lightening-rod like Samantha Powers,” said Bronwyn Bruton of the US-based Atlantic Council. Biden’s administration followed this diplomatic blunder by having US Official Anthony Blinken to discuss the Tigray matter with Sudan’s military regime, which is currently occupying significant Ethiopian territories and training TPLF fighters to worsen the insurrection in Tigray. 

The ongoing conflict in Tigray began in November 2020 when the TPLF massacred hundreds of Ethiopians and waged an insurrection on northern federal bases, to restore its political and economic hegemony in Ethiopia.