By Mekdelawit Messay Deribe @Mekdi_Messay
Addis Abeba, April 14/2020 – Following the renewed disagreement between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) after the failed Washington talks, it seems like the international media have given the utmost attention to the issue. While the spotlight on the GERD is very welcome, I have been observing increasingly strong mischaracterization of Ethiopia and its stand in many of these media outlets.
Many of these outlets have in one way or another used similar language to misrepresent Ethiopia. I will provide the details below. But generally speaking, besides the Egyptian media whose usual approach is being a propaganda machine of the state, even those international media which would be expected to be objective and neutral such as the National Post, Bloomberg, New York Times, the Independent, Washington Post, VoA all, in one way or another have portrayed Ethiopia as acting unilaterally in declaring to fill the dam without an agreement, creating facts on the ground, skipping the last Washington meeting deliberately and as plotting to become a hegemon in the Nile. It is such misrepresentation of facts and character that has been working in Egypt’s favor and to Ethiopia’s detriment. So, I thought it is of utmost importance to shed a light on and address some of these mischaracterizations and defamation on Ethiopia’s stance. I will address three major points in this article.
Read full article at Addis Standard