Police brutally attacked and dispersed peaceful demonstrators in the capital Addis Ababa on Sunday as they try to protest against the ongoing government repression on opposition political parties and dissents in run-up to the countries general election..
Political activists say the Sunday’s attack against the peaceful demonstrators is further evidence of the authorities’ determination to clamp down the activities of opposition political parties ahead the election.
In this latest brutal attack against peaceful protesters, dozens of members and supporters of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ) were seriously injured. The incident is the most blatant and massive case of lethal police brutality in Ethiopia.
According to reports, demonstrators were brutally beaten with baton, stick and iron rod in the head, face, hands, and legs. One of the victims is said to have been a pregnant woman. Reports show the victims were taken to hospital right away, and some of them are still receiving medical treatment.
Among seriously injured was Sileshi Hagose, the member of the general assembly of the party and editor in chief of a weekly newspaper. Recently released photographs show THAT he was wounded in the face and head, and his both hands were seriously broken.
UDJ is the main opposition political party struggling in the narrowing political landscape in Ethiopia and is one of the few parties working at national level with an inclusive structure by bringing different ethnic groups all together.
Reports show in the past few weeks the party has been struggling with the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) over the case of an internal faction that is accusing the party of violating its laws.
The party claims that the faction is consisted of double agents working for the ruling party, and accuses the NEBE of fuelling the PROBLEM and using the allegation of the faction as a tactic to tackle the party in favor of the government. And one of the objectives of Sunday’s demonstration was to protest against this what the party calls “government plot.”
The Sunday’s brutal attack is the LATEST in a serious of similar measures against peaceful demonstrators in Ethiopia. For instance, on 6 December 2014 several people were beaten during attempts to stage a demonstration called by a coalition of nine opposition political parties.
Amnesty international reported THATthe demonstration had been part of a series of activities of nine-party coalition calling for a free and fair election.”
Reports show holding an election rally or demonstration is now totally impossible in Ethiopia as government CONTINUE to reject applications for such events and keep its brutal attack against those trying to held.
Escalating Crackdown
According to the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), the election will be held on May 23 across the COUNTRY. Yet, as the election approaches, the ruling party is intensifying its crackdown on opposition political parties and dissents.
In 2014 only, several opposition leaders, Journalists, bloggers, and Human Right activists were arrested with numerous publications of the free press CLOSED. More than 30 journalists were also forced to flee the country. The arrest is part of a long trend of arrests and harassment of political opponents, human rights defenders, and journalists.
Activists said at least 12 key and outspoken opposition political leaders, 6 journalists, 6 bloggers, and 2 political activists had been jailed in the capital Addis Ababa only under fabricated terrorism charges.
The ongoing crackdown has included independent civic associations that could play an important role in the upcoming election. Reports shows in 2014 two civic associations were TARGETED in orchestrated false accusations.
This wide array of measure, which is getting increasingly worrying, is said by oppositions to be calculated to deter challenges and eliminate the scope for the mildest expressions of opposition.
The Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has been on power since 1991, and 4 general elections have been held in the past 23 years. Yet, all those elections were abused, and failed to meet the international standards.
Ethiopia’s first modern hotel Itegue Taitu Hotel, which was built in 1898 (Ethiopian Calendar) in Piazza, Addis Abeba by Empress Taitu Betul, the wife of Emperor Menelek II, has suffered significant damage due to fire, whose cause has not been known yet.
The managing editor of Awramba Times and former CPJ “press freedom hero” has accused the Committee to Protect Journalists of being one of the tools of imposing “Western hegemonic ambition” and a single ideology on targeted countries like Ethiopia and China.
Dawit Kebede, who was one of the four recipients of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 2010, launched the scathing attack against CPJ and leading international human rights groups in a recent interview with ETV, the state-run propaganda outlet. He claimed that organizations such as CPJ, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Oakland Institute and the International Crisis Group are tools of advancing Western hegemony. “These organizations are part of an overall allegiance to control the world under one single ideology,” he said.
“I do not endorse or reject these organizations 100 percent. But whether we like it or not, they have their own agenda,” he said. He alleged that these advocacy groups exaggerate small incidents and try to put enormous pressure on countries where there are ideological deviations and political economic differences with the United States.
The ruling TPLF regime routinely uses the same line of argument in a bid to discredit international human rights groups that expose atrocities and gross human rights violations in Ethiopia. Contrary to the preposterous claim, TPLF abandoned its Albanian communist ideology over two decades ago. The regime has no tangible ideological differences with Western governments that pump billions of dollars to Ethiopia in the form of foreign aid.
According to the former “press freedom hero”, CPJ and other human rights organizations and their reports are tainted with ideological prejudice. “These institutions have their own agenda and it is intimately related with their survival. As I said earlier, it is related with the desire to impose Western hegemonic ambition on the rest of the world by attacking those countries that do not follow their ideological lines,” he said.
He also asserted that the annual U.S. State Department report on human rights is nothing but a summary of reports published by these Western think tanks and human rights groups that have vested ideological interests. He mentioned Survival International, which defends the rights of endangered indigenous ethnic groups, as an example of overreaching Western interference and alleged that the group tries to impede development and investment in areas like the Southern Omo as if it was more concerned for these indigenous groups than the government.
But Dawit further stated that the reports published by these international advocacy groups have little impact except being used for the benefit of those who tend to use them for propaganda outputs. When Dawit Kebede was jailed in the aftermath of the 2005 election turmoil, CPJ, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, among others, took the lead in campaigning for his release at a global level.
The online publication Awramba Times is widely criticised among Ethiopian activists for changing into a copycat of the worst state-run propaganda outlets. A Washington DC-based activist says that Dawit is just contradicting himself and the reality on the ground in his effort to please the TPLF regime he had once condemned as oppressive.
“It is a well known fact that the situation in Ethiopia is worsening. Despite the fact that he is now opportunistically attacking those who have honored and defended him, he is still receiving funds from the same Western organizations in the name of promoting press freedom,” he noted.
“We all know that Dawit Kebede has made up with his former tormentors. That is why this is a typical case of an opportunist biting the fingers that fed him,” he said. According to the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Dawit has received a substantial amount of money from CPJ, Freedom House and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) just within the last few years.
“It is public knowledge that he is still receiving over 40,000 US dollars annually from NED in the name of promoting press freedom. If these organizations have demonic and destructive ideological interests, as he alleges, why is he taking their money under false pretenses?” he asked.
In his acceptance speech at the CPJ press freedom awarding ceremony held in New York in 2010, Dawit had vowed that he would give his whole life for press freedom and would never be intimidated by dictators or their agents.
“My country receives millions of American taxpayer dollars to fight terrorism in the Horn of Africa, but under our anti-terrorism law, I risk 25 years in prison if I interview certain opposition politicians,” Dawit had told the CPJ gathering in New York.
CPJ, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, among others, factually insist that Ethiopia under the TPLF is one of the worst repressive countries in the world where journalists, dissidents and activists face trumped up terrorism offenses, torture and vicious attacks. Dawit’s former colleague, Woubishet Taye, who was the deputy editor of the defunct Awramba Times newspaper, is languishing in jail sentenced to 14 years behind bars for being a “terrorist”. Dawit, who had fled Ethiopia in November 2011 after closing down his newspaper, completed a full circle when he returned home within two years, expressed his happiness for being able to work more freely as a journalist in Ethiopia. He said he had felt a thousand times more oppressed among the Ethiopian Diaspora that largely oppose TPLF’s ethnic-based brutal dictatorship ruling Ethiopia.
According to CPJ, 2014 is one of the worst years for Ethiopian journalists. “A state crackdown on independent publications and bloggers in Ethiopia this year more than doubled the number of journalists imprisoned to 17 from seven the previous year, and prompted several journalists to flee into exile,” CPJ says in its latest report. In the last few months alone, a dozen of journalists have been jailed and nearly 30 Ethiopian journalists were forced into exile after the regime filed terrorism charges against them and the publications they worked for.
Meanwhile, in his latest online posting, Dawit posted celebratory reports from Dedebit, a place where the ruling TPLF junta launched its violent insurretion forty years ago to secede Tigray from the rest of Ethiopia. After it toppled Mengistu’s military junta, TPLF is widely condemned for imposing a brutally oppressive and exploitative ethnic-based Apartheid on the majority of Ethiopians.
“I am now exceedingly happy with what I do more than I can express it in words,” Dawit told ETV, now renamed Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC). Dawit says regardless of what his critics say, he is only practising journalism in an “impartial and professional” manner. —– Watch Dawit Kebede’s interview with ETV
—— Excerpts: Dawit Kebede Interview with ETV / EBC in Amharic (Translation by K. Bekele, Seattle)
ETV: CPJ has awarded you a press freedom award. What does that mean?
Dawit: The category of award given to me was not done through soliciting votes or online campaigns. The awarding body has its own criteria and based on those criteria you are told to go and collect the award. On the basis of that I went to New York to receive the award.
With regard to these institutions, I have one clear position. I do not endorse or reject these organizations 100 percent. But whether we like it or not, they have their own agenda. These organizations that you mentioned, be it CPJ, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, [International] Crisis Group, Oakland Institute or Freedom House, whether we like it or not, these organizations are part of an overall allegiance to control the world under one single ideology
Whether we like it, they have their own agenda. They defend press freedom. The evidence they present are partially things in existence. When they report a journalist is jailed, the government may have its own reasons and may present its own evidence, but there could be journalists in jail. At the same time, they may also report as if a journalist that did not flee his country went into exile.
In countries where they believe are countries that do not take their ideological lines, it is observed that they exaggerate small events. In these cases, they exaggerate the situation and put significant pressure on these countries. For instance, you mentioned a report that cites China and Ethiopia who have an ideological and political differences. If you look at the majority of these countries, they are the ones that have ideological and political economic differences with the United States. Sometimes there is an issue that is raised frequently. For example, the Ethiopian government works with the US on anti-terrorism, and peace and security matters. Many people get a bit confused when these organizations issue such reports even if Ethiopia is a U.S. ally.
The Americans work with others in areas where they agree, they use these institution where there are differences in ideological and political economic strategies that may not suit them. In spite of the fact in areas where they don’t agree with the ideology and political and economic path Ethiopia is following, America works with Ethiopia on terrorism issues but they use these institutions to put pressure in annual reports. Whether we like it or not, these institutions have their own agenda and it is intimately related with their survival. As I said earlier, it is related with the desire to impose Western hegemonic ambition on the rest of the world by attacking those countries that do not follow their ideological lines. At the same time, there are journalists they defend.
ETV: Let us discuss organizations such as Survival International and Oakland Institute with regard to what you just said. As you know, the government is saying that Ethiopia is making great strides in agriculture. The government in Ethiopia is working hard to duplicate the success in agriculture in the industrial areas also since these two sectors feed each other. There are many arable agricultural land in Ethiopia as well as the availability of cheap labor in abundance. These two are important factors to attract foreign direct (FDI). When Ethiopia is trying to sell this fertile investment opportunities on a global scale, organizations like Survival International, Oakland Institute, Human Rights Watch and various international organizations speak against Ethiopia claiming human rights abuses due to the uprooting of the indigenous people exaggerating the actual situation on the ground on purpose. As you said they exploit a minor problems in order to paint a more gloomy picture of the situation. When IMF claims a rapid economic progress in Ethiopia, Survival International and Oakland Institute issue reports that tarnish and degrade the country. Do you think this is consistent with what you mentioned earlier which is an example of how these organizations are being used as a tool to impose Western Hegemony in Ethiopia?
Dawit: Yes, it is. By the way, there are so many of the numerous organizations. A stream of reports always come out by these different organizations. All the organizations you mentioned such Survival International and International Rivers, Oakland Institute, think tanks, rights advocacy groups and press freedom defenders are set up as civic organizations. At the end of the day, their allegiance is the same. They always issue reports. We have seen the CPJ report. After two or three months, the [U.S.] State Department report will be released. Actually, the US State Department report is nothing but a summary of reports copied from CPJ, Human Rights Watch and reports by the others. Then it becomes a report reflecting the the (the State Department’s] positions. Such reports continue to be issued. But the organizations you mentioned like Survival International, for example, in China, India, and in our own country like Southern Omo, there are indigenous ethnic groups that have unique life style. It defends for the rights of these indigenous groups.They believe that these groups should keep their culture and identity and any development and investment `activists jeopardize their survival. There is a government in any country which is accountable to its own people as it survives on the will of the people. It is ironic that when the government is about to implement policies and strategies that benefit the people, these organizations say that it is going to harm these indigenous groups. As I told you earlier, these organizations are also tools to enforce the kind of policies I mentioned earlier.
By the way, these institutions have a long arm. They have the capacity to stop funding the Ethiopian government may get. For example, they have succeeded in stopping the funding ,around 200 million Euros, from the European Bank which was allocated for the Gibe Dam III. Their claim of trying to protect the culture of the indigenous people is not convincing. It is just a smokescreen. I want to say more on the reports these organizations are pumping out. What is the impact of these reports? These kinds of reports may serve as propaganda input to some extent for those that want to use them to that end. But it has no significant impact beyond that.
THE Ethiopian Prime Minister, HaileMariam Desalegn, has called on African countries to withdraw their membership from the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the organisation is only serving the interests of Western nations.
The Prime Minister made the remarks while receiving the Sudanese State Minister for Information, Yasser Yusuf, who concluded a three-day visit to Addis Ababa on Monday.
Desalegn said that he totally agreed with the call on African countries to pull out of the ICC.
The prime minister had noted that the ICC had become a tool that serves the interest of the countries who, ironically, refused to be members of the court.
He expressed happiness that Ethiopia was not member of the court, because “the court is not the place for justice as all permanent members of the UN Security Council have stayed away from the court, but still use it to implement their political will’’.
He called for the need to revitalise the cooperation and exchange of programmes, information and news between Ethiopia and Sudan.
Desalegn urged the media to play a major role in reflecting the development and concerns of the people in the two countries.
He underscored the need to reflect on what was common and promote the economic, political or developmental interests of the two nations.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Sudanese minister had signed various agreements with the Ethiopian Government, including a news exchange between the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) and the Sudan News Agency (SUNA).
The two nations also agreed on exchanges between the countries television and radio stations as well as sharing experiences on various cultural, technical and professional fields.
The Sudanese minister was hosted by his Ethiopian counterpart, Ridhwan Hussein, who took the Sudanese delegation on tour to various information and media institutions in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian Capital. (NAN)
Journalists who fled to Nairobi over security fears perform a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony in one of the cramped apartments they share. (CPJ/Nicole Schilit)
A sharp increase in the number of Ethiopian journalists fleeing into exile has been recorded by the Committee to Protect Journalists in the past 12 months. More than 30–twice the number of exiles CPJ documented in 2012 and 2013 combined–were forced to leave after the government began a campaign of arrests. In October, Nicole Schilit of CPJ’s Journalist Assistance program and Martial Tourneur of partner group Reporters Without Borders traveled to Nairobi in Kenya to meet some of those forced to flee.
The group of reporters, photographers, and editors we met had all been forced to make a tough decision that has affected them and their families–a life in exile or prison. All of the journalists spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, out of concern for their safety. During meetings to discuss their cases, one of them told us: “I hope one day I can bring my family. Maybe in the future. I want to secure myself first. Now is not secure.”
Since July, a large number of Ethiopian journalists have left behind their families, homes, and a steady income to seek safety. The reason for this sharp increase is a government crackdown on the independent media. In January, the state-controlled Ethiopian Press Agency and Ethiopian News Agency carried out a study to “assess the role of [seven] magazines in the nation’s peace, democracy and development.” The results were illustrated in two charts that claimed the magazines were promoting terrorism and damaging the economy.
One of the exiled journalists CPJ met in Nairobi holds up a newspaper report on a study criticizing independent publications. (CPJ/Nicole Schilit)
The study was followed by a series of arrests and charges of journalists from a range of publications, as well as those associated with the Zone 9 blogging collective. In July six bloggers and three journalists were charged with terrorism. On June 25, 20 journalists at the state-run Oromia Radio and Television Organization were dismissed without explanation. In August, the Ministry of Justice announced that six publications were being charged with publishing false information, inciting violence, and undermining public confidence in the government. Managers at three publications were sentenced in absentia to three-year jail terms for “inciting the public by spreading false information.” And in October, Temesghen Desalegn of Feteh (Justice) magazine was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for defamation and incitement.
With the threat of imprisonment hanging over Ethiopia’s press, many journalists decided to flee. Most left without much notice. Some knew Ethiopians who had moved to Nairobi months or even years earlier, and were able to contact them before leaving their homes. Others arrived without having any basic knowledge of the city, and had to find help with everything from registering as a refugee with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to finding a place to stay.
CPJ’s Journalist Assistance program has had a steady flow of requests from journalists in Ethiopia and other parts of East Africa since the program began in 2001, but we have never seen numbers like this. With so many journalists displaced, it was important that CPJ identified their most urgent needs and challenges before deciding how best to support them.
The exiled journalists that CPJ and its partner group met included journalists who worked for several independent publications, as well as freelancers and founding members of the Ethiopian Journalists Forum (EJF). Not all of the journalists were facing charges, but they said they had experienced harassment, intimidation, and threats of imprisonment over their reporting.
One of the journalists said he had been in Angola for a conference in April when he was advised by friends not to return to Ethiopia. While he was away, six Zone 9 bloggers had been arrested. The journalist was not part of the Zone 9 group, but he said friends convinced him to come to Nairobi instead of returning to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Despite the warnings he was insistent on returning to Ethiopia. “I did not prepare to not return,” he said. His wife begged him to stay in Nairobi and told him security officials had visited their home and threatened her. She joined him in Nairobi one month later.
All of the journalists told us they needed financial support for basic living expenses. Despite being crammed into homes that feel temporary, and where up to three people share a room, the journalists struggle to afford rent and food. They have lost their incomes and, with the desire to keep a low profile and no means to start a publication, they do not know when they will be able to work again.
Conditions for those fleeing into exile are hard. Up to four journalists share a bedroom but they still struggle to pay for food and rent. (CPJ/Nicole Schilit)
In one apartment, four journalists from a single outlet were living together. They described how in Addis Ababa they had been financially secure. “Most of us have no economic problems back home. I had my own TV show and the payment from our employment was good… but that charge. We know the meaning of that charge,” one of the journalists said, referring to accusations that they had spread false information intended to undermine public trust in the government.
One of the journalists said he wanted to bring his wife and two-year-old son to Nairobi, but couldn’t afford their travel, or to support them. “There is no money. And I am the breadwinner,” he said.
Nairobi has offered little solace for these journalists. We met the majority of those we spoke to in the barely furnished homes they were living in, which are spread out across the city. Several of the journalists said they still did not feel safe, and were scared of being taken back to Ethiopia. The fear that authorities have the ability to reach over borders is common among those who have fledinto exile.
Exile and security fears have taken a psychological toll on these journalists. They repeatedly told us their daily movements were limited because they worry what could happen while they are outside. “In the morning, I find myself without any plan to do. We feel lost here,” one said during meetings to assess their needs. Another added: “It is very boring. I feel desperate.”
One of the apartment buildings where some of the journalists are living. Many say the fear that drove them to flee still lingers. (CPJ/Nicole Schilit)
One of the journalists told us: “It’s a kind of traumatizing experience. At night, what if someone comes and is banging on the door looking for us? Whenever someone is shouting we think it is a security officer who [has] come to look for us. So it is very difficult at night. It is very scary.”
Respected journalists who had successful careers in Ethiopia are now refugees in a foreign country. Despite being in exile because of their reporting, they all expressed a commitment to continue working in journalism once their financial and security needs had been fixed.
Since speaking to the exiled journalists and assessing their needs, CPJ has been working with partner organizations to coordinate assistance for them. In addition to providing small grants to help cover basic living expenses, CPJ has continued to advocate on behalf of the journalists with the UNHCR. Exiled journalists have to register as a refugee with the organization, or other authorities, to begin the often lengthy process of applying for refugee status or waiting for resettlement to a third country.
The Journalist Assistance program is funded entirely through charitable donations. More details on how you can help, and how donations are used by the Gene Roberts Fund for Emergency Assistance are available here.
Asmara (HAN) – Public diplomacy and Regional Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical Church News for regional Partnership and Cooperation. By. Herman Cohn – The Port of Assab is Eritrean Land, but Ethiopia Should Have Right to Use it for regional transport and commodities access. Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen said he wanted to set the record straight about his recommendation during the 1991 London Conference on Ethiopia, Eritrea and Port of Assab of Eritrean Red Sea Coast.
After being part of Ethiopia for forty years, the people of Eritrea held a referendum in April 1993 and decided to establish an independent state. The referendum took place in the aftermath of a thirty-year insurgency against two successive Ethiopian regimes waged by the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF). At the same time, an allied insurgent group, the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), took over power in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, after the military collapse of the Soviet-supported regime headed by President Mengistu Haile Mariam.
FORMER U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen said he did not say the port belongs to Ethiopia, contrary to what some in Ethiopia had attributed to him, and that he only recommended Ethiopia and Eritrea maintain a common economic union after Eritrea’s independence allowing Ethiopia to use the port.
“There are some people in Ethiopia who said that during the London Conference of 1991 I recommended that the Port of Assab belonged to Ethiopia. This is not correct. What I recommended was Ethiopia and Eritrea maintain a common economic union after Eritrea’s independence and, in that way, Ethiopia could use the Port of Assab,” he said.
FORMER U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen said that before the war of 1998, Ethiopia used a section of the port for their imports and exports, which means that Assab did not belong to Ethiopia, but it had access to an exclusive zone.
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Background Story of 2014: Ethiopia’s Right to Sea, an Article 125 of Geneva Convention
RIGHT OF ACCESS OF LAND-LOCKED STATES TO AND FROM THE SEA AND FREEDOM OF TRANSIT
1. Land-locked States [Ethiopia] shall have the right of access to and from the sea for the purpose of exercising the rights provided for in this Convention including those relating to the freedom of the high seas and the common heritage of mankind. To this end, land-locked States shall enjoy freedom of transit through the territory of transit States [Eritrea] by all means of transport. 2. The terms and modality for exercising freedom of transit shall be agreed between the land-locked States [Ethiopia] and transit States [Eritrea] concerned through bilateral, sub-regional or regional agreements. 3. Transit States [Eritrea], in the exercise of their full sovereignty over their territory, shall have the right to take all measures necessary to ensure that the rights and facilities provided for in this Part for land-locked States [Ethiopia] shall in no way infringe their legitimate interests. tesfa news
Photo: Herman Jay Cohen is a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
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he was wounded in the face and head, and his both hands were seriously broken.
The Sunday’s brutal attack is the LATEST
