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Misinforming unsuspecting reporters

The Sept. 21 issue of The Hill newspaper falsely reported that Kinijit delegates Gizachew Shiferraw and Brook Kebede do not support H.R. 2003, while Hailu Shawel does. (see the report here)

It was a blatantly false report. Just a few days earlier, Ato Gizachew Shiferraw was standing next to Congressman Mike Honda at a pro-HR 2003 rally in front of the U.S. Congress as he made a speech urging Congress to pass the bill. Again, one week earlier, all the delegates had been at Congressman Donald Payne’s office to personally lobby on behalf of the bill. Yet, the EPRP web sites and radio programs used the false report to pound on the delegates as working against the bill.

Yesterday, another false report appeared. This time it was in the Washington Post which reported that Ato Hailu Shawel and Ato Mesfin Mekonnen were at the Congress when the vote H.R. 2003 took place [read here]. The fact is that Ato Hailu was and still is in Minneapolis getting medical treatment. Ato Mesfin was also not there on Tuesday.

Asked to correct the report, Nora Boustany, the Washington Post correspondent who wrote the report, responded:

“… they were both sitting in the gallery and I reached them by cell phone while the session was going on. You can probably find out by contacting the office of Rep. Smith. You can check this out independently. So, I hope you can have this faulty editor’s note corrected. Otherwise, thank you for your interest.”

This is the work of Ato Mesfin Mekonnen, an EPRP operative in Washington DC who is recruited by Taye to join the now defunct KIC (keysi).

But why? The misinformation can easily be discovered and disproved? Unless the objective is to create confusion even if temporarily.

Ato Mesfin Mekonnen could have been trying to earn credit for himself and Hailu Shawel for some thing they did not do, but that comes with a terribly high price — misinforming the American media the way he did acting as a representative of a major Ethiopian opposition party can have a negative impact on the whole Ethiopian community.

6 thoughts on “Misinforming unsuspecting reporters

  1. When I read today the today’s article is with a great enthusiasm and really many peoples were worried by the deliberately misinforming informations prepared by the keysi(KiC)&the EPRP mafias giving such a non-sense & anti ethiopians action,their information is not only great shame for them ,rather it shows with whom they stand ,for what purpose they stand.That is why by their own stupid actions they will be more isolated and no one want to listen not another infos ,even their names.They are the enemy groups of our mother land’Ethiopia’they are the enemy of kiNIJIT,they are the enemy of Democracy,human rights,and totaly they are wilds.We are very proud by the effort of ER of correcting & giving the real infos.

  2. By the way, Taye and Mesfin are also childhood friends and grew up together in Nazeret. Mesfin Mekonnen has been in this country for over 30 years and did not go so school. Knowing full well that he is uneducated, he was recuruited by EPRP in the 1970s. He works at the National Press Club in the kitchen area and that is what gave him access to the press people. He is an active member of EPRP, a moribond organization and he shelters Taye since The Political Scientist is unemployable.

  3. It sad the hard work of Mesfin Mekonnen around the Ethiopian Freedom act is unrewarded & ends-up in this way.
    Mostly it is he’s fault by joining the KIC’s/EPRP’s mafia work of descrediting true leaders of CUD such as Dr. Berhanu.
    I feel sad for Mesfin, Eng. Hailu & for all of us Ethiopians- we always prefer to be divided rather than work together with our eyes on the price. It indeed Sad!

  4. ENG GIZACHEW AND bROOK KEBEDE DID NOT SUPPORT KKKKKKKKKKK. WHO SAID SO? HR 2003 = KINIJIT’S 8 POINTS. FINISHED. IT WAS EPRP’S baseless accusation as usual. where has been “the so called UEDF”, THE SKIN’S OF EPRP? WE know for sure and they have showed us that they support hr 2003. eprp deben yibele. please eprp,can you take away your agent from kinijit’s camp with that maffia hut[KIC]?

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