By Alemu T. Gutema *

Despite ongoing reports of exploited child soldiers, murder of Eritreans in refugee camps and other mass killings committed by TPLF in Raya region of Tigray, the pro-rebel Tigrayan journalist Lucy Kassa has now suddenly shifted to publishing only about happiness and celebrations in Tigray. Just this week alone,  independent Tigrayan journalist Araya Tesfamariam has documented over 450 civilian murders by TPLF. But according to Lucy Kassa’s new article, everybody is in jubilation and euphoria since TPLF/TDF arrival.

This is in sharp contrast to her eight months of unverified reports on alleged atrocities and unproven killings she blamed on Ethiopia; as she was given freedom to write nonstop TPLF propaganda on prominent international media outlets like the Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera, Vice News and The Telegraph. 

Despite the TPLF starting the war, she depicted TPLF as a victim that could do no wrong. Some of her fellow TPLF supporters even referred to her unverified articles as evidence to harass independent media outlets like VOA Amharic who covered both sides of the story, including the atrocities committed by TPLF. So most of those graphic anti-government articles written by Lucy Kassa were frequently referred to, linked or cited by other journalists to confirm other unproven reports of atrocities: creating an endless cycle of massive misinformation campaign that eventually became “the narrative” influencing Western policy makers to sanction our poor country that had finally freed herself from the shackles of TPLF tyranny. This misinformation campaign was so bad that even one of the most prominent American journalists who I personally cherished and respected; NYT’s Nicholas Kristof, wrote a nauseating article promoting the TPLF narrative and honoring TPLF mastermind Tedros Adhanom. 

Ironically, most of Lucy Kassa’s sensational reports of atrocities in Tigray since November 2020 still remain unsubstantiated. 

• The execution of 160 non-combatants in Bora and “tens of thousands” of other civilian death.  No evidence.

• Amhara police saying “A Tigrayan womb should never give birth” and “mass killing” of Tigrayan civilians in Western Tigray by Amhara forces.  No evidence.

• “ethnic-cleansing” and use of “white phosphorus” chemical attack on Tigrayan civilians. No evidence.

Months later, none of these above accusations that Lucy Kassa wrote on Western media outlets like the Telegraph have yet been proven or substantiated. 

And nobody has bothered to ask: why? 

In fact, investigations so far showed that most “civilian deaths” she reported did not even happen, and the few that did actually occur were when the TPLF used human shield and armed civilians (a war crime), which Amnesty International said were civilian combatants with “improvised” weapons. (This is why many of us Ethiopians feel it is very important the international community condemns TPLF’s exploitation of child soldiers or arming civilians today, or otherwise, the conflict will be even more gruesome in the upcoming months)

Despite lacking factuality, Lucy Kassa’s stories of doom and gloom about Africa made many headlines in the West in 2021. “We are here to make you HIV positive,” one of her shocking headline said, pushing the false narrative of “Tigray genocide” that exists only on social media, rather than in the real world. In an effort to create maximum shock value, some of her translations appeared flawlessly cinematic as if each of her alleged witnesses are the public relations head of the TPLF. Almost all of the articles western media outlets enabled Lucy Kassa to publish had the most sensational headlines; with the most dramatic Tigrayan-to-English translations that conveniently promote TPLF narratives nearly word by word, in every sentence. 

Important to note here for the record: Lucy never had or even bothered to obtain a legal foreign correspondent “press pass” from the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority (EBA). She was in fact detained once for operating illegally. Many young Ethiopian writers work hard for several years to go their way up the ladder and apply to national, then regional, continental and if lucky international media to reach the position Lucy reached suddenly, using her privileged TPLF connections (like Tedros Adhanom) and being promoted by Western editors just for telling a partisan story of an African crisis.

While Lucy was not the only – now – “international journalist” to disseminate TPLF propaganda, she remains the most prolific TPLF operative misusing Western mass media. In response to such media misinformation, since November, tens of thousands of diaspora Ethiopians complained about western media thru social media posts or by writing letters and by protesting in Western capitals, even in front of prominent news agencies’ buildings. All to no avail, because, after-all, how dare we black folks from third world country question Western newspapers? 

For months, many Ethiopians protested Lucy Kassa’s obvious conflict of interest and complained about misinformation passed from other TPLF media/translators directly to Western journalists like CNN’s Nima Elgabit and Western newspaper editors/ publishers. The level of propaganda was so extreme, that some Ethiopian critics labeled the western reports about Tigray: “The Daily TPLF.” 

Yet now suddenly, in her latest report, Lucy Kassa is not talking about atrocities against Tigrayans anymore, because, afterall, her group has regained power. And she don’t want to write about the child soldiers of TPLF and the widespread reports this week of mass killings by TPLF in Raya, which her group calls “southern Tigray.” Instead now, there are only “celebrations” and “joy” in Tigray, according to her latest VICE media article. 

In an ideal world, such dramatic shift in how Lucy Kassa and other alleged TPLF operatives & translators working for Western media behave should give ethical publishers a pause. A time to reflect. In an ideal world, western publishers would assess how they were exploited by pro-TPLF “sources” to depict TPLF insurrectionists as innocent victims for so long. In an ideal world, before they would allow pro-TPLF activists like Lucy Kassa to publish on the their platform again, they would employ basic code of ethics and seek impartiality.

But we are not living in an ideal world of fairness. So unfortunately, the full picture will never be told and Ethiopia’s rare transition to democracy will be hampered by Western economic sanctions.

As i conclude, If there IS any ethical western journalist out there, somewhere, who honors his profession, just FYI.  You might not know that, for example, the Raya Alamata region in “southern Tigray” was actually the site of massive celebrations long time ago in the middle of November 2020. The videos are out there in public domain. No New York Times, no Telegraph or no western media reported that joyous moment because the local people in southern Tigray celebrated freedom from TPLF tyranny. As the video shows, they celebrated because TPLF was gone. They did not make the front-pages of Western papers because they don’t fit the anti-Ethiopia narrative.

As long as Western media continues hiring and working with TPLF cadres and translators; such real stories and the whole truth will never be told worldwide about the conflict in northern Ethiopia.

• This article is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Awasa Guardian (AG) If you have news tips or to publish articles on AG, send submissions to awasaguardian@gmail.com