Introduction
On June 12, Ethiopia embarked on a national dialogue in hopes on reconciling years of conflict, with dozens of political parties meeting to share agendas. Regardless of the outcome, it is impossible to understand the reasons why this process is needed without understanding the brutal U.S.-backed uprising of the so-called Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that started in 2018 and formally ended with a peace deal in 2022.
For nearly 30 years the TPLF ruled Ethiopia as a neo-colonial dictatorship, a role they sought to reclaim in their war against the current government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his Prosperity Party.
This episode of the Rania Khalek Dispatches from BreakThrough News provides some of this key context. Khalek interviews BT journalist Eugene Puryear, who visited Ethiopia several times during the current conflict, to cut through the media distortions about the struggle in Ethiopia, a primary battleground in the Horn of Africa. Recorded in July 2021, the interview takes place after the TPLF took control of the northern state of Tigray and started expanding its control into neighboring countries.
“Crisis In Ethiopia: What the Media Isn’t Telling You About the War In Tigray”
