Thread by @althecat

Compared to the @AFP report cited in last thread, this report from Reuters on Saturday is better, but still suffers with some of the issues which are problematic in reporting this conflict. Including the concept of this war "erupting" rather than being started by the TPLF.

https://twitter.com/markc_anderson/status/1419289888520822788

See previous thread here:

https://twitter.com/althecat/status/1419628811377909763?s=20

This news about Adi Arkay is important and disturbing, but it doesn't fit the story lead which carries the same angle as the @AFP piece, i.e. that Amhara is moving to a war footing.

Here is the latest reporting on the escalation in Afar side. Presumably this will be updated soon with a report on the WFP convoy attack, if it hasn't been already.

The tenor of the report is that TPLF is on a renewed offensive and it seems odd that this is not the lead framing.

The report does not mention the mounting evidence of the use of child soldiers. An issue which is a) newsworthy and b) the paramount narrative inside Ethiopia and which one might expect to now be included in these reports. Were child soldiers involved in the Adi Arkay action?

Given that Reuters is receiving @reda_getachew's text messages, they could ask him. And at least get a denial on the record.

This paragraph from the Reuters boilerplate for this conflict needs to be amended. As previously noted wars do not erupt, they begin, almost invariably one one side attacks another. And in this case the war began when the TPLF attacked. There is no reason to obfuscate this fact.

Finally, it is unfortunate he Ethiopian Govt. did not responding to this inquiry. The reticence is understandable, but in an information warfare environment such as this Ethiopia should be maintaining an open line to both @AFP and @Reuters.

CC: @mfaethiopia @BilleneSeyoum

/ENDS

@Threadreaderapp unroll