Thread by @althecat

A new objective of the TPLF, in the midst of its fighting appears to be renewing the efforts to remove @Oolusegun_obj as the peace talks mediator. This talking point was used by Rashid Abdi yesterday in his @bbc #Newsday IV.

In the IV @RAbdiAnalyst said Obasanjo needed to be replaced as he clearly did not have the confidence of the TPLF. Essentially this is an excuse for not attending talks.

A brace of stories have come out on this from the usual suspects now. addisstandard.com/op-ed-resignat…

@AddisStandard above, the Elephant below. The Elephant has a history of working with SAHAN.

theelephant.info/features/2022/…

So far it’s just the one article it seems, two placements.

The TPLF comms strategy for this war has morphed a long way. Out and out raw belligerence won’t fly so they are spinning:
- that they did not start the war (they did)
….

…
- that they really just want peace through peace talks (even though they walked away in June after exploratory secret talks). [on Sunday night a flurry of tweets including @Tseday]
- that the war is an “attack to defend attack” [a necessary lie].

I still have a lot of questions about the “Kindergarten bombing” as the timing of it was perfect for their war and the active involvement of @drtedros in the dissemination of an unverifiable gory video just looks very fishy.

Some things remain the same though, yesterday’s @AJEnglish story placement regarding the fake fall of Woldiya was just designed to provoke fear, cause displacement of people and undermine faith in the Govt.

Meanwhile intl. media (@AP @AFP @Reuters) is making it very easy for TPLF, by hardly reporting the war.

Including the theft of 12 WFP tankers on the eve of the war. In the 4 NYC UN media briefings so far, only one Ethiopia Q has been asked, on Friday, about the air strike.

By contrast everyone is running everything @DrTedros says, seemingly without reflection on context - namely him holding a briefing claiming falsely that he is unable to contact & assist family in Tigray 25/8 (if anyone can, he can) - and calling the West racist on 13/8.

Friday’s airstrike story was accompanied by the release of several dramatic video clips posted by @france24 @AJEnglish and @VOAAfrica + 1 by @drtedros has overwhelmed all media.

Most headlines state it as fact, even though texts qualify this saying the incident is unverified.

So far it IMO the score in the information war is roughly:
- TPLF: 2
- Govt of Ethiopia: 1
- UN: 1
- Media: Did not show
- Twitter/YouTube: 4 (the only semi-reliable source for information)