Open Letter to Amb. Jeffrey D. Feltman

Why Interviewing with a Genocidal Media Outlet?

Isaac M. 12.06.21

Dear Amb. Feltman,

I watched your i nterview of 1 st December with ESAT with bewilderment and dismay. I respect your right to express your views using any media outlet you think is fit for your purposes. I also appreciate your endeavour to reach out to the noises of the government in the diaspora and inside Ethiopia.

However, from a top diplomat and statesman of a democratic country like the United States, I would expect some ethical standards, sense of duty and respect for victims of heinous international crimes to dictate your conscience and deeds.

I would argue that your appearance at ESAT on first December was unethical and perhaps illegal for the following reasons:

First, ESAT has been the main propaganda machine for the genocidal war against Tigrayans for several years now. In 2016, it openly called upon Ethiopians to drain the sea (the people of Tigray) in order to catch the fish (the TPLF) in Tigray. This was a genocidal call from the part of EAST and is believed to have contributed to or aggravated the hostility and killings of Tigryeans in the Amhara region and in other parts of Ethiopia’.

Secondly, EAST has been calling for a military action against Tigray for the last four years, among others on July 2020 . They openly called upon inviting and coordinating with the Eritrean regime to destroy the TPLF, a code that they use to refer to the people of Tigray, on several occasions.

Thirdly, the journalists there, including the one who interviewed you, have been calling upon the Abiy Ahmed’s despotic regime, to undertake mass arrests and other abuses of innocent Tigrayans. In a segment the media broadcasted in October 2020, he argued that “the most important point is that the federal government must take actions that disrupt the livelihood of the Tigrayan people”.

Fourthly, they condone and expressly encourage violence against the people of Tigray by being a key ally of the Ethiopian, Eritrean and extremist Amharan forces.  EAST has also served as a propaganda machine to cover up the mass atrocity crimes being perpetrated in the whole of Tigray and other parts of Ethiopia.  They regularly interviewed Ethiopian army commanders, Amhara region officials who are implicated in the war crimes, crimes against humanity and possible genocide throughout this conflict.

For Tigrayans (and other oppressed ethnic groups in the Country) EAST is the Rwandan Radio Television Libre des Mille (RTLM) of Ethiopia. RTLM escalated the persecution of the Tutsi minority by up to 70% during the Rwandan genocide.  The RTLM gave names such as ‘cockroaches’, ‘snakes’, etc to the Tutsi; by the same token, ESAT and its allies inside Ethiopia calls Tigrayans ‘cancers’, ‘traitors’, ‘day hyenas’, etc.

For these reasons, there is no doubt that ESAT would be investigated for the crimes committed against Tigrayans by the Federal, Eritrean and Amhara forces –it is a matter of time. This would happen either in Ethiopia, at the Hague or in the US as the offences perpetrated in Tigray and against Tigrayans are of universal in nature. Recognising such suspects of serious universal crimes poses questions of honouring the genocide Convention 1948, the Geneva Conventions 1949 and many other international commitments of the USA.

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It has to be mentioned that the EAST journalist who conducted your interview tried to over smart you and us all by pretending to show respect to you and the US by referring to your previous speech and the historic ties between Ethiopia and the US. Yet, a few months ago, the Board Chair of this same media outlet, Andargachew Tsige, the one who brokered the Abiy-Isaias criminal alliance and is now an active genocidal campaigner in Ethiopia, has called upon Ethiopians, and vowed himself, to burn the American flag .

ESAT and their backers are also campaigning day and night against the USA and western powers accusing them of backing the TPLF simply because you and others opposed the Tigray siege, horrific sexual violence, utilising starvation as a weapon and the extrajudicial killings and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by their regime in Addis. They are also abusing the card of anti-colonialism to incite anti-US sentiment inside Ethiopia.

The EAST gang does not have any regard for the USA and the Biden Administration as they say it in their day-to-day broadcasts. They have been calling upon their supporters and the State to act against the US and other western interests despite the fact that some of these men are perhaps recipients of financial and other benefits from the US taxpayer.

I must also state that your reference to Ethiopian unity and integrity before ESAT does not make sense- as they don’t really care about it. They are the ones who brought the Eritrean army to commit atrocities against Tigrayans. They don’t really care about Sudanese incursions into Ethiopian territories, you name it. Their dream and concrete plan which they have executed for the last 12 months is just to demonise and destroy the people of Tigray. Period!

Furthermore, talking about Ethiopia’s integrity and Unity while tens of thousands of Tigrayans are put in concentration camps in all corners of the country, killed, raped and starved en masse , does not really make sense Amb. Feltman. I am sure you agree with me that sovereignty is not territory in the 21 st century, rather sovereignty is humanity and the will and well-being of citizens and all ethnic groups. For EAST-like entities and their backers, however, territory is much more important than communities and ethnic groups, that is why they have waged a genocidal war against Tigrayans. They compromised on Ethiopian sovereignty for political gains.

Finally, as your action has certainly offended victims of sexual violence, man-made famine, countless atrocities and mass detention, I would humbly ask you to apologise to Tigrayans, their friends and all justice lovers, and assure them that you and other members of the Biden administration won’t repeat the same grave mistake again in the future. If you do, this would amount to condoning mass atrocity crimes and denial of justice. It maybe that you have done this with good intentions to reach out for peace and harmony, unfortunately EAST is a wrong choice for such an endeavour. Find moderate Amharas who do not actively support the war and criminal effort in Tigray and against Tigrayans.

Yours truly,

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