Ethiopia and its press The noose tightens

Bloggers and journalists who criticize the government are under the cosh

Aug 9th 2014 | ADDIS ABABA | 

 

A RANKING that countries do not aspire to ascend is the one compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based group. It reckons that Ethiopia is Africa’s second-worst jailer of journalists, ahead only of its ultra-repressive neighbour and bitter enemy, Eritrea. Cementing its lamentable reputation, on August 4th Ethiopia briefly resumed the trial of ten journalists and bloggers, nine of whom it has kept in prison since April; one is being tried in absentia. The court proceedings are to start again in earnest on August 20th.
The ten are accused of several offences, including breaches of the country’s controversial anti-terrorism laws. These include having links to banned opposition groups and trying to cause instability via social media. The government says the journalists and bloggers are connected to two groups that it deems terrorist organisations: the Oromo Liberation Front, a rebel outfit that seeks a better deal for Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, which predominates in the south; and Ginbot 7, a leading opposition movement formed after widespread protests following Ethiopia’s general election in 2005..read more 

Adoption executive pleads guilty to Ethiopia scam

Washington - A former executive with a US-based international adoption agency which sought to connect American families with Ethiopian children has admitted to fraud, a US justice department statement said on Wednesday........read more.....

Obama Gets "Into" Africa: An Ugly Scramble for Oil, Minerals, and Markets

Unfortunately US policy towards Africa have largely translated into holding the door open for U.S. multinationals to do what outsiders have done for centuries: extract the continent’s wealth.

by

John Feffer

President Barack Obama speaking at a business forum aimed at increasing investment in Africa, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania last year. At the Africa Summit in Washington, DC this week, more than 50 heads of state from the continent have gathered to discuss "development" in Africa. Sadly, much of what's being discussed looks more like exploitation and a race by the world's powerful corporations to secure Africa's profitable resources for themselves. (Photo:  Evan Vucci/AP file)

President Obama is definitely “into” Africa. As much as possible in a world riven by multiple crises, the president has made the continent a focus of his policymaking. Turning his own Kenyan heritage into a personal bridge to the region, he has visited Africa three times as president – in 2009, 2011, and 2013. He has touted his administration’s multi-billion initiatives such as Power Africa to bring electricity to millions of homes, a fellowship program for young African leaders, and the continuation of efforts to fight HIV-AIDS and other infectious diseases....read more...

US-Africa: Make Human Rights Central to Summit

,,,, In Ethiopia, the government has systematically closed space for peaceful dissent over the past decade. In 2009 it passed a draconian law regulating nongovernmental activity which bars work on human rights, good governance, conflict resolution, and advocacy for the rights of women, children, and people with disabilities if organizations receive more than 10 percent of their funds from foreign countries. The country's most reputable human rights groups closed or scaled down their operations. The government has also used a 2009 counterterrorism law to arbitrarily detain and prosecute dozens of journalists, protesters, and political opposition leaders. Most recently, in July the police charged three journalists and seven bloggers known as "the Zone 9" collective after they wrote articles calling for reforms and peaceful opposition to government policies........read more....

US-Africa Summit Under Way in Washington

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is working to strengthen ties with Africa at a three-day summit in Washington for some 50 African heads of state.
Monday's opening forums touched on a range of issues including security, health, the environment and corruption.
At one panel focused on trade, South African President Jacob Zuma urged the United States to renew the trade agreement, African Growth and Opportunity Act, when it expires next year....read more...

Washington Meeting of African Leaders Opens to Protests

By ANDREW SIDDONSAUG. 4, 2014

Photo

Secretary of State John Kerry and Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, speaking in Washington on Monday. Credit Alex Wong/Getty Images...read more

Ethiopian protest at Washington DC U.S.-Africa Summit today - video

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Op-Ed In Ethiopia, a stranglehold on freedom

When Secretary of State John F. Kerry traveled to Ethiopia last year, he met a young blogger named Natnael Feleke. When he returned a few months ago, Kerry found that Feleke, along with five other bloggers and three journalists, had been arrested — the latest in a long line of journalists the Ethiopian government has detained on the claim that they were trying to incite terrorism. Although Kerry addressed the arrests with officials he met, and President Obama has spoken forcefully on the importance of good governance in Africa, preoccupation with immediate security priorities — in particular counter-terrorism — trumps the fine words......................read more....

Ethiopia needs to do better

That's the message for Ethiopia

Copyright 2014: Houston Chronicle

July 28, 2014 | Updated: July 28, 2014 10:25pm

As they ready for two days of wheeling and dealing with a high-ranking Ethiopian delegation at a local hotel, Houston business and elected leaders today need to look beyond a foreign market opportunity and first ask hard questions about Ethiopia's recent crackdown on nine journalists, as well as the country's unsuccessful move this spring to make homosexuality a "non-pardonable" crime...read more..............

Rohrabacher: Ethiopia Must Release Opposition Leader

Jul 28, 2014

Press Release

WASHINGTON – Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on Monday urged Ethiopia’s prime minister to release Andargachew Tsige, a native-born opposition leader with British citizenship who last month was extradicted to the African nation from Yemen under questionable circumstances.....read more....

Detention of bloggers is a violation of international law

Forty organisations have called on Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to free Zone 9 bloggers and revise it's overly broad anti-terror law..........read more.............

David Cameron will LOSE election blasts Ken Clarke after Tory spin doctors 'attempted to silence him '

David Cameron is on course to lose the next election, says Ken Clarke.
The veteran Tory revealed how spin doctors attempted to silence him, voiced concerns over the economy and revealed Margaret Thatcher wanted to scrap the NHS.
The extraordinary parting shot came after the Tory grandee was dumped in last week’s ministerial reshuffle .read more...

As Ethiopia's 'Zone 9' bloggers get popular, they get charged with terror (+video)

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Ethiopia has charged 10 reform-minded bloggers and journalists with terrorism offenses – marking the latest in a long line of repressive acts against civil society by a key US partner in the Horn of Africa............read more.............

Aid to Africa: donations from west mask '$60bn looting' of continent (The guardian UK)

Aid to Africa: donations from west mask '$60bn looting' of continent

Parched soil in the Greater Upper Nile, South Sudan. Climate change mitigation has been used as a smokescreen to drain Africa's resources, say NGOs. Photograph: PA

Western countries are using aid to Africa as a smokescreen to hide the "sustained looting" of the continent as it loses nearly $60bn a year through tax evasion, climate change mitigation, and the flight of profits earned by foreign multinational companies, a group of NGOs has claimed....read more...

Is the Arrest of Andargachew Tsige the Final Straw for the People of Ethiopia?

by Graham Peebles / July 10th, 2014

Faced with a brutal repressive regime, the people of Ethiopia inside the country and within the worldwide diaspora –frustrated, angry and desperate – are considering alloptions to elicit fundamental change in the country........read more...

Snatched: Justice and Politics in Ethiopia (The Economist)

ANDARGACHEW TSIGE, an exiled Ethiopian opposition leader with British nationality, could be facing the death penalty after apparently being arrested and sent back to his country of origin while on a trip to the Gulf. While transiting in Yemen on June 23rd, during a journey from Dubai to Eritrea, Andargachew mysteriously ended up on a plane to Ethiopia. It is believed that he was detained by Yemeni officials and handed over to members of Ethiopia's security apparatus....read more..

'Britain is supporting a dictatorship in Ethiopia' (The Guadian UK)

It's 30 years since Ethiopia's famine came to attention in the UK. Now, a farmer plans to sue Britain for human rights abuses, claiming its aid has funded a government programme of torture and beatings as villagers have been removed from their homes......read more.....

Ethiopian Muslims stage anti-government protes (AFP)

Hundreds of Muslims protesters demonstrated in Ethiopia on Friday, demanding the release of 17 of their leaders jailed under terrorism charges last year.

"What the government is doing doesn't solve the problem, rather it will worsen the situation," said protestor Mohammed Seman, speaking at the demonstration following busy Friday prayers at a popular Addis Ababa mosque.

The leaders were arrested last August, following months of protests by Muslims accusing the government of interfering in religious affairs. They are currently on trial for intending to "carry out acts of terrorism".........read more.............

Ethiopia : a leadership in disarray

It may be that, in Ethiopia, history is so powerful that the past permeates the present, and it repeats itself. In this case, what we see today is simply another interregnum between two powerful men....read more...

British government statement on extradition of Ethiopian leader, Andargachew Tsege

This statement was issued today by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
On the case
“A British national, Andargachew Tsege, was reported missing in Yemen on 24 June. Since then UK officials have pressed the Yemeni authorities at senior levels to establish his whereabouts, including meeting with the Yemeni Ambassador in London this week. We are aware of reports that he may now be in Ethiopia and we are urgently seeking confirmation from the relevant authorities given our deep concerns about the case. We are continuing to provide consular assistance to his family.....read more....

Ethiopia Ginbot 7 leader facing death penalty 'extradited from Yemen'

Andargachew Tsege, who is also a British national, is secretary-general of the banned Ginbot 7 movement....read more...

UK stands accused over extradition of Ethiopian opposition leader

Andargachew Tsige, a British national, may face death penalty after extradition from Yemen...read more..

Debate: Is Human Rights Watch Too Close to US Government to Criticize Its Foreign Policy?

Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s largest and most influential human rights organizations, is facing an unusual amount of public criticism. Two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Mairead Maguire, and a group of over 100 scholars have written an open letter criticizing what they describe as a revolving door with the U.S. government that impacts HRW’s work in certain countries, including Venezuela. The letter urges HRW to bar those who have crafted or executed U.S. foreign policy from serving as staff, advisers or board members. Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth has defended his organization’s independence, responding: "We are careful to ensure that prior affiliations do not affect the impartiality of Human Rights Watch’s work. … We routinely expose, document and denounce human rights violations by the US government, including torture, indefinite detention, illegal renditions, unchecked mass surveillance, abusive use of drones, harsh sentencing and racial disparity in criminal justice, and an unfair and ineffective immigration system." We host a debate between HRW counsel Reed Brody and Keane Bhatt, a writer and activist who organized the open letter..........read more............

Part I: Economic and Political Backdrop

Most Ethiopians agree that appropriately planned, designed, constructed, and operated dams on Abay (the Blue Nile) are economic necessities that should be supported to ensure the long-term economic development of the country and the well-being of its people....read more...

Ethiopia’s Police State: The Silencing of Opponents, Journalists and Students Detained

Detention under spurious charges in Ethiopia is nothing new. With the second highest rate of imprisoned journalists in Africa[1] and arbitrary detention for anyone who openly objects to the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) regime’s despotic iron fist, the Western backed government in Addis Ababa is a dab hand at silencing its critics....read more...

Independent Publications in the Face of Grave Threat in Ethiopia

.......................The free press in Ethiopia has been in great trouble since 2005. The new measure is the latest move by the Ethiopian government to completely control the already engulfed newspapers and magazines operating in the county. According to local reports, together with other restrictive laws in force, the new legislation would lead to total absence of independent press outlet in the country. It is believed by many to be a strategy to silence opposition voices ahead of the 2007 election.................click to continue reading.......

የ“ቀለም” አብዮት ናፍቆት! (ጋዝጠኛ ተመሰገን ደሳለኝ ) (ECDF)

የቀዝቃዛው ጦርነት ማብቃትን ያበሰረው የጀርመን ግንብ ሊፈርስ ሶስት ዓመታት ብቻ በቀሩበት ከዕለታት በአንዱ ቀን፣ ቅጥ ካጣ አምባ-ገነንነቱ በተጨማሪ ሀገሪቷን የግል ርስቱ ያደረገው የፊሊፒንስ ፕሬዝዳንት ፈርዲናንድ ማርቆስ “ታሪካዊ” የሚባል ታላቅ ስህተትን ፈፀመ፤ ጠንካራ ተፎካካሪው ሊሆን እንደሚችል ቅድመ-ግምት ተሰጥቶት የነበረውን የተቃዋሚው ቡድን መሪ ካስገደለ ከጥቂት ጊዜያት በኋላ እንዲካሄድ የፈቀደውን ምርጫ በአሳፋሪ መንገድ አጭበረበረ፡፡ ይህን ጊዜ የሕዝቡን ትዕግስት አልባነት የተረዱና መነሻቸው ካቶሊክ.................ቀጥለው ለማንበብ እዝህ ይጫኑ...

Ethiopians Rising

There are tentative signs that the people of Ethiopia are beginning to organise themselves and stand up against the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government, a brutal dictatorship, dressed in western democratic garb.,,read more...........

When Enough is Enough, Rise up People of Ethiopia

London : There are tentative signs that the people of Ethiopia are beginning to organise themselves and stand up against the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government, a brutal dictatorship, albeit one dressed in democratic western garb........read more

South Sudan peace deal signed under pressure, says Kiir

May 12, 2014 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, said political pressure and Friday’s tense atmosphere within the Ethiopian prime minister’s palace ensured a peace agreement with opposition leader Riek Machar was signed without conducting face to face talks.,,,,,,,,click here to read more...

ተቃውሞ እና ጭፍጨፋ በኦሮሚያ

ተቃውሞ እና ጭፍጨፋ በኦሮሚያ

(ተመስገንደሳለኝ)

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Ethiopia: UN Review Should Condemn Crackdown

Geneva) – United Nations member countries should call on Ethiopia to stop targeting activists and the media under draconian laws. The UN Human Rights Council will review Ethiopia’s human rights record under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) procedure on May 6, 2014. ......Click here to read more

Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ)’s Addis Ababa Rally, May 4, 2014 [pictures]

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John Kerry expresses concern over arrest of Ethiopian bloggers

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Kerry urges press freedoms for Ethiopia

Addis Ababa (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Ethiopia on Thursday to allow greater freedoms for civil society and journalists, expressing concern for a group of bloggers and journalists arrested last week. click here to read  full history

John Kerry urges press freedoms for Ethiopia

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Ethiopia on Thursday to allow greater freedoms for civil society and journalists, expressing concern for a group of bloggers and journalists arrested last week....click here to read more

Protests Grow Over Addis Ababa's Expansion

Addis Ababa is growing fast and set to expand further, pitting the government against Oromo activists, seeking to protect their rights...click here to read more...

Ethiopia charges nine bloggers, journalists with inciting violence

(Reuters) - Ethiopia has charged six bloggers and three journalists with attempting to incite violence, their supporters said on Monday, prompting accusations from rights groups that the government is cracking down on its critics...click here to read more

The NYU professor and best-selling author makes his case for a radical rethinking of approaches to global development.

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Amnesty International: Ethiopia: Opposition Leaders Denied Medical Treatment (Ob. Bekele Gerba and Ob. Olbana Lelisa)

Olbana Lelisa and Bekele Gerba are being denied medical treatment. The two men, political opposition leaders and prisoners of conscience, are reported to be ill in Kaliti prison, Ethiopia. Olbana Lelisa’s friends believe his condition may be life-threatening ..read more