ZekuZelalem

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago (edited 12 days ago)

To be fair, thus far the claims are allegations being seen in court.

50 year old Ethiopian American Abraham Teklu Lemma worked for the US State Department as a data analyst, according to his Linkedin profile. He now faces espionage charges for secretly transferring hundreds of files to his Ethiopian handler including notes, satellite imagery, intelligence documents, maps nearly all of which were classified "secret" or "top secret."
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/21/politics/federal-contractor-charged-with-sending-classified-us-information-to-ethiopia/index.html

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

According to the charges listed, Abraham Teklu Lemma used his top secret security clearance to access intelligence documents which were related to Ethiopia and the wars the country had been engaged in, primarily the civil war in Tigray which ended in November 2022.

The unauthorized retention of the documents carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. The espionage charges? Life in prison or a possible (and unlikely) death sentence.

US State Department logo

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

According to the affidavit, Abraham used encrypted channels to communicate with an individual identified by US officials as an Ethiopian government official, because the same number used to receive the files, was listed on the man's US Visa application that year.

With large transfers of material, Abraham was seen on several occasions attempting to deposit huge amounts of cash into a Maryland bank account, and harassing a bank employee who attempted to file a currency transaction report.

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

In Sept 2022, the Ethiopian gov official received classified satellite imagery said to show military compounds of rebel forces in Ethiopia. He urged Abraham to continue sending imagery of rebel postions saying:

"in few days we will achieve
the critical milestones."

This is consistent with the upscale in fighting & victories scored by Ethiopian forces against Tigrayan rebels in September-October 2022.

I covered the upscale in fighting for The Telegraph back then.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/how-tigrays-great-war-africa-raging-cover-media-blackout/

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

Here is the affidavit. A bit mindboggling that Abraham was able to make fishy deposits worth around $55,000 from Jan 2022 - July 2023, copy/paste, transfer material & delete evidence, all while making trips back and forth to Ethiopia (at a time when ties between the 2 were at their lowest in decades) without raising an alarm. Of course, the FBI could have been observing him. But if they were, then they willingly observed the transfer of sensitive docs without intervening.
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23988722/abraham-teklu-lemma-affidavit.pdf

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

Why am I bringing this up months after it made headlines?

For the most part, the stories focused on Abraham and his attempts to influence the civil war with Tigray.

But a rereading has me thinking it could have been international.

The affidavit reads that the Ethiopian official accessed Abraham's encrypted accounts from Ethiopia repeatedly from April 13th onwards, which he did when receiving classified US docs. This was the reported method for transferring files to Ethiopia.

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

At the time, Abraham was visiting Ethiopia and had scheduled to meet with the official at a hotel.

In a text message sent on April 17th 2023, Abraham told the official:
“I hope we’re using current [Country A]
situations for our advantage.”

The affidavit doesn't identify "country A" except to say that it's a country that "shares a border with the Relevant Country." The Relevant Country being Ethiopia.

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

While the country isn't specified, it is highly likely that Abraham was referring to Sudan, where the destructive war between the Sudanese army and RSF had broken out 48 hours prior to Abraham's text.

None of the other countries sharing a border with Ethiopia had experienced anything as remarkable during that time period.

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

Ethiopia and Sudan have sparred over the Al Fashaga strip of land on their common border. Both countries lay claim to the land and its great agricultural produce. Prior to 2020, farmers from both countries resided on it, although armed raids by militias from both sides had grown frequent over the years.

Despite numerous skirmishes over Al Fashaga, neither side was ever willing to declare war and launch an all out assault to claim it.

Until 2020.

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

In November 2020, Ethiopia was plunged into civil war after its army sent troops to fight Tigrayan forces. With the country's armed forces preoccupied with fighting in the north, Sudan seized the opportunity and launched an assault on Al Fashaga, capturing the strip of land in its entirety by December. It was the first time in 25 years that Sudanese forces patrolled the land unchallenged. Ethiopia denounced the move, but bogged down in Tigray, was unable to retaliate.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/31/sudan-regains-full-control-of-border-with-ethiopia-ministry

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

Skirmishes continued for months, and Sudan closed its airspace on the border for a while. Eventually, with Ethiopia preoccupied, fighting died down. Still, in Ethiopian nationalist discourse, the idea of reclaiming Al Fashaga when the time is right is still brought up as an agenda topic.

In February 2021, I wrote this for Al Jazeera, analyzing the standoff at the time.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/1/rising-tension-ethiopia-sudan-deadlocked-border-dispute-fashaga

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

So when Abraham texted the official “I hope we’re using current [Country A] situations for our advantage,” shortly after corresponding via the device known to transfer US intelligence reports and satellite imagery to Ethiopian officials....it appears that he was hinting at Ethiopia seizing the chance to attack and reclaim the Al Fashaga strip while Sudan is preoccupied with RSF rebels, the same scenario of late 2020 but with the roles switched.

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

Abraham Teklu Lemma's account activity and his comments suggest that he may have accessed satellite imagery showing Sudanese positions in Al Fashaga and passed them on to Ethiopia. Only speculating obviously.

Nevertheless, on April 19th, two days after Abraham's text, Sudanese media reported that Ethiopian forces, including army infantry, tanks and irregular militia, launched an assault on Al Fashaga, with the goal of retaking it.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/04/18/east-africa-on-edge-as-regional-powers-set-out-to-contain-conflict-in-sudan_6023271_4.html#

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

The Ethiopian attack was reportedly repulsed. After analysts and commentators began accusing Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of attempting to take advantage of Sudan's conflict, Abiy issued a statement denying that he ordered an attack on Al Fashaga. Hardly convincing though.

https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/33380/

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

Al Fashaga remains in Sudanese control despite the raging war, and Ethiopian forces have not attempted a repeat of the ill fated April 19th assault.

Could it be that intelligence obtained from the DC based spy on the clock for the US State Department facilitated that attempt to take Al Fashaga?

Who knows, we may never find out. I'm wondering how much of the details at trial will ever be revealed, considering the likelihood that it would further compromise US intelligence interests.

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

It appears clear that for Abraham, his motivations were purely patriotic in that acted in the best interests of his country of birth.

He was praised in a text by his handler who told him:

“[a]lways this beautiful country have [sic] some special people
who scarify [sic] their life to protect our proud history. You always remembered. It doesn’t matter the results.”

He may have thought going down in history as a martyr (in addition to 55k$) may have made it worth the extremely high risk.

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

The problem? 2022 in Ethiopia, was a long time ago. A lot has changed.

Ethiopian nationalists have since 2023, fallen out with the Ethiopian government. The patriotic right wing, which defended the government & Prime Minister Abiy against allegations of war crimes & genocide, are now his staunch critics calling for his overthrow.

Abraham Teklu Lemma remains in prison though. Martyrdom for an Abiy led government no longer has the patriotic appeal it guaranteed in 2022.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230921-us-govt-contractor-charged-with-spying-for-ethiopia

ZekuZelalem, 12 days ago

I'll be keeping an eye out for updates on Abraham's espionage trial, and will post them as they come. That's the story of how Ethiopia infiltrated the US State Department, which may have had repercussions for Sudan as well.

-ZZ.

ZekuZelalem, 14 days ago

@timnitGebru @refugeesinlibya absolutely amazing person and org!

ZekuZelalem, 15 days ago

@timnitGebru Yup! Up there with Henry Kissinger winning the Nobel Peace Prize!

ZekuZelalem, 15 days ago

@LALegault you are very kind thank you! But it goes without saying, neither me nor ANYONE out there this year should ever be considered for any major global special journalism prize citation highlighting courage and sacrifice amid conflict...ahead of Palestinian colleagues in Gaza!

ZekuZelalem, 15 days ago

The names of some of the Pulitzer winners who actually won are mind boggling.

The NY Times sealed the Pulitzer Prize in the International Reporting category for their Gaza coverage.

This means that the NY Time's Gaza war team are Pulitzer winners.

Anat Schwartz, the ex Israeli intelligence official hired by the NY Times following the October 7 attacks despite having no prior journo experience, fired in March for liking genocidal Twitter posts, is a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Let that sink in.

ZekuZelalem, 14 days ago

@wcbdata Yes you are. We did it man!

video/mp4

ZekuZelalem, 14 days ago

@ohmu Thanks! And I'll try and not use that phrase, I think it's overused anyways