Is Lucy Kassa Berhe “a voice of moral conscience” as Andrew DeCort wants us to believe?

“A half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.”- J.I. Packer

We live in an age where the power of politics, money, and sensationalism decide “truth” and media worthiness. The crisis in Ethiopia, particularly the conflict in Tigray is having a heyday on various mainstream outlets and social media. From the safety and comfort of the Global North, provocateurs are fueling hostility between people groups and furthering the current crisis.

The ethics of journalism compels honesty. Partial, biased, and selective “investigative reporting” in the face of gross injustice is injustice itself. Martin Kimani, Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has rightly recognized how misinformation and disinformation have harmed Ethiopia.

The long-simmering conflict between the former Marxist ethno-nationalist ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and the federal government erupted in 2020. Ever since then, there has been a pattern of open bias, partiality, and selective outrage due to the power of negative media. Whoever has the upper hand in the media outlet, controls both the content and flow of information.

There are many clear examples of when the media and the Global North powers remained passive, in light of overwhelming evidence. Notable examples are the Nov. 9–10 ethnic cleansing and mass murder of the Amhara people in Maikadra, Tigray. The massacres in the Benishangul-Gumuz region (Dec. 22–23, 2020), the Guliso District of West Welega Zone (Nov. 2, 2020), the Konso Zone of Southern Nations (in which nearly 1,000 houses were burnt down in at least nine villages) and the Burayu massacre (Sept. 14–16, 2018) are additional examples. Many more cases of sporadic ethnocentric massacres have occurred which have not received adequate coverage. The brutal massacre of 424 Indigenous Anuak in Gambella (Dec. 13, 2013), was one of the deadliest. These all were not “media-worthy”.

One of the sources of Western selective journalism on Ethiopia’s crisis is Lucy Kassa Berhe whom Andrew DeCort praises as an impartial journalist with “a voice of moral conscience.” Berhe provides narratives to media outlets such as the BBC, UK’s Telegraph, the Guardian, the LA Times, and Al Jazeera. Her May 22, 2022 speech, Ethiopia’s Murky War, at the Oslo Freedom Forum epitomizes the power of media and how selective reading and outrage marginalize the other forgotten victims in this senseless war.

My heart bleeds for all our Tigrayan people who have suffered a lot, especially those who were victims of violent gang rape. I wholeheartedly share her passion and powerful plea for justice. Sexual and gender-based violence, war crimes, and human rights violations committed against innocent civilians that we have witnessed in our nation must be condemned with the strongest possible term.

Her “investigative journalism”, with all due respect, violets the ethics of the profession in being impartial in telling the truth — the whole truth! Berhe’s type of journalism is consistent with that of journalists and academics such as Nima Elbagir, Martin Plaut, Alex de Waal, Simon Marks, William Davison, Kjetil Tronvol, and others who have successfully disfigured Ethiopia’s digital media. Plaut, the former BBC journalist, writes:

“. . . BBC Tigray are hungry for news and we can feed into them . . . we need to make the news . . . you’re manufacturing the news, but do not go and have another demonstration outside the Eritrean Embassy unless you’re going to burn it down!” (https://twitter.com/i/status/1380025940139515904).

What has been hurting Ethiopia, unlike DeCort’s assertion, is misleading narration, selective hearing, and preferential justice. This makes honest dialogue, understanding and healing, and forgiveness superficial. Below I offer three substantiated reasons why I disagree both with DeCort’s view of Berhe and her analysis.

First, her misleading narration that the Ethiopian Government deliberately ignited the current crisis

She is not telling the whole truth, although halfway through her speech she alludes to political tension between Tigray and the federal government. She is well aware that all mediation efforts for a peaceful resolution of tensions were rejected by the TPLF leadership. She also knows that the TPLF caused its destruction in the avoidable war it initiated. The war, sadly, has caused death, human rights violations, crimes, and displacement of many innocent civilians for which our hearts, as a nation, bleed with grief. I worry a lot, like many Ethiopians, about how fragile our nation has become and am concerned about the government’s ability to uphold law and order. Nonetheless, truth must not be conveniently altered to suit one’s narrative objectives, especially by blind ethnic loyalty. The Global North’s one-sidedness in addressing Ethiopia’s conflict was created both by obscure and misleading re-tell such as that of Berhe and the broadly disseminated information on TV networks and print media. Of course, the Ethiopian Government has miserably failed in diplomacy. Nonetheless, truth has to be the irreducible possession of the world.

It is with incredulity that I heard here opening remarks shifting the blame for sparking this senseless war to the government. She knew that was not the truth, even powers in the Global North have accepted it. This is despite the plain facts of the joint report (JR) issued by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Here is the:

“𝙊𝙣 3 𝙉𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 2020, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙞𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙮 𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨 (𝙏𝙎𝙁) 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙖 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙣 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝘿𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨 (𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙁) 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙧𝙮.” (Executive Summary, page, 1, JR.)

Second, her narration was dominated by telling stories of atrocities committed by the troops of the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments.

I have listened to and agreed with her impassioned lament for compassion and justice for the people of Tigray. I wholeheartedly share her pain and bewail the suffering of the innocent. I have heard her telling of the 27-year-old mother held captive for two weeks in a military camp and gang-raped by Eritrean troops with a sorrow burning in my heart. She has, nonetheless, minimized (at least that is what one would take) similar and worse ethnic-based atrocities committed by the TPLF and its persistent defiance in perpetuating violence. In a few seconds of the soundbite, she acknowledged that all parties have committed atrocities. Nonetheless, the entire speech was devoted to demonizing the other parties: the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments. She spoke: “The conflict rapidly turned into an onslaught on the Tigrayan civilian population by Ethiopian forces backed by their Eritrean allies who committed war crimes that could amount to genocide as defined by international law.”

War is ugly. That is the bitter reality of Ethiopia’s last half-century. Like all other wars, there have been confirmed human rights violations, war crimes, rapes, and looting by the Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers. Our heart grieves. These evil and abominable acts need to be condemned with the strongest possible terms. All perpetrators should be held accountable and face justice. Here are some facts she has knowingly suppressed, though:

1. In her speech, Ethiopia was vilified as the “violent aggressor” who used famine and sexual violence (in another article she alleged even chemical) as weapons to commit genocide against Tigrayans. She promotes a false narrative that the conflict was about erasing the people of Tigray. The world is still waiting to hear the findings of experts on whether or not genocide has been committed. If genocide has indeed been committed, the independent investigation will reveal that the Geneva Conventions and related serious violations of the laws and customs of war with the intent to exterminate in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group have occurred. Even opponents of the Ethiopian government such as Bekele Gerba and Jewar Mohammed disagree with her genocide narration without proper due expert findings.
2. While it is true the war has caused a humanitarian crisis, there is no deliberate intention by Ethiopia to starve its people. “𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙅𝙄𝙏 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙢 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙥𝙤𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙏𝙞𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙖𝙧.” (Executive Summary, page, 5).
3. “𝙏𝙞𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙛.: Executive Summary, page, page 5). The report reveals: “𝙤𝙗𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙞𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙞𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚.” (Executive Summary, page, page 73).
4. Eritrean troops were involved in the war. However, she deliberately ignored the questions of “why and the when? We know that Eritrea was implicated in war after suffering unprovoked and repeated rocket attacks by the TPLF. The former Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Tibor P. Nagy, rightly described the senseless act as an effort “to internationalize the conflict.” https://2017–2021.state.gov/briefing-with.../index.html Powers in the Global North have been silent even when the TPLF leadership has admitted responsibility for the 13 and 14 November 2020 missile launches at airports in Bahir Dar and Gondar, in the Amhara region, and the attacks on Eritrea. (Executive Summary, page, 27).

In fairness to her, I recognize the hit she received from the Tigray activists for her story in the Guardian that the “TPLF is forcing people to join its ranks as fighters.” Nonetheless, a balance could still have been redressed had she also lamented the atrocities committed by the TPLF, as confirmed by the JIT report: the mass looting, gang rape, and killing of civilians in various places in the Amhara and Afar regions. The cries of the victims compel us to be truthful to this reality.

Third, suppressing human rights violations caused by TPLF and selective advocacy

Here is the truth:

The government has, courageously, accepted the JIT report while disagreeing on some specific details. (Annex V — Response by the Government of Ethiopia, pages 1–2). It has assured that it will “𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙅𝙄𝙏’𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙡𝙖𝙬..” (JTI, Annex V — Response by the Government of Ethiopia, pages 4).

This is consistent with its investigation into human rights violations in which the members of Ethiopia’s military were charged with committing unlawful and extra-judicial killings and sexual violence. This was not recognized by powers in the Global North nor received media coverage.

Contrastingly and predictably, the TPLF has “categorically” rejected the JIT, saying it is “neither impartial nor independent”. (See the spokesperson’s interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson, Nov. 9, 2021). The TPLF has indeed committed an ethnic-based massacre although both the media and powers in the Global North have been oblivious until the JTI report came out. One of the uncontested pieces of evidence is that:

“𝙏𝙎𝙁 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙖, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙖𝙢𝙧𝙞 (𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙏𝙞𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙥), 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙡𝙖𝙬𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖-𝙟𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙚𝙭𝙚𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙡𝙖𝙬, 𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙨 𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙖𝙬𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙀𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙖. 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙩, 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙣𝙞𝙘-𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝘼𝙢𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙨, 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙚𝙣, 𝙞𝙣 𝙈𝙖𝙞𝙠𝙖𝙙𝙧𝙖 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙖𝙢𝙧𝙞 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙏𝙞𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙖 𝙤𝙣 9 𝙉𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 2020.” (Executive Summary, page, 2)

The post-unilateral ceasefire has revealed its true violent nature. The August 5, 2021 massacre of women, children, and the elderly — all sheltering in a camp in Galikoma Kebele, in Afar speaks the truth. During its occupation of the Amhara region, the TPLF has indiscriminately killed civilians, destroyed farms, and killed cattle, burning down schools and hospitals. The TPLF’s invasion has triggered two million displacements in Amhara and Afar alone. Amnesty International reports the gang rape, looting, and physical assaults committed by the TPLF in the town of Nifas Mewcha in Ethiopia’s Amhara region for nine days between 12 and 21 August 2021. https://www.amnesty.org/.../ethiopia-survivors-of-tplf.../

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝙏𝙋𝙇𝙁 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙧 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙞𝙤𝙩𝙖 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮. (Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary-General)

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has expressed a deep concern that there are credible and corroborated reports of the TPLF’s “reprisal attacks, abductions, arrests, and violence [including sexual] meted out against Eritrean refugees for their perceived affiliation”. In addition, there are disturbing reports that the TPLF is taking an act of revenge on Ethnic Tigrayans who are branded as “collaborators of the government”.

I am not in any way minimizing human suffering, pain, and anguish in Tigray. My point is that all humanity is sacred and cannot and should not be reduced to religious, political, and ethnolinguistic identities. At times journalists like Berhe go too far in misleading the international community by expanding specific hate speeches made against the TPLF as if they were addressed to all Tigray people. She spoke: “Hate speech was used, including by a prime ministerial adviser who called Tigrayans ‘cancer, weeds, and devils.’” I vehemently reject such dehumanizing languages as much as terms like “Yellow Peril and Yellow Terror” against the peoples of East and Southeast Asia, depicting them as a threat to the Western World, described in a biological language such as disease, infection, decay. Blacks in the Global North struggle against similar hate and dehumanizing words such as “sub-human, animals, rat and rodent-infested mess”.

Berhe’s journalistic hypocrisy and hate are revealed by the dehumanizing image of the laughing donkey attached to the Ethiopian flag she posted on social media. This post had trended among Tigrayan extremists who label Amharas “Adgis” (a Tigrigna term for donkey).” She conveniently deleted the picture from her tweet after conveying her hate message.

Tigray is as much a victim of the TPLF-ignited war, but translating the conflict into a campaign to exterminate all Tigrayans from the face of the earth is very misleading. This is consistent with Abune Mathias’s videotaped statement in Amharic who said: “Tigray people are destined for annihilation . . .” Our outrage, our demand for an investigation, and our impassioned call for compassion and help should not be selective. (see my article) The suffering of all Ethiopians deserves equal attention for all bear God’s image. Denying these realities and having a national dialogue are mutually exclusive. We should be willing to listen with mutual attentiveness to the plight of all victims. What would be helpful for her is to live up to what she has said to DeCort: “ . . . because of my spiritual aspect, I don’t say I’m always right. I’m aware I might be just like any other human being: wrong or in illusion.” This means morally responsible and honest journalism with the willingness and humility to stand corrected.

As to Andrew DeCort, you are no longer the person that I thought I know from my brief encounter in 2019. On your request, I gladly became one of your references who wrote to the University of Bon, supporting your project on Ethiopian Public Theology. I meant every word and believed in your vision and passion. Your recent highly dividing and polarizing views based on false analysis have made me question your intent and objectives. I am extremely disappointed, to say the least. You are either cripplingly obsessed by media attention, regardless of truth and Christian ethics, or have terribly derailed from your original intent to serve God to a drastically different agenda. In any case, your recent works are fueling hate and you seem to take pleasure and publicity when Ethiopians, even the body of Christ, are divided and fight for or against your dangerously misleading analysis. Sowing discord among brothers is an abomination to God. You are hurting: both the church and the nation, not helping. Your current path is contrary to the way of the cross which bridged the gulf between enemies. It is my sincere prayer that you will realize this and come to your senses. Though in a different context, as J. I. Packer puts it eloquently, “a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.”

Fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we have a significant role not only as bridge builders but as bridge crossers. May each of us be peacemakers, rejecting the cycle of mistrust, violence, and alienation. As the cross-bearing witness, just like Jesus in whose wounds our wounds are healed, so the church is called to bear his scars as a living hope for true reconciliation where walls of division are demolished. The Ethiopian church, by living more truly according to its calling as the Alternative Community, can have a powerful influence in re-claiming the virtuousness of God-given ethnic identities by setting them free from all bonds of fear, dominance, inferiority or paternalism and renewing them with the new identity in Christ. In the community of Christ, diversity is celebrated within the commonality of being created anew in the life and work of Jesus Christ, as heirs of his early followers who founded the first multi-ethnic alternative Christian community.