Tesfaye Gebreab and his lies, once an errand boy always an errand boy

Melat Goitom, MD
Tigrai Online, June 9, 2017

I listened to the interview of Tesfaye Gerbera with the voice of America with Great astonishment and contempt. Later when I recovered from my emotional state of mind I started to reason out and  I felt very sorry for the man because I was so convinced that this is a man suffering from identity crises. By the way who is Tesfaye Gebreab?

Tesfaye presents himself as EPRDF fighter, who fought for the liberation of the Ethiopian people, later he claimed his birth identity and became the central figure in the PFDJ propaganda machine and married to the daughter of a prominent Eritrean high ranking military official in Asmara, (refer to the interview of Senay Gebremedhin-Eritrean journalist in Exile).

Recently Tesfaye, came into the scene and this time he reinvented his identity and not only did he appeared as an advocate of the Oromo people but he claimed the Identity as well. Once again I asked myself who is who this guy?

Tesfaye is now PFDJ’s errand boy and the Oromo identity comes handy so that he can travel abroad and meet Ethiopian oppositions in the Diaspora.

Tesfaye like he said, he was born in Debreziet from Eritrean parentage. Due to the economic status of his family and the split up of his parents he has led a tough life. He was raised by his step mother and life for him was unbearable so he joined the Derge army. Towards the end of the war Tesfaye was captured by EPRDF fighters in one of the battle ground and became a POW. The fact that he was a Tigrigna speaker, however, was a good opportunity for him to join the struggle. Knowing Eritrean heritage some EPRDF commanders at the time have advised him to join the liberation movement in Eritrea but he told them that he wants to fight for the liberation of Ethiopians and officially stated that he has no faith in the Eritrean liberation movement.  

After he joined the struggle, he was assigned in the propaganda branch of EPRDF until the city of Addis came under the control of the liberation fighters. During that time the key positions in the Ethiopian media was given to the EPRDF fighters in the propaganda wing and Tesfaye was one of the beneficiaries of it and he became head of the Ethiopian press known as press memria. This position was given to him not because of his knowledge of the media or his talent but it was the case of among the blind one eyed man is king. Otherwise when Tesafaye joined the Derg army he did not even complete secondary school.

Tesfaye did not enjoy his position for long, when the dust settled he was replaced by Tsehaye Debaleqew a very competent man for the job. He then was assigned as chief editor a newspaper called Efoyta.

Lie Number one

On most of his interviews and his writings he presents himself as a very close friend to top EPRDF officials by saying as so and so told me. In EPRDF structure Tesfaye was not only a junior member but they use to see him as an errand boy. He has confirmed this himself in an interview he had with Abebe Gelaw.

Lie Number Two

He claims to be inspired by great writers like Chekhov. Tesfaye is highly allergic to the English language and because of this he has missed out on the classic litterateurs of out time which are written in English. In fact, he has never read any foreign literature. His knowledge about Russian writers came from the then deputy chief editor of Efoyta newspaper Mekurya who was educated in the USSR is now a professor in a civil service collage. Mekurya use to translate extracts from some of the Great Russian literatures to Amharic for the newspaper.

Lie Number Three

Tesafye is shameless, because of this if he comes across a certain piece of historical tale he does not hesitate to expand and convert it into a historical phenomenon. To be a history writer someone needs at least the basic concept of research methodology. Tesfaye does not need to substantiate his arguments with research instead he will tell you so and so told me.

To cut the chase short, in his recent interview with the VOA he mentioned about the death of Mussie or Mehari Tecle. Mussie is one of the most senior veteran EPRDF fighters who did not make it. According to him he was told that Mussie was shot from the back by his comrades. 

The same person ie Tesfaye Gebreab has also written that Mussie was shot by EDU fighters. In a book called Terarochen yanketekete tewled [or roughly translated the Generation that trembled the mountains] (a sort of biography of fighters with exceptional talent and heroism) this same person has written about Mussie claiming that Asefa Mamo and other veteran fighters told him. How shameless can you get?

I could go on and on but the list is too long and I do not want to bore you. I am sure others who know him better than me can expose his lies better. All I can say is this guy need to be stopped.