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Alastair Thompson Profile picture
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10 Oct, 21 tweets, 12 min read
The 9/3/21 @ForeignPolicy story in quoted thread, provides us with a clear moment when the UN's effort to address the conflict in Tigray went horribly wrong, in large part - it seems - because @antonioguterres followed the wrong advice.

Analysis Thread follows....
And, on the basis of recent events, it points to the role played by specific personalities and internal power politics in the United Nations. Putting a particular spotlight on UK UN official Sir Mark Lowcock >> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lowc…
Sir Mark Lowcock, left the UN at an auspicious date in the history of this horrific conflict in Ethiopia
On the 19th of July:
- The 2nd GERD filling was completed ...
egyptindependent.com/ethiopia-annou…
- The TPLF had just launched it's offensive in to the Amhara/Afar regions in a renewed effort to overthrow the Ethiopian govt.
reuters.com/world/africa/e…
- These TPLF's attacks, against civilians have massively worsened the conflict and humanitarian catastrophe in Northern Ethiopia. They began during the solemn Olympics Truce, & during a unilateral ceasefire by the Govt. of Ethiopia (beginning June 28th). olympics.com/ioc/news/solem…
One might have thought that these attacks would be condemned by the US, EU and the UN - but they weren't, and they continue today.

Current tensions between the GoE and the UN are in large part due to concerns the humanitarian aid-effort has actively enabled these offensives.
I am unaware of the timing reasons for Mark Lowcock leaving his position, but note that the leading EU official responsible for the Horn of Africa, Alex Rondos, also left his position around this time, completing his term as Horn of Africa Envoy on June 30th.
In the wake of the expulsion of seven UN officials on September 29th, leading to @antonioguterres issuing a statement expressing shock, and then last week to a UNSC meeting, Sir Mark Lowcock has resurfaced.
Sir Mark penned an undiplomatic op-ed which, given what we now know, may well have been intended to get out ahead of possible criticism for his advice/leadership early in the crisis.cgdev.org/blog/how-destr…
Thread here >>
On the same day Sir Mark also appeared on a PBS broadcast [with @JudyWoodruff & @nickschifrin] last Wednesday (the day of the UNSC meeting) pbs.org/newshour/show/…
The PBS report unfortunate, in addition to Lowcock it features an IV with Mulugeta Gebrehiwot of Alex de Waal's @WorldPeaceFdtn, a writer who has joined the TPLF rebels in Tigray.

Earlier @PBS reports incl. this one from Aug. 4th are also deeply flawed.
During research for the Aug. 4th report, PBS's @AliRogin discussed the conflict with known TPLF misinformation operatives, and even after being informed she was being lied to, put their information in the script.
@AliRogin Meanwhile the latest PBS report fails to mention the admissions by the UN that 400+ UN Aid Trucks sent to Tigray have failed to return. Which is a key reason behind the failure to deliver aid.
@AliRogin Returning to Sir Mark Lowcock's interview on PBS.

As in his op-ed for "The Center for Global Development", Sir Mark appears reluctant to let the facts of where this conflict is now at get in the way of a fierce defense of his personal reputation.
@AliRogin He begins repeating his the standard lines, GoE is starving people of Tigray.

He is then asked by @nickschifrin:

"The Ethiopian government accuses Tigrayan forces of blocking aid and committing abuses in neighboring regions. Are either of those claims true?"
To which Sir Mark replies: "One of the things that needs to happen is, the Tigrayans do need to pull back from some of the advanced positions they have taken up.

But it is not true that the Tigrayans are trying to block aid."
Four slow-ball questions follow.

@PBS's @nickschifrin should have maintained his question line and asked about the missing trucks - and widely reported TPLF attrocities. But he didn't.
Given Sir Mark Lowcock seems to be keen to do interviews on the subject, it might be a good opportunity for @stephensackur of @BBCHARDtalk to have him on.
Another #UNEthiopiaCrisis story being missed concerns internal allegations from UN staff about the humanitarian operations.

Readers/Media should see @jeffpropulsion's 2 pieces on this. The first relates to operations under Mark Lowcock's leadership.

1. jeffpearce.medium.com/ethiopia-the-u…
@jeffpropulsion 2. The second is much more recent and pertains to an October 2nd internal UN email from an official working in the Tigray region, which raises extremely serious questions about the operation as of right now. jeffpearce.medium.com/the-un-literal…
@jeffpropulsion /ENDS

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Alastair Thompson Profile picture
10 Oct
This is an interesting old news story. March 2021, relevant again in light of recent developments at the UNSC and in Addis Ababa.

UN Agency memo sidesteps questions around government’s role in Tigray. foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/09/eth…
"A senior U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Guterres’s own views on the crisis are reflected in recent statements by the U.N.’s chief relief coordinator, Mark Lowcock..."
It's clear from this report - based on a UNDP memo, that as early as February 2021, there were voices inside the UN that were clear eyed about the Tigray conflict and the role of the TPLF in provoking it.
Read 7 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
8 Oct
"The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which ruled Ethiopia — undemocratically — before Mr. Abiy’s rise to power in 2018, is hardly blameless." - @washingtonpost Editorial Board 7/10/21
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… ImageImage
@washingtonpost The @washingtonpost Editorial Board has been one of the worst offenders in terms of pro-TPLF editorials on the Tigray Conflict. Egregiously so. This editorial is different, and appears to based on actual research into the issue, rather than TPLF talking points.
@washingtonpost And it has even managed to avoid perpetuating the "Big Lie" in the Tigray information space:

"[TPLF] forces responded to a series of heavy-handed measures by the central government with a violent uprising in November 2020, triggering a joint offensive by [the Govt. of Ethiopia]"
Read 4 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
8 Oct
This (2nd image) is what >> un.org/ruleoflaw/them… << the @UN says about the the need for Freedom of Information laws to be in place in nation states to protect freedom of expression as per the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
And this is a recent (2020) statement issued by the independent OHCHR [Office of the high commissioner of human rights] issued about the absence of implementation of Freedom of Information within UN institutions. ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/…
“The UN and many international organizations lack the kind of freedom of information policies that are increasingly the norm among governments,” - David Kaye said before presenting a new report to the UN General Assembly.
Read 11 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
8 Oct
2 damaging pieces about Ethiopia in @TheEconomist today, an editorial and a report. Both behind a paywall, and inaccessible to most Ethiopians

"Abiy against the world

Ethiopia is losing friends and influence

An essential Western ally now faces sanctions and isolation"
The editorial is the more damaging of the two, and links to the report, upon which it is loosely based.

"No favours for killers
Ethiopia is deliberately starving its own citizens
The world should apply whatever pressure it can to force it to stop"
LINKS:
Editorial >> economist.com/leaders/2021/1…

The report is linked at the bottom with the phrase "increasingly paranoid and erratic" used to describe @AbiyAhmedAli

Report >> economist.com/middle-east-an…
Read 4 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
7 Oct
I'd love to know who @Jack talked to when he visited Ethiopia and what they talked about?

The role of @Twitter in reversing the information warfare dominance of TPLF, based mostly on lies, and replacing it with narratives based on reality has been an outstanding success.
There are spectacular differences between the approaches applied by the TPLF's cyber corps and those of Ethiopia.

TPLF: trolling, lying, gaslighting, bland unspecific allegations.
ETHIOPIA: humour, amplifying, revealing, informing, investigating, thanking and politely rebuffing
On the news media side the TPLF maintain clear dominance however. They have put in a lot off effort with things like story fabrication and placement, engineered and carefully deployed leaks.
Read 12 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
7 Oct
UN Interference in Ethiopia. Exhibit #1

An extraordinarily foolish oped by Mark Lowcock. UN Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator between 2017 and 2021.

I.E. The official in charge of Tigray when war began.

cgdev.org/blog/how-destr…
This oped is indicates that from the outset the war, the UN’s perspective on Tigray was divorced from reality.

TPLF attacks on multiple ENDF bases, killing 1000s of soldiers & officers, stealing heavy weaponry and attacking a neighboring state. Is not a “political dispute”.
I can only conclude from this intemperate and delusional account of recent history that Sir Mark Lowcock is anxious, that when the causes of the humanitarian disaster in Tigray are determined, they will be sheeted home to his leadership.
Read 4 tweets

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