Sudan Tribune and NED Supports “Terrorist” Awramba Times

NED grant for Awramba Times (Source: National Endowment for Democracy website).

 The Lie: Eritrea supports an Ethiopian terrorist organization with $500,000 (Sudan Tribune, Awramaba Times)The Truth: Is it a coincidence that Dr. Berhanu Nega, an influential Ethiopian opposition leader, is being called an Eritrea-funded “terrorist” on the same exact day that he was supposed to testify before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in a session labeled “The Future of Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia”?These accusations against Dr. Berhanu originate from a June 20, 2013 article published by Awramba Times, which links to an allegedly leaked audio with the alleged voice of Dr. Berhanu claiming to have received $500,000 from Eritrea to support the work of the opposition movement Ginbot 7 and Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT). Furthermore, the article alleges that “the original source of this grant is the Egyptian government” citing “confidential informants” but providing no hard evidence of these claims.Despite the Awramba Times relative novelty and obscurity, Sudan Tribune picks up the story and publishes an article under the headline, “Eritrea provides Ethiopian ‘terrorist’ organization with $500,000.”The very first sentence of the article goes on to state that “the Eritrean government has offered $500,000 to Ginbot 7, an exiled Ethiopian opposition political organization designated by Ethiopia as terrorist entity.” The original Awramba Times article, however, never used the word “terrorist” but did label Dr. Berhanu as “Ethiopia’s Ramirez Sanchez,” the Venezuelan terrorist also known as Carlos the Jackal.Eritrea, once again, is branded as a supporter of terrorism even though all indications point to the fact that the Ethiopian ruling regime, which is dishing out the terrorist label, has been the primary proponent of terrorism in the region. Consider that Ethiopia committed the following: armed al-Shabab; bombed itself during an African Union summit and blamed it on Eritrean-supported terrorists; openly supported and hosted the terrorist organization known as the Eritrean Islamic Jihad which killed a British national in 2003; illegally invaded Somalia in 2006 at the behest of the US; illegally occupied and continues to occupy sovereign Eritrean territory; allegedly murdered 5 European tourists in the Afar region, according to a military communiqué by the ARDUF (doesn’t recognize state of Eritrea); and committed an unprovoked attack on Eritrea in 2012 in clear violation of international law. Therefore, how can Sudan Tribune use the Ethiopian government’s terrorist label when the Ethiopian government itself takes part in terrorism? Perhaps, a closer look at the website may give us a better understanding of its role in the sphere of Ethiopian politics.In 2011, Awramba Times was awarded $36,000 grant by the US-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED). For many decades now, the NED has been a known source of destabilization of nations in the interests of the United States. As Allen Weinstein, a co-founder of NED admitted in a 1991 Washington Post article, “a lot of what we do now was done covertly by the CIA 25 years ago.”

[ed notes;just citing few paragraphs,click link for whole article..