Commentary:
Alexander Last lashes at Ethiopia with vengeance

It is easy to have a romantic notion about a small new country asserting itself for recognition. It is also very easy to fall in love with a country with seemingly no natural resources, but claims it will achieve self-sufficiency on its own and will not accept foreign donation. It is equally tempting to sympathize with a country that fought for independence for thirty years and achieved it with so much death and destruction. Unfortunately though, this little country has picked fights with The Sudan, Yemen and Djibouti and now has invaded Ethiopian territories. Many western journalists are having difficulty reconciling this realty. There are those who exceed this seemingly Eritrea friendly notion into an unexplainable partnership with the Eritrean government. The most notorious of these is Alexander Last who seems to represent more than one News services in Asmara.

It is not unusual to have journalists who might have a hidden agenda, purpose or a preconceived notion of what is right and wrong and go after it as a mission. Some westerners have followed the Eritrean struggle for less than altruistic reasons, an area I am not qualified to venture into. People like Dan Connell have been with EPLF most of its existence and to expect them to be neutral now would be naïve. I am not sure if Alexander Last have similar agenda, or a preconceived notion of the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. What is clear though is that many people are puzzled and are left with some serious questions as what his real intentions are behind his press cover.

It is absolutely fine that Alexander Last likes Eritrea and its leadership. It is even fine for him, in his private life, to want Eritrea to win this war. The line gets very gray though when he becomes a private citizen and when he is a public, international journalist that represents a respected international News media on which so many of us depend to find the latest information. In Ethiopia, there are several independent newspapers who openly dislike the present government, and will not hesitate to write anything that discomforts the government. In Eritrea on the other hand there is no independent news media, and more than ever we need foreign journalist who transmit an accurate and unbiased information and not become government mouthpieces.

No, it is no one’s business what Alexander Last does on his personal time, or his sexual preference, or who he sees or who he sleeps with. People who accuse him of these issues ought to be ashamed and must respect his private life. This does not mean that his personal life is so private that can not be touched if and when it affects his reporting. I am not sure how much privacy a journalist can have , as this debate is open and remains to be controversial.

When people are able to immediately tell who wrote a piece, not because of the writing style or linguistic usage or methodology, but simply because of its content and messages between the lines, it is time for that journalist to do some self -examination. He/she needs to asses his/her ethical dilemma that might be blaring his/her vision to tell the accurate, the factual and a balanced and neutral analyses of the situation. This I am convinced is what Alexander Last needs to do.

Reporting on the Air attack on Massawa, on 6/17/99, Mr. Last wrote: “reporters who went to Massawa said the bombs destroyed a tire workshop, killing a tire repairman who arrived at work early, and set fire to spare parts warehouses and offices in a narrow street”. Knowing the distance between Asmara and Massawa, was it so difficult for Mr. last to travel to Massawa and report an accurate eye -witness? How is it that the Visafric, an EPLF mouthpiece wrote "BBC correspondent Alex Last, who visited the port city of Massawa, said a civilian had been killed, and administration building and workshops had been damaged". How is it that Mr. Last quotes other "reporters”, and Visafric quotes Alexander Last? Now we are left to guess who is seating in the driver seat, Mr. Alexander Last or EPLF propaganda Department - head. He has also introduced his guide who happens to be an Eritrean soldier as a friend who is independent guide.

On May 18, 1999, Mr. Last quotes the president of Eritrea as saying, “Reaching Asmara, that is the ultimate objective of any military operation…they can not allow this country to live in peace or this government to survive”. Mr. Last as usual adds his notion of the conflict and writes; “ The border war began on May 6, 1998, after Ethiopian and Eritrean troops clashed in disputed territory. Unhappy at what it saw as Ethiopia’s de facto annexation of disputed territory, Eritrea responded by invading parts of the border.” This is also the exact position of the Eritrean government as to why we are in this war.

CNN reporters from Belgrade, always make sure that the world knows whatever they are reporting has been edited by the Yugoslavian authorities. Something like that would have sufficed if indeed Alexander Last is writing something that is half his. In all indications though he is a more than willing cadre of the Eritrean government. It is simply difficult to explain why for example he never wrote about the horror that the Eritrean Airforce committed when it dropped a cluster bomb on the elementary School in Makele killing innocent children. He never wrote a line about the continued shelling of the town of Addigrat by the Eritrean gunners and the death of so many innocent civilians.

Alexander Last was able to visit Maicha’ha, Irob in July of 1998, most probably with his “independent” friend and acted as if the people in the village are “pragmatic” with no national feeling. He also made a mistake when he tried to tell us that there was fierce fighting in Alitena. The fieriest fighting was at Aiga few miles from where he found the “pragmatic villagers” who, in the presence of the Eritrean military personnel and informers could not tell him exactly what was in their mind. He somehow forgot that those “pragmatic villagers" were the ones who fought with his friends for two strait days. During his interview with the “pragmatic villagers”, he somehow forgot to mention to his readers about the clinic and school in Maicha’ha that the Eritrean army has destroyed. But that would not have been in the national interest of Eritreea as it would expose the true colors of the Eritrean leadership. I presume that Mr. Last could not convince his “independent guide" to take him to areas where the Eritrean army was forcing blood donation from Irob peasants for the Eritrean military. Why was Mr. Last not able to interview the innocent Catholic priest who was badly beaten and put in prison in Senafe for simply being an Irob Ethiopian? Is it also possible his “independent guide” could not have taken him to the infamous concentration camp at Waratle where rape of Irob girls and women by Eritrean soldiers have become a daily routine ? A good journalist with curiosity would have gone to Aiga where the Eritrean army has ransacked St. Michael’s Catholic Church and the historic Alitena town where priests and nuns including a foreign nun, where abducted on a gun point. But Mr. Last has chosen a much easier method of information gathering by accepting information prepared by the Eritream government.

Well, now Mr. Last is really angry and back with vengeance. Many people have called him names. Name-calling should have never happened because now the competition between Dehai, The Eritrean Profile, Visafric and Alexander Last will get fiercer. In his June 5, 1999 under “a forgotten war”, he has started to give us a glimpse of the level he intends to take his propaganda machine. He told us that the war is a civilized war “at least on the Eritrean side”. He explains how those Eritreans who were deported were suffering and totally leaves the thousands of Ethiopians who are under Eritrean occupation and facing the daily harassment, rape and death. I suppose enemies do not count.

Mr. Last complains of being a “journalist on the Ethiopian hate list”, and writes, “ I was first labeled a lieutenant, then a major, then a colonel and finally a general before going supernatural and receiving the title of White Devil, all in the space of one year”. He seems to have forgotten that one year is a long time under his misinformation campaign. Concerning the Ethiopian radio’s interest in his personal life, he writes, “Then there was Ethiopian radio’s interest in my private life- I was variously described as pederast, homosexual, wife-beater, whoremonger, all much to the amusement of my friends and colleagues in Asmara”. After addressing his complaint, he goes right into what he sees is the guts of the matter (as if to say I still hate Ethiopia and will keep writing lies to defame it). He reminds the world that he witnessed “some 50,000 Ethiopians had tried to break the Eritrean lines by running across mined no-man’s land through constant artillery, tank mortar and machine gun fire”. With his “independent friend helping him, Mr. Last is so sure of the identity of Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers, he wants us to know that death is visiting only Ethiopian soldiers. No Mr. Last, this is not Pharaoh’s Egypt and there is no lamb blood to direct the bullet one way or the other.

Speaking of his guide he writes, “my friend Robel, the independent guide, translator and fixer for most of the journalist who come here, never seemed to be scared”. He goes on and describes his friend “As a veteran of the war of independence, he had grown up in the field but had decided that the government work was definitely not for him”. Well, thanks for that small piece of information he threw in there. Now I feel I have much better understanding of the situation, and so will millions of Ethiopians that Mr. Last has been insulting their intelligence during the past year. If Mr. Last feels that he is on the Ethiopian hate list now, Ethiopia has been on his hate list for one whole year.

Sotal