by Melaku Tegegne
In this article, I would like to compare the press freedom of Ethiopia with that of Russia, China, and North Korea.
Press Freedom in Russia
Time Magazine, in its special edition devoted to Vladimir Putin – Person of the Year 2007 – revealed the grim picture of press freedom in Russia “today, for example, the Russian government doesn’t just have supporters at the national television stations; it owns the stations outright. In a meeting at the Kremlin before I began my trip, Putin’s spokesman didn’t even try to deny that national news was slanted in the government’s favour. But he said the regional media were thriving and independent. ‘Study them,’ he said, and ‘you will understand that this is the freest country in the world.’”
The freest country in the world? Sarcastic at its best. On this point, the journalist who wrote the article went on to say that: “I met journalists throughout my travels and found the Kremlin’s assessment disingenuous at best. In America, you are free to criticize Bush, a television talk-show host told me in his kitchen in Novogorod, wrote the journalist and added ‘Me, too. I am also free to criticize Bush.’ He laughed. Then, not smiling, he said, ‘I am actually scared to be talking to you. Time Magazine is far away. But if I express my opinions, I will have to face the authorities – not Putin, but someone here on a local or provincial level. I will lose my job.’”
The writer states that the will of the central government is well understood by the officials at all levels of the government – how to silence dissenting views or opinions – and gave it the name “grass-roots autocracy”. Noting further, he says, “This is a new phenomenon in the post-Soviet era, but in the words of the talk-show host, Russians have “historical experience” of voluntarily and enthusiastically carrying out the perceived will of the supreme leader.
This heavy-handed action or a subtle method of restraint on the press freedom in Russia was given justification that in the 1990s there was much freedom of the press, and the purpose of the whole exercise now is to “systematize political discourse”. Again it is an ironical statement made against freedom of expression. Briefly stated, the press freedom or freedom of expression in Russia at present is meant only to serve the interests of the new ruling class. The majority people of Russia are deprived one of their basic rights.
The same applies to my homeland, Ethiopia. The principal of the governing law of the press, which is often not expressly stated, is the same as the Russian (unwritten) law. The unwritten law in both cases is “the will of the ruling elite”. The only difference between the two is that in Ethiopia, ideology is added. There is what they call “revolutionary democracy”, reminiscent of Marxism and Leninism. So freedom of expression falls under these two foul practices – ideology and hidden will of the ruling elite. Hence, any journalist who tries to counter both the expressed and unexpressed will of the ruling elite group is knocked out by legal or forced means. That is why many Ethiopian journalists of the private press have been incarcerated, thrown out of jobs, or forced to flee the country.
In Russia, in the past few years, many journalists have been killed in a mysterious way, as stated in Time Magazine, referred to above. But the question is that how can the deaths of journalists, who have respected places in society, be mysterious for a government like Russia which has a very strong security system, a sophisticated means of control?
The nefarious practice in the case of Ethiopia is that the few mass media are now largely controlled and staffed by kinsmen and women of the Prime Minister. Just to mention one example, when I left Ethiopia in 2001, Assefa Bekele, was head of Ethiopian Television. During the previous military regime, both of us were ordinary reporters; I was at Addis Zemen newspaper, and he was at Ethiopian TV. Assefa became head of Ethiopian TV during the time of the new government, not because of his exceptional talent or merit, but because of nepotism: he is a kinsman of the ruling elite.
This is naked tribalism or racism based upon nepotism or abuse of state power. This kind of nepotism was imitated by the Prime Minister and his cohorts from the late Somali dictator, Ziad Barre. He gave all the higher echelons of the government to his kinsmen and women from the Merihan clan. This nefarious practice by the present government of Ethiopia is practiced in all government ministries, commissions, agencies, military institutions, higher education institutions, etc. In all places, one can find “a guardian angel”, a watchdog of the ruling elite. It is very sad to see such a tribalistic situation in one of the ancient countries of the world in the 21st century,
Press Freedom in China
Under the title “Ruthless Media Manipulation”, the Economist Magazine in its special issue of December 22, 2007, (page 124), states how Mao, the founder of modern China, manipulated the media.
Chairman Mao had his “Little Red Book”, a guide to the ideology to be followed by the country. Meles Zenawi authored a voluminous draft work – 700 pages – called “Revolutionary Democracy”, an ideology book for the 21st century of Ethiopia. He wrote the book in 2001 during a crisis period that he faced from his closest friends, founders of his liberation movement. The draft was not published in a book form, which is in some ways good for circumventing the wider dissemination of the ideology throughout the country.
Let me add one more point.
Like Chairman Mao, PM Meles has established a system where he can only talk to a very select group of journalists. The former Ethiopian dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, had also a similar fashion. These select groups of journalists are either cadres or kinsmen and women of the government officials of the day.
Press Freedom in North Korea
I visited North Korea in 1989, during the International Festival of Youth and Students, representing young Ethiopian journalists. In my stay with the delegation of the Ethiopian youth and students, numbering 150 persons, I observed that in North Korea, there are no BBC, CNN, CBC, ABC, CBS, or any other international radio, TV, magazines, or newspapers. It is a closed system to the outside world. In the international news broadcasts on North Korean TV, one can listen to their version of international news, which is heavily biased in favour of the Communist state. Even our music cassettes and players were taken by the security at Pyongyang airport and returned to us when we went back home.
I saw very few books on shelves, and these books are nothing but portray the juche ideology ("man is the master of everything and decides everything") architected by the late Korean leader, Kim Il Sun. There are also some books written by the current leader, Kim Jong Il. He was praised as the guardian of journalism and the arts.
I mentioned the North Korean experience in press freedom to make a direct link with the current trends in Ethiopia. The government of Meles Zenawi is quickly moving towards the Korean style of suppressing news and information from the international media. Latest reports indicate that the regime blocked the two radio stations based in Washington, DC, and Cologne, Germany, broadcasting in three Ethiopian languages. It also blocked pro-democracy web sites. It has become also a public secret that the regime wiretaps telephone lines of persons who have dissenting views. This simply shows that the Meles regime wants to deny the 70 million people of Ethiopia of the right to information. Following such irresponsible anti-democratic practice, the regime can only drag the all-round development of the country. Without press freedom, free opinion, and ideas, it is inconceivable to envisage a better Ethiopia.
Spin Doctors
In Ethiopia, there are four main spin doctors who manipulate the dissemination of domestic and foreign information. At the forefront comes Bereket Simon, Public Relations Advisor of the Prime Minister. Well known by his notorious activities in the election in 2005, Bereket Simon has rigged the election by illegally knocking out his competitor from the main opposition party and has managed to give interviews to the main international media such as the BBC and CNN. Bereket speaks broken English and this made him a laughing stock among many Ethiopians in the diaspora. How can a person who is not versatile with foreign language, especially English, be a Public Relations Minister?
The second spin doctor is Dr Tekeda Alemu. He is the Deputy Foreign Minister and speechwriter of Meles Zenawi. He spins all the information relating to foreign relations of the country. Although a sophisticated scholar, he lacks integrity and is a well-known opportunist. He is responsible for tarnishing the image of the country, for he has always been providing unsound advice to his bosses, the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister, who lack professionalism, foresight, and wisdom as he does.
Berhan Hailu, the Minister of Information, is the third spin doctor. However, like his predecessor, Bereket Simon, he is also poor in English. It is indeed shameful to see such people in ministerial positions representing the people of Ethiopia in the 21st century.
The last person whom I would like to mention is Wahide Belay, my former colleague at the Ottawa Embassy. He is now the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I laughed when I heard him speaking about the Human Rights and Democracy Act of Ethiopia, a document which was unanimously passed by the US Congress advocating the protection of human rights, as a document which undermines the sovereignty of the country. He said the document considers Ethiopia as one of the 52 states of the USA. Ridiculous, indeed. A twisted argument, lacking any rationality.
In short, as I stated earlier, the current regime is heading fast towards the suppression of free opinion at the mainstream media and academic institutions. It is worrisome indeed to hear nowadays that professors and doctors in academia are signing their contractual agreements by entering oaths of allegiance not to criticize the political system of the country, which is naked tribalism; this does not augur well for the all round development and progress of the country.
About the Author:
Melaku Tegegne is a former Ethiopian journalist and diplomat, now a peace and democracy activist and can be reached at melaku_tegegne@hotmail.com. Please visit his blog, Issues in Focus, at http://issues-in-focus.blogspot.com/
Showing posts with label press freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label press freedom. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
How Press Freedom Is Muzzled in Ethiopia
by Melaku Tegegne
Freedom of Speech is probably the phrase with the longest tradition. Freedom of speech addresses the ability of individuals to communicate ideas and information without interference with the state. When we talk about interference by the state as a legal notion, we are referring to the imposition of prior restraint.
Freedom of speech has typically meant the freedom to publish – publish being used here in its widest possible meaning, as writing, speaking, printing, or broadcasting ideas and information – without prior restraint imposed by the state.
In 1832, McKenzie King, a former Primer Minister of Canada, wrote: “Remember that wherever the press is not free, the people are poor, abject, degraded, slaves, that the press is the life, the safeguard, the very heart’s blood of a free country.”
Article 29 of the Ethiopian Constitution provides:
1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without any interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression without interference. This right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, or in print, in the form of art, or through other media of his choice.”
Unfortunately, this well-intentioned constitutional right has been muzzled and effectively gagged since the National Election for Parliament in 2005 and the turbulent period that followed as a result of the popular demonstration of the people of Addis Ababa against the regime. The muzzling of the Ethiopian press by the Meles regime has been well illustrated by the symbolic handcuffed presentation made by Kifle Mulat, my former colleague and president of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association. About Kifle Mulat’s has played a prominent role in the struggle for the restoration of press freedom in Ethiopia.
Twists and Turns in the Press Freedom
When I was a high school student in Addis Ababa, during the last years of Emperor Haile Selassie, there was a relative period of freedom of the press. Although there was a strict censorship by the government officials on the press, and sometimes rebuke and suspension of some vocal journalists against the government, there was not a single journalist who was imprisoned or killed as is a common phenomenon now. The late veteran journalist author, Berhanu Zerihun, the other veteran editor in chief and playwright Negash Gebre Mariam and the other prolific writer and head of the Press Department, Mulugeta Lule, had told the people of Ethiopia on several occasions that there was no severe repression by the government of the Emperor.
Also in that relative period of press freedom, many books, dime novels, some magazines, and private newspapers were published. The majority of the authors of these works were the journalists themselves. Berhanu Zerihun was one of them. The other rising star was journalist author Bealu Girma, who was later murdered by the security agents of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, because of his critical writing against both the officials of the regime and the totalitarian system prevalent in the country then. Bealu, in his last book “Oromai”, predicted the separation of Eritrea. This angered the dictator Mengistu and his spin doctors and led them to a paranoid decision to execute the beloved author.
In short, the period of Emperor Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia, can be characterized as a period of relative freedom of the press and people were much happier than now.
The Derg Era
I can write many pages, if readers don’t get bored, about the press freedom during the Derg (the military government) of 1974-1991. I worked in two departments, the Ethiopian Television and the Ethiopian Press, as an assistant cameraman and a journalist for 12 years. It is quite a long time. The veteran journalist, prolific writer, and Head of the Ethiopian Press Department, Mulugeta Lule; my roommate, the vibrant sports writer and editor, Abraha Belai, now the Ethiomedia.com webmaster, were among the journalists with whom I worked.
Coming to the main point, press freedom during the Derg military regime was not only highly controlled but was also framed along socialist ideology and politics. There was not an iota of freedom of conscience for the journalists. We had no right to freely express our opinion, sentiments, or ideas. When I used to write feature articles, most often I was told by the editor in chief or by one of the senior editors to include certain points in the article that would reflect the ideology and policy of the government. Hence, the press was guided and controlled so much so as not to open any conduit for contrary ideas.
On the other hand, the period of the military government was characterized as a favourable period for translation works and some original works. Many young translators and writers had cropped up in that period. In this regard, the censorship was loose. Even many works of Sydney Sheldon, a well known author for romantic books, were let loose and sold in tens of thousands in the capital city and in some major urban areas of the country.
Contrary to this happy development, however, all the rank and file journalists were not allowed to read international magazines and newspapers such as Time, Newsweek, International Herald Tribune, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. All these magazines were always meant for the “eyes” of the high officials of the regime and department heads at the Ministry of Information. It seems that they had a fear that bad news would leak out to the public if the magazines or newspapers were allowed to be read by ordinary journalists.
To sum up, the period during the military regime was not good for press freedom or the media (there were no private newspapers, radio, or TV stations) but was good for fictional and non-fictional works, mainly imported books. As it was also a war period, we journalists had a strong fear for our lives and for our daily livelihoods. I, for one, spent 12 years of my young adulthood as a journalist in that particular period. However, when I look back on that period, sometimes I tend to think that the job I had done was not only dangerous but thankless as well. There was no freedom of expression and the whole exercise was a futile one for it has not satisfied the interests of anybody and the writer himself.
The Last Seventeen Years
In the last 17 years (1991-2008), I was away from journalism. I joined the Foreign Ministry in May 1991, twenty days ahead of the overthrow of the military regime by the rebel forces. I wanted to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was considered to be a place of rare opportunity in a poor country like ours, mainly because I was a graduate of political science and international relations. Coupled with my journalistic training and work for a considerable number of years, my candidacy for a job at the Foreign Ministry received a quick response.
Hence, my first hand experience in journalism had shifted to foreign policy and diplomacy. I often focused on foreign policy matters, mainly the policy on neighbouring countries. The first years of the transition period were highly taxing. Everything had to start from scratch.
Coming back to the press issue, at the beginning of the transition period, the first years after 1991, the propaganda made by the journalists of the new regime was heavily laden with strong hatred against officials of the fallen regime and their cadres. This was not surprising. The surprising thing, however, was that the government controlled-press, radio, and TV stations often broadcast a hammered and systematized propaganda, tinged with race, against the Amharas. It was a subtle move by the leaders of the new regime, mainly crafted by the then President, now the Prime Minister. The catchwords were nefetegna, timkihitegna, that is to say “oppressors and chauvinists” – aimed at the Amharas, whose ancestors ruled the country for the previous 100 years.
The ideologists of this poisonous propaganda do not want to or cannot remember the 1000 year span of rule by the Sabeans and the Axumites, the ancestors of the PM and his ethnic group. Be that as it may, among some of the encouraging achievements made by the current regime before 2005, a heyday of the press freedom, was the annulment or the cancellation of censorship and permit for the establishment of private newspapers and magazines. After the transition period, newspapers and magazines mushroomed in the capital city due to the loose control by the government. However, practical problems cropped up regarding the functioning of the Ethiopian press.
When many of the private newspapers and magazines became highly critical of the current regime and its political system, which is revolutionary democracy in name and tribal politics in action, the officials, including the Prime Minister, effectively began to deny information to the private press. This was unconstitutional. However, they ignored the articles in the Constitution and continued to practice restraint in a subtle way. In effect, it was back to square one, like the period in the military regime. Like dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, the new dictator, Meles Zenawi, began giving press interviews to very few selected journalists to avoid controversial or tough questions. This is a common practice today.
In addition, the regime turned more focus on the government and the few party-controlled newspapers and their radio station, Radio Fana. The government had also established a parallel news agency of its own, namely Walta Information Centre, to compete with the Ethiopian news agency, the oldest agency which had a strong public trust.
Frustrated by such systematic blockade of information by the government officials of the regime, the private press journalists shifted their attention to focussing on stories based on hearsay, secondary sources of information, and the foreign media. They became more critical and the government came to loggerheads with the private press, and finally resorted to military solutions giving it a cover as legal measures. As is to be recalled, in the wake of the 2005 National Election and the public demonstration that followed, more than a dozen journalists were incarcerated along with the leaders of the main opposition party. Not only this, but also their computers, cameras and other equipment were illegally confiscated after their offices were broken into and ransacked.
Between 2005-2007, for nearly two years, no less than 20 journalists were incarcerated, many fled the country and still more lost their jobs thereby leading a hard life in the country. Kifle Mulat, my former colleague and President of the Ethiopian private press, is still outside the country leaving behind his family in Addis Ababa. This is a dark period for the press freedom in Ethiopia. As long as the current anti-press freedom, anti-democracy, racist regime stays in power with its outdated socialist political system, press freedom in Ethiopia won’t become a reality. Hence, the people of Ethiopia inside and outside the country should continue their peaceful struggle for the prevalence of press freedom which was nipped in the bud by Meles Zenawi and his “revolutionary democrats”, anti-press freedom thugs.
About the Author:
Melaku Tegegne is a former Ethiopian journalist and diplomat, now a peace and democracy activist and can be reached at melaku_tegegne@hotmail.com. Please visit his blog, Issues in Focus, at http://issues-in-focus.blogspot.com/
Freedom of Speech is probably the phrase with the longest tradition. Freedom of speech addresses the ability of individuals to communicate ideas and information without interference with the state. When we talk about interference by the state as a legal notion, we are referring to the imposition of prior restraint.
Freedom of speech has typically meant the freedom to publish – publish being used here in its widest possible meaning, as writing, speaking, printing, or broadcasting ideas and information – without prior restraint imposed by the state.
In 1832, McKenzie King, a former Primer Minister of Canada, wrote: “Remember that wherever the press is not free, the people are poor, abject, degraded, slaves, that the press is the life, the safeguard, the very heart’s blood of a free country.”
Article 29 of the Ethiopian Constitution provides:
1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without any interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression without interference. This right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, or in print, in the form of art, or through other media of his choice.”
Unfortunately, this well-intentioned constitutional right has been muzzled and effectively gagged since the National Election for Parliament in 2005 and the turbulent period that followed as a result of the popular demonstration of the people of Addis Ababa against the regime. The muzzling of the Ethiopian press by the Meles regime has been well illustrated by the symbolic handcuffed presentation made by Kifle Mulat, my former colleague and president of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association. About Kifle Mulat’s has played a prominent role in the struggle for the restoration of press freedom in Ethiopia.Twists and Turns in the Press Freedom
When I was a high school student in Addis Ababa, during the last years of Emperor Haile Selassie, there was a relative period of freedom of the press. Although there was a strict censorship by the government officials on the press, and sometimes rebuke and suspension of some vocal journalists against the government, there was not a single journalist who was imprisoned or killed as is a common phenomenon now. The late veteran journalist author, Berhanu Zerihun, the other veteran editor in chief and playwright Negash Gebre Mariam and the other prolific writer and head of the Press Department, Mulugeta Lule, had told the people of Ethiopia on several occasions that there was no severe repression by the government of the Emperor.
Also in that relative period of press freedom, many books, dime novels, some magazines, and private newspapers were published. The majority of the authors of these works were the journalists themselves. Berhanu Zerihun was one of them. The other rising star was journalist author Bealu Girma, who was later murdered by the security agents of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, because of his critical writing against both the officials of the regime and the totalitarian system prevalent in the country then. Bealu, in his last book “Oromai”, predicted the separation of Eritrea. This angered the dictator Mengistu and his spin doctors and led them to a paranoid decision to execute the beloved author.
In short, the period of Emperor Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia, can be characterized as a period of relative freedom of the press and people were much happier than now.
The Derg Era
I can write many pages, if readers don’t get bored, about the press freedom during the Derg (the military government) of 1974-1991. I worked in two departments, the Ethiopian Television and the Ethiopian Press, as an assistant cameraman and a journalist for 12 years. It is quite a long time. The veteran journalist, prolific writer, and Head of the Ethiopian Press Department, Mulugeta Lule; my roommate, the vibrant sports writer and editor, Abraha Belai, now the Ethiomedia.com webmaster, were among the journalists with whom I worked.
Coming to the main point, press freedom during the Derg military regime was not only highly controlled but was also framed along socialist ideology and politics. There was not an iota of freedom of conscience for the journalists. We had no right to freely express our opinion, sentiments, or ideas. When I used to write feature articles, most often I was told by the editor in chief or by one of the senior editors to include certain points in the article that would reflect the ideology and policy of the government. Hence, the press was guided and controlled so much so as not to open any conduit for contrary ideas.
On the other hand, the period of the military government was characterized as a favourable period for translation works and some original works. Many young translators and writers had cropped up in that period. In this regard, the censorship was loose. Even many works of Sydney Sheldon, a well known author for romantic books, were let loose and sold in tens of thousands in the capital city and in some major urban areas of the country.
Contrary to this happy development, however, all the rank and file journalists were not allowed to read international magazines and newspapers such as Time, Newsweek, International Herald Tribune, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. All these magazines were always meant for the “eyes” of the high officials of the regime and department heads at the Ministry of Information. It seems that they had a fear that bad news would leak out to the public if the magazines or newspapers were allowed to be read by ordinary journalists.
To sum up, the period during the military regime was not good for press freedom or the media (there were no private newspapers, radio, or TV stations) but was good for fictional and non-fictional works, mainly imported books. As it was also a war period, we journalists had a strong fear for our lives and for our daily livelihoods. I, for one, spent 12 years of my young adulthood as a journalist in that particular period. However, when I look back on that period, sometimes I tend to think that the job I had done was not only dangerous but thankless as well. There was no freedom of expression and the whole exercise was a futile one for it has not satisfied the interests of anybody and the writer himself.
The Last Seventeen Years
In the last 17 years (1991-2008), I was away from journalism. I joined the Foreign Ministry in May 1991, twenty days ahead of the overthrow of the military regime by the rebel forces. I wanted to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was considered to be a place of rare opportunity in a poor country like ours, mainly because I was a graduate of political science and international relations. Coupled with my journalistic training and work for a considerable number of years, my candidacy for a job at the Foreign Ministry received a quick response.
Hence, my first hand experience in journalism had shifted to foreign policy and diplomacy. I often focused on foreign policy matters, mainly the policy on neighbouring countries. The first years of the transition period were highly taxing. Everything had to start from scratch.
Coming back to the press issue, at the beginning of the transition period, the first years after 1991, the propaganda made by the journalists of the new regime was heavily laden with strong hatred against officials of the fallen regime and their cadres. This was not surprising. The surprising thing, however, was that the government controlled-press, radio, and TV stations often broadcast a hammered and systematized propaganda, tinged with race, against the Amharas. It was a subtle move by the leaders of the new regime, mainly crafted by the then President, now the Prime Minister. The catchwords were nefetegna, timkihitegna, that is to say “oppressors and chauvinists” – aimed at the Amharas, whose ancestors ruled the country for the previous 100 years.
The ideologists of this poisonous propaganda do not want to or cannot remember the 1000 year span of rule by the Sabeans and the Axumites, the ancestors of the PM and his ethnic group. Be that as it may, among some of the encouraging achievements made by the current regime before 2005, a heyday of the press freedom, was the annulment or the cancellation of censorship and permit for the establishment of private newspapers and magazines. After the transition period, newspapers and magazines mushroomed in the capital city due to the loose control by the government. However, practical problems cropped up regarding the functioning of the Ethiopian press.
When many of the private newspapers and magazines became highly critical of the current regime and its political system, which is revolutionary democracy in name and tribal politics in action, the officials, including the Prime Minister, effectively began to deny information to the private press. This was unconstitutional. However, they ignored the articles in the Constitution and continued to practice restraint in a subtle way. In effect, it was back to square one, like the period in the military regime. Like dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, the new dictator, Meles Zenawi, began giving press interviews to very few selected journalists to avoid controversial or tough questions. This is a common practice today.In addition, the regime turned more focus on the government and the few party-controlled newspapers and their radio station, Radio Fana. The government had also established a parallel news agency of its own, namely Walta Information Centre, to compete with the Ethiopian news agency, the oldest agency which had a strong public trust.
Frustrated by such systematic blockade of information by the government officials of the regime, the private press journalists shifted their attention to focussing on stories based on hearsay, secondary sources of information, and the foreign media. They became more critical and the government came to loggerheads with the private press, and finally resorted to military solutions giving it a cover as legal measures. As is to be recalled, in the wake of the 2005 National Election and the public demonstration that followed, more than a dozen journalists were incarcerated along with the leaders of the main opposition party. Not only this, but also their computers, cameras and other equipment were illegally confiscated after their offices were broken into and ransacked.
Between 2005-2007, for nearly two years, no less than 20 journalists were incarcerated, many fled the country and still more lost their jobs thereby leading a hard life in the country. Kifle Mulat, my former colleague and President of the Ethiopian private press, is still outside the country leaving behind his family in Addis Ababa. This is a dark period for the press freedom in Ethiopia. As long as the current anti-press freedom, anti-democracy, racist regime stays in power with its outdated socialist political system, press freedom in Ethiopia won’t become a reality. Hence, the people of Ethiopia inside and outside the country should continue their peaceful struggle for the prevalence of press freedom which was nipped in the bud by Meles Zenawi and his “revolutionary democrats”, anti-press freedom thugs.
About the Author:
Melaku Tegegne is a former Ethiopian journalist and diplomat, now a peace and democracy activist and can be reached at melaku_tegegne@hotmail.com. Please visit his blog, Issues in Focus, at http://issues-in-focus.blogspot.com/
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