January 5, 2000
CURTAILMENT OF THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND REPRESSION AGAINST POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS
The government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is still one of the top three countries holding the highest number of independent journalists in jail. The government uses its ill defined and restrictive Press Law and the State controlled police and courts to act against independent journalists. Many have been jailed, forced into exile, forced to pay heavy fines and to close their publications. Journalists like Berhanu Ijigu and Kumsa Berayu have disappeared while others like Tesfaye Tadesse have been brutally hacked to death by government death squads in Addis Abeba itself. And now the government has come up with a new order that has already forced ten (10) publications to fold up. Called a directive by the Ministry of Culture and Information it proclaims that any individual who does not have 10,000-15000 Birr in the bank cannot publish a newspaper or magazine. This new edict has led to the refusal of the renewal of licenses for some publications. An editorial in the weekly TOMAR newspaper (Tahsas 5/1992) condemns this directive (and virtual law) as a violation of basic rights and one more indication of the government's attempt to muzzle the free press. It is in this connection that the fund given to the government controlled newspapers, like The Reporter, (by Norway for one) has surprised many, the same quarters claim. It is to be recalled the government controls the media, runs the only local private radio station (Radio Fana), owns publishing houses (Mega, etc..), controls the sale of paper for newspapers, owns newspapers and magazines (Efoyta, Weyin, Abiyotawi Democracy,etc...). The government action against members and supporters of political organizations, who are contesting the coming elections (May 2000), has also increased with the Gambella People's Democratic Congress alleging that 52 of its members are incarcerated and many more have fled the Gambella area for clandestine life in Addis Ababa. The AAPO and other organizations have also claimed that they have withdrawn their candidates from several areas in the so-called Kilil 3 (Amara region) following harassment by the government officials. Government cadres in Nazreth town warned people publicly not to attend AAPO rallies ince "AAPO is an enemy and anyone who votes or it will be punished by the government". Numerous areas in the South have also been scenes of wide spread arrest of members and sympathizers of the few legal but opposition organizations. There are numerous indications that the election process is tainted by gross human rights violations on the part of the EPRDF government.
SOCEPP
