Anuak
"Genocide" and “ Genocide Watch” and VOA Amahric
By Worku Belay 05/19/09
A website administrator of a cash-strapped online organization calling itself
"Genocide Watch" was interviewed by VOA Amharic language program a
while ago about the now non-existent ethnic conflict in the Gambella region of
Ethiopia. The Voice Of America (VOA) Amharic program is often used as a play
ground for diaspora opposition politics and for character assassination, to the
point many VOA staff directors have given up trying to fix the crisis. Even Ms.
Annette C. Sheckler the former VOA head for the whole Horn of Africa (HoA) gave
up her job because it became too much to bear for her that her bosses allowed
VOA HoA branch to be fully taken over by opponents of Meles Zenawi and
virtually make it the most unprofessional branch of the whole VOA organization
(SEE SOURCE BELOW). The Ethiopian opposition politicians acting as
"journalists" inside VOA Amharic program have been deeply out of
control that they are not only attacking Meles Zenawi daily but also ridiculing
other rival opposition groups who they don't support (Like Opposition leaders
Lidetu Ayalew and Hailu Shawel).
It is during this choas in VOA Amharic program that the "Genocide
Watch" website director Dr. Gregory Stanton appeared for a funny interview
to talk about "Anuak Genocide." During the VOA interview at that
time, he admitted that it is nearly impossible to patch up legal accusations
against Ethiopian government about a non-existence "Genocide." The
fact that small scale ethnic conflicts in Africa (happening even the last few
months) have killed many more people than during the so-called
"genocide" of Anuak, forced Mr. Gregory to admit that his accusations
can't survive even another day. As expected they didn't. If ethnic conflicts,
common in many parts of Africa, become Genocide, then we would be looking at
hundreds of Genocides in every corner of Africa. If the two words
"genocide" and "ethnic conflict" could be used
interchangebly, we are looking at over 30 "genocides" in many corners
of Ethiopia during the Mengistu regime, when ofcourse there was not the
movement of information (like with internet) that would help politicians
opposed to Mengistu government to shape up the views of the outside world by
calling every little violence in Ethiopia a genocide.
In reality, in Gambella of 2003, the 2 ethnic groups Nuer and Anuak were at the
time attacking each other as they have done for many centuries before. In fact,
the many centuries old ethnic conflicts between groups like the Anuak and Nuer
are so far away from being an "Anuak Genocide" that the rival ethnic
Nuers were actually accusing Diaspora Anuaks like the Obang Metho because
Anuaks were blaming the alleged victims (Nuers/other groups) of the violence
(SEE SOURCE BELOW). [Even BBC reported about peaceful Anuaks thanking Ethiopian
police for cracking down on Anuak militants and Anuaks accusing extremist
Anuaks for the violence] During that 2003 period, one renowned ethnic Nuer also
condemned Anuak politicians living in the WEST by saying ...
"Killing and Maiming of innocent Nuer civilians have continued in
Gambella unabated despite Army intervention, while an Anuak extremist spokesman
Nykaw Ochalla, from U.K has continued to add insults to injury by blaming the
victims."
The Nuer men accused Anuak politicians of committing a genocide, not the other
way arround. (BBC agreed with similar assessments and reported that Anuak
militants attacked UN workers, Nuers and other civilians: SEE SOURCES
BELOW). Nonetheles, the ethnic Nuer accusing the anti-government Anuak militants
of committing genocide was an indication that the violence was a bitter ethnic
conflict between Nuers & Anuaks, nothing even close to
"genocide." And it was more validated by the fact that elites
of all sides of the conflict were throwing around the "G" word and
hoping someone like Dr. Gregory will catch their version first. It seemed
like the word "Genocide" was the cheapest new word among Gambella
politicians at the heat of the ethnic conflicts in which both the Nuers and
Anuaks initially admitted there was no designed government involvement. (in
fact according to Gambella Today media reports, some Anuaks said non-Gambella
opposition groups were trying to defame govt using propaganda while the
government was trying hard to stop the ethnic violence) Though after members of
both ethnic groups finished attacking each other, they both began searching for
ways to criminalize the other side and to blame somebody. The WINNER of this
"genocide politics of blame" between Nuers & Anuaks was ofcourse
the group that has the most Western political presense (aka the Anuaks
living in America/Europe) since they can use their western presense (for
example in Minnesota) to show their side of the story is true and to persuade
naive western people like Gregory. Thus, after the ethnic conflict in Gambella,
Anuak diaspora politicians first accused Nuers, then they accused
"highlanders" and then changed their story to benefit from the trend
of vilifying African governments by accusing solely the government. One wonders,
if this new "genocide" word was available the last 2,000 years in
Africa when Nuer, Anuak and many other ethnic groups in Africa were having
minor clashes and battles for centuries, maybe the English dictionary would
have put "Genocide" as synonymous with the word "Ethnic
Conflict." In other words, If "genocide" could be used
interchangebly with "ethnic conflict," the Genocide Watch website
company would have been the richest company in the world, with new
"genocides" happening everywhere, that would attract donations to
help "Genocide Watch" fill its pockets.
At the end, the invitation of Dr. Gregory by the VOA radio Amharic politicians
was the last bullet that killed the "genocide" political game. The
VOA radio Amharic politicians were (as usual) expecting to score points on
Meles Zenawi but they ended up losing everything when they interviewed a man
that had very small information about Gambella and the events. It was suicidal
for the VOA Amharic staff. When they asked Dr. Gregory in the VOA interview
about what has happened to those who were involved in the conflict, he made a
big mistake by exposing himself and saying "after five years nobody is
punished" in Gambella. He said no one has been charged and there was no
court process.
Effectively, he nailed the coffin on the death of the 5-year old propaganda.
In that moment, almost all Ethiopians (except the opposition) admitted that Dr.
Gregory knows very small information about Gambella because around half dozen
armed people were arrested by Ethiopian government for the violence in
Gambella. After a court proceeding, they were imprisoned. They were imprisoned
and accused for arming and supporting their respective ethnic groups during the
ethnic conflict. Such vital information couldn't even be mentioned by Gregory
of the "Genocide Watch" and exposed Mr. Gregory as he did not know
even the most basic information. But this fact that Gregory and his
"Genocide Watch" website did not know real information about Gambella
should not be a big surprise to us because when we visit his website, the
"big" source of information it has is the Ethiomedia.com website, an
amateur opposition website based in America that does not have any journalist
in Gambella and one that has long been involved in character assassination of
Meles Zenawi because the Ethiomedia editor prefers "Greater Tigray."
If Gregory wanted, he could have used big sources like BBC to document the
conflict in Gambella but he didn't. Thats because he can't find anything
credible to support his attention seeking outbrusts. Otherthan Ethiomedia
website, the other source of Gregory is "The McGill Report" webpage.
This webpage used to write the allegations by anti-Nuer and anti-government
Anuak politicians based in America for many months for the sole reason that
these are the only people the writer can get access to. But after realizing the
reality that the conflict in Gambella was just pure politics and propaganda,
even the "The McGill Report" abandoned the whole thing. So the last
five or six years, Mr. Gregory was left with almost nothing about Gambella,
except the amateur Ethiomedia.com website as a "source" and a
confused/angry Anuak politician Obang Metho (with his Anuakjustice.org personal
website).
Then, with no "genocide" to find after six years of silence, the
cash-strapped and attention seeking "Genocide Watch" website director
mentioned the word Ethiopia when Sudanese president Bashir was charged by the
ICC a few weeks. He didn't even meant to accuse Ethiopia but dropped the word
Ethiopia to claim there are many other unstable regions. However after a few
minutes of web searching by the Diaspora anti-government Dergist anti-Meles
Ethiopian political websites, they were in ecstasy when they saw the words
Ethiopia and ICC mentioned in the same article. The Diaspora anti-Meles
politicians quickly re-headlined and re-wrote the article ( a typical
unprofessional practice done by Diaspora based anti-Meles websites like
Ethiomedia, Abugidainfo and EthiopianReview who have been trying to impose
censorship on the Diaspora by hiding independent & professional Ethiopian
websites like AddisFortune, AddisAdmass and CapitalEthiopia) to defame Meles
Zenawi. And before he could blink, Mr. Gregory found himself already in
front of VOA Amharic politicians being forced to act like he is an expert about
Gambella. And, as expected, he did NOT know even the most basic information
stated above and the whole interview became a big drama and a joke by the VOA
Amharic politicians.
In fact, the desperate VOA Amharic politicians couldn't find enough negative
anti-Meles factual statements from Gregory that they started to fabricate and
twist his statements (anti-Meles VOA Amharic journalists are famous for
purposely misinterpreting English-to-Amharic translations to fit their goals.
Even during the recent Gregory interview when we heard what Gregory said in
English, the VOA Amharic translators were saying somethings else different
and/or exaggerating phrases to create anti-Meles Amharic statements for the
consumption of non-English speaking Ethiopians in Ethiopia). The latest saga of
the VOA Amharic politician "journalists" and some Diaspora anti-Meles
websites showed not only how they have made journalism very cheap but also how
desperate they have become trying to change every ethnic conflict to a
"genocide" to score points on the Ethiopian government.
But the anti-government propaganda of "Anuak Genocide" was dead on
arrival when a few days after the ethnic conflict between Anuaks and Nuers, the
neighboring ethnic Nuers accused the Anuak militants of committing a genocide.
This provokes the important question, If the lies of the Anuak
politician Mr. Obang Metho were miraculously true, then how can Mr. Obang
explain a scenario of the Germans accusing the Jews of committing Genocide?
Ofcourse he can't explain it because there is a big difference between a
Genocide and an ethnic conflict. Both sides of the conflict in Gambella
region of Ethiopia used the word "Genocide" as the Nuers accused the
Anuaks of killing Nuers and the Anuaks accused the Nuers of killing Anuaks
since it was simply another bitter African Ethnic Conflict.
In the end, it maybe easy and a fashion or just a matter of convenience to
point fingers at Ethiopian government, but Obang Metho (and his blind supporter)
should remember that facts can not be twisted, deleted or changed.
References Used
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3452681.stm
http://www.ethiopiafirst.com/news2002/Sep/NYKAW_ADDS_INSULTS_TO_INJURY.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5072678.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4392856.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3389405.stm
http://www.africaintelligence.com/C/modules/login/detailart/LoginDetailArt.asp?lang=ang&service=art&comment=&context=arc&doc_i_id=55319
http://www.oromoamerican.org/advocacy_group.htm
http://www.ethioobserver.net/voa.htm