የኢትዮዽያውያን ዴሞክራቶች ድረ-ገፅEthiopian Democrats' Website

Source: Ethiofacts;

By Mahlet

It was the recent Ethiomedia editorial and the subsequent exchange of views at the Ethiopians-Forum that persuaded me to scribble this article for the benefit of the larger audience.

Ethiofact posted the news from UDJ led by Professor Mesfin. Ethiomedia not only chose to gag the same news but also attacked Ethiofact for posting the news.

At the risk of being branded partisan, Ethiomedia's editor has a right not to post anything which he does not like. After all it is his website. I am not here to complain about this.

Moreover, at the risk of being branded arrogant and out of touch, Ethiomedia's editorial may also mistakenly believe that it is his divine right to tell what other websites should and should not post. This is not the point I would like to make either.

The problem arises to me when attacking Ethiofact, Ethiomedia's editor alleged that he is doing this as a champion of 'unity'. So was Ethiomedia's editor attacking Ethiofact to promote 'unity' or is it yet another rhetoric that should not be accepted as truth unexamined by its readres?

Allow me to elaborate my point.

During the infamous Kinijit infight where great care should have been exercised, we all know that Ethiomedia was not a neutral party. Rather Ethiomedia was fanning discord and animosity by siding first with KIL over KIC and then choosing to support Dr Berhanu over

Engineer Hailu. The rest is history and we all know what happened to Kinijit.

During EPRP's infighting, Ethiomedia supported EPRP-D over EPRP. On the current on going infighting with in UDJ, Ethiomedia consciously chose to add fuel to the dispute by siding with Enginner Gezachw over Professor Mesfin and its editor even went as far as calling Professor Mesfin 'anarchist'; what ever that means.

Lastly, in the run into this election, Ethiomedia is vigoursly advocating and being a mouthpiece for Medrek at the expense of the other two large unity forces (AEUP

and EDP ) even though Ethiomedia fails short of explaining to its wider readers what makes Medrek's case special.

As the above few examples corroborate, Ethiomedia has never been a neutral body. Ethiomedia has always been an instrument in pitting one

unity force over the other. Rather than looking forward and trying to bring the infighting unity parties together, Ethiomedia has undoubtedly exacerbated the problem by putting more fuel to the dispute.

Ethiomedia was/is an instrument to put a wedge among unity forces. All its postings are carefully selected to advance a secterian approach. Put simply, the verifiable and irrefutable evidence suggest that Ethiomedia has been fanning discord and animosity among unity

forces. So since when is fanning discord and animosity among unity forces is

promoting 'unity'?

Not only Ethiomedia is actively promoting separatist forces like OLF & ONLF, but also It is a fact that these separatist forces have their web pages linked at Ethiomedia. In doing so, I am not sure whether Ethiomedia has carefully thought about the potential danger his actions would bring to the national interset of Ethiopia.

We are not yet also told what compromise Ethiomedia has secured from OLF and ONLF which would benefit the long term national interest of Ethiopia to warrant this change of heart.

Let us accept that it is the editor's right to promote OLF & ONLF for whatever reason. Nevertheless what is self contradictory is that while Ethiomedia claiming a 'unity' force, it hasn't got the link of unity parties such as AEUP, EPRP & EDP.

So Is linking the websites of separatist forces such as OLF & ONLF at Ethiomedia and leaving out the links of unity parties like AEUP, EPRP & EDP promoting the 'unity' of Ethiopia?

To conclude the matter, putting fuel on the disputes between unity forces and choosing to be a voice to some of the separatist forces while denying a voice to some unity forces can not be construed as promoting unity. The actions speak louder.

Of course when we look at the practice of all other websites, I accept that there is no substantial difference from the practises of Ethiomedia, really. What went wrong and what is the way forward could be discussed further.