BBC Lies on Famine: the Only Rain in ´Ethiopia´ is the Rain of the Cut Head

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis June 06, 2008I am most astounded and most fascinated by the way young and intelligent Oromointellectuals have recently refuted the shameful, mendacious, colonial reports ofBBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7428936.stm), which breaks all records ofmisinformation and disinformation when it comes to Africa, and more particularlyEast Africa. Of course, no one would believe a total lie; the BBC experts on savage half truthsknow this point very well. That´s why they serve the information depleted from itsreal, historical and political background understanding. It does not take much morethan common sense to denounce BBC´s disreputable colonial forgery. In fact, the BBC would be constrained to tell the complete truth, if such efforts ofmisinformation and disinformation were constantly and systematically denounced, andBBC´s criminal colonial attitude exposed to the indignation of the world´s nations. BBC´s Systematization of LieIn fact, BBC´s way is childish; it consists in a sort of reductionism, like thefollowing brief story: "A man was tied up in a tree. As no one passed by, the man –having not drunk or eaten anything for an entire week or so – died". Of course, hedied, but don´t tell me that there is no responsible; accountable for the crime isthe person(s) who tied up the man. But BBC´s systematization of lie does not includeanything about the criminal. Yet, the criminal is real and existent. The reporter´s failure to mention thecriminal in the above mentioned story makes of the reporter a shameful accomplice ofthe criminal. Someone (the killer) ties a person to a tree and abandons the personto thirst, starvation, and death, and another (the reporter) does not speak aboutthe crime perpetrator but about the corpse, the dead body. This is BBC mendacity, duplicity, and complicity; unrepentant, pernicious, inhumanEngland in its most inhumanly ugly face. The English mass media do not differ fromthe criminal colonials of the Scramble for Africa; they continue the colonials´deeds through their false news and erratic reports. BBC: silent on Genocides perpetrated in Fake ´Ethiopia´ by Racist Amharas and TigraysIn the aforementioned brief story, the tied person represents the subjugated,tyrannized and dehumanized nations of Abyssinia – fallaciously and criminallyre-baptized as ´Ethiopia´. Tied up in a tree, and chained in handcuffs are theOromos, the Ogadenis, the Sidamas, the Afars, the Kaffas, the Shekachos, the Agaws,the Shinashas, the Anuak, the Berta, the Gumuz, the Kambatas, the Wolayitas, and theAbyssinian (Amhara and Tigray) Muslims, who are amount to ca. 82% of the ominouscountry. All these different nations that have nothing to do with the Semitic Amharaand Tigray Monophysites have been gradually invaded by or conceded (by whom else? –the British) to the latter; and ever since, they have been exposed to national andspiritual genocide – without the disreputable BBC publishing anything that wouldmobilize masses allover the world against Africa´s most appalling tyranny. In the aforementioned brief story, the killer (the guy who tied the person to a treeand abandoned the person to death) is the world´s most appalling tyranny, the mosttotalitarian and most obsolete state of the world, Abyssinia. Abyssinia (Fake ´Ethiopia´): the World´s Most Obsolete StateA state whereby inhuman, heinous and racist pseudo-Christian monks give the order tomass extermination and spiritual genocide of numerous nations to the hereditary ornon hereditary tyrannical rulers; for them a fake, baseless and fictive entity,named ´Ethiopia´ (through the usurpation of the historical name of Ancient Sudanwhere thrived the Kushitic kingdoms that were named ´Ethiopia´ by the Ancient Greeksand Romans) would serve to impose their Satanic, pseudo-Christian and anti-Christianbeliefs on numerous neighboring nations. Abyssinian Tyranny, Waiting the False Christ of the Amhara MonksWorking under English colonial approval, the monarchical, pro-Communist andpseudo-republican Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic rulers want to perpetuate theirtyranny, and complete their genocide of all the aforementioned subjugated nations,because their monks promised them that their false Christ is about to come, and "he"will reveal to the rest of the world the false Ark of the Covenant that they keepclosed in their shameful buildings, imagining that it is the real, historical Ark ofCovenant which is known through Biblical excerpts. To mount up their Satanic conspiracy and to diffuse (in its support) an incrediblyfalsified and racist version of History, the Monophysitic (Tewahedo) Neo-Nazi Amharaand Tigray Abyssinian rulers, prohibit every development in the vast prison that istheir country, if the project was not launched, managed and profited by them. Promoting Traitors to Later Butcher Them: Typically ´Ethiopian´ Method The few exceptions made were cases of numerically very few renegades of thesubjugated nations, who betrayed their nations´ struggle for liberation, freedom,independence from the Amhara and Tigray Neo Nazi pestilence, and national survival. As usually happens in cases of traitors, many of them were finally massacredindiscriminately. Economy does not Function at the Time of Rain already!In a pseudo-country where criminal Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic gangsters becomesettlers in occupied territories (of all the aforementioned subjugated nations), andwith the help of military extract all the profit from agricultural activities, it iscomical to consider the drought as reason for the famine. In a pseudo-country where criminal Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic gangsters controlthe totality of the internal trade (let alone the external trade), it is criminal tosay that crops "did not grow" because "it did not rain". Crops did not grow, because it is prohibited to Sidama, Oromo, Anuak and otheragricultural workers to purchase crops and cultivate lands - already. In a pseudo-country where criminal Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic gangsters controlthe state run economy, the administration, the education, the army and thepseudo-justice, it is comical to speak about "rain". In the execrable and inhuman tyranny of fake Ethiopia, the only rain that fallsregularly is the Rain of the Cut Heads. I urge you to read the following criticism written by an Oromo intellectual inexile; the text selected because of its authenticity and clarity was published firstin the OLF (Oromo Liberation Front) website. It can serve as good seminar for the disreputable pseudo-journalists of the BBC andthe other mass media accomplices of the Neo-Nazi Abyssinian tyrant Meles Zenawi. Reason of Famine: the Existence of ´Ethiopia´ React by all means against the BBC; flood them with letters and emails ofprotestation. Their next report should state that the famine in fake ´Ethiopia´ isdue simply to the existence of the dysmorphic, dysfunctional and abnormal state offake ´Ethiopia´ itself. When it will be broken down to 10 or 12 pieces like Yugoslavia, every independentnation will exploit its own natural resources, and through a consistent andcomprehensive nation building, they will achieve water sufficiency, agriculturaldevelopment, and socio-economic progress, devoid of the Amhara – Tigray Monophysitic(Tewahedo) pestilence. Unexplored angles to Ethiopia's famine news stories for the international media(http://www.oromoliberationfront.org/News/2008/Unexplored%20angles.html) "The rains did not come. So the crops did not grow and people are desperate…" WendyUrquhart, BBC News May 30, 2008.I was provoked to write this article after I read and watched a few of thestorylines the international media and news agencies are pursuing in terms ofcovering the current famine and drought in Ethiopia. Before I go into my topic for today, I would like to first start off by commendingthe efforts that the international media and news agencies are making to cover thecurrent humanitarian crises in Ethiopia. In the firs paragraph, I quoted the way the BBC News reporter excellently opens heredescription of the drought and starvation in Oromia region, East Shewa Zone. If Iwere to report on the situation there, I would not have started with a better phrasethan the BBC reporter did. The reason I isolated this excellent quote is to suggesta more profound angle towards researching and covering stories of famine and droughtin Ethiopia. It is primarily to inform than to critique. The quote makes a causallink between the absence of rain and failure of crops to grow and result starvation.Yes, I agree with the reporter that the immediate cause of drought and starvation isthe absence of rain. However, the fundamental angle the story leaves unexplored isthe fact that these droughts like its predecessor from year s 1984-85, and 2000 areman made and the direct consequences of government caused conflicts and the lack ofcommitment to sustainable development.Another opening by Reuters reads, "Famine Returns to Ethiopia". Similarly, it makesconnection between absence of rain and crop failure. Ethiopia as country and Oromia as state are the sources of many gigantic rivers thatthe agricultures of our neighboring courtiers such as Sudan, Egypt, Somalia, thriveon. An elementary school geography student will be able to give us a list of theserivers amongst which are the Nile, Wabe Sheble, Awash, Tekezie, Ghibe to name just afew. Wabe Sheble flows southwards for thousands of kilometers into Somalia and ofcourse the Blue Nile flows into Egypt transporting our fertile soil. So, why are westarving and why are we always on the news for it? The answer is simple: the centralgovernments have done nothing in terms of using the donors' money to expandirrigations into areas that are arid and semi-arid. In fact, most of the rivers Imentioned pass right through the residential areas of the drought struck and thestarved people. Perhaps, publicizing these is a major angle that the world mediaoutlets can take in terms of story angle so that the realproblem is addressed, not the symptoms. Prior to the drought of 1984-85, the Derg military junta in power was wasting publicmoney on extravagant parties and banquets. EPRDF/TPLF regime in Addis Ababa/Finfinnee has also engaged in extravagant and lavish millennium parties fromSeptember 2007 up until now. These parties are restricted within the party circleswhile emaciated children and mothers are falling like flies in the villages ofEastern Oromia State, Ogaden, and Borana. In fact, these are the areas wheremillions are reported to be needing immediate food aid, but I suspect the wholecountry is starving including employed people in the cities although the degree isdifferent. These are also the very areas widely known for their dissent against theoppressive and racist ethnic government. Where there is no drought, a strategy ofdirect ethnic-cleansing is carried out. An example of an ethnic-cleansing is theongoing armed attack the Oromo by the Gumuz militias, which killed over 400unarmed civilians, according to reports. Substantially, Ethiopia's chronic famineproblem is political problem that arises from lack of a concerned leadership. Thecountry's leadership, more often than not, uses famine to rend political oppositionfrom pro-democracy and development groups. This is part of larger strategy to makethe masses 'starve or surrender', to use a famous book title. It can become very easy and addictive to reduce the cause of famine and drought inEthiopia to a natural cause because it is easy to blame nature. The worthy approachis to investigate the patterns of government military spending, to analyze whetherdonors' money /food aid is channeled to the right recipient, and whether funds areused for development. Are there irrigation schemes on, at least, tributaries of themajor rivers as development effort? Not one I know of. A genuine and enduring effortto help Ethiopia must be to pressurize the government to stop wars inside andoutside of its territories and to urge it to negotiate with opposition groups inorder to come to consensus to form a new and inclusive transitional government thatcan facilitate democratic elections.The permanent solution of ending the image of Ethiopia as a country notorious forits drought, famine and conflict lies in the hands of all stakeholders nationallyand internationally. Every Ethiopian news website or radio-broadcast from theDiaspora have an editorial and humanitarian responsibility of shaping its coverageof current famine by linking it to not only natural climate changes but also to theEPRDF/TPLF's misguided agricultural policy and its insensitivity towards sustainabledevelopment and other local and global agenda, including climate change. Otherwise,it is easy, to whine on our own separate platforms without bringing a speedyresolution to the desperate Ethiopians under the military junta. In summary, I suggest exploring the following editorial angles to covering famine,drought and development stories in the Horn of Africa. The international media andEthiopian Diaspora media should be able to:1. Explore how our major rivers are not being utilized to curb food shortage; 2. Establish a link between conflict, war, and the eco-system and climate change; 3. Expose corruptions related to food aid/ and the mismanagement and mis-spending ofdonors ' money; 4. Investigate exclusions and repressions inflicted by the government on famine- hitcivilians; 5. As the local media is controlled, is a moral responsibility for the internationalmedia to step up reporting on famine, human rights abuses and systematicethnic-cleansing in Ethiopia; 6. See how people in Oromia have been denied opportunities shut out fromurbanization by successive Ethiopian regimes. These six suggestions are the ones that I have distilled from my experience and longtime acquaintance with Ethiopian problems as an independent reporter and humanrights activist.



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