CPJ’s Letter to John Kerry

At AU summit, Kerry should speak out for a free press

May 16, 2013
Honorable John Kerry
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Mr. Secretary:
We are writing to bring to your attention the deteriorating state of press freedom in Ethiopia, where you will attend this year’s African Union Summit. A vibrant press and civil society is fundamental to hold governments accountable and to ensure long-term development and stability. As we mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity, we ask that you include the issue of press freedom in your discussion of the challenges that Africa will face in the next half-century.
Ethiopia, in particular, has been in the spotlight for its crackdown on press freedom in recent years. Your visit to Addis Ababa comes two years after authorities launched a massive crackdown against critics and opponents as popular uprisings spread in North Africa and the Middle East. According to the 2012 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report, “the most significant human rights problems included restrictions on freedom of expression and association through politically motivated trials and convictions of opposition political figures, activists, journalists, and bloggers, as well as increased restrictions on print media.”
Today, with seven journalists behind bars, Ethiopia trails only Eritrea as Africa’s worst jailers of the press. Among the imprisoned journalists are award-winning columnists Eskinder Nega and Reeyot Alemu, both of whom were targeted under the country’s sweeping anti-terrorism law.
Mr. Secretary, in its Africa strategy the Obama administration has noted that the interests of the United States are best served with allies and partners whose stability is based on democratic rule. Your clear voice on these issues would particularly resonate in Ethiopia, where a systematic crackdown on independent journalists, dissidents, human rights groups, and political freedoms has continued unabated.
We urge you to state unambiguously to the Ethiopian government and all other governments gathered under the AU umbrella that a vibrant independent press is a necessary pillar of healthy economies, sustainable development, and long-term stability. We ask that you ensure the issue of press freedom remains in the discussion of Africa’s future so that the independent press in all AU countries are able to work freely and openly without fear of reprisal.
Yours sincerely,
Joel Simon
CPJ Executive Director
Cc List:
Donald Yamamoto, Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of African Affairs
Donald Boothe, U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia

Blue Party of Ethiopia’s Journey to Join the Braves

 

by Tedla Asfaw
The Blue Party of Ethiopia also known as “Semaiawi Party” has called for a public protest rally next week on May 25 in front of African Union in Addis Ababa. The rally has nothing to do with the 50th year anniversary of the foundation of OAU/AU. However, it chose this date to remind foreign guests who are coming to Ethiopia that Ethiopians are living in their own country in fear and poverty behind newly built roads and high rises. Protest of any kind has been illegal since May 2005 in Ethiopia. The only rally that has been allowed for the record is the one organized by Eritrean Refugees to protest against Isaias Afeworki’s dictatorship.
The right to assemble and freedom of speech is non existent in Ethiopia. Many journalists who challenged the TPLF/Woyane regime by exercising these rights ended up in jail accused as terrorists. Many Ethiopians are living in fear and political parties can not assemble even in rented hotels. The Blue Party that called the May 25 rally was denied dinner gathering in a rented hotel by government security forces early this year.
The Blue Party called Ethiopians in March of this year to come out and denounce the erection of Mausoleum for Graziani in Italy. The government beat up and arrested more than 40 people. The members and activists of this party are mainly young and female. They are action oriented and risk takers. Their leaders drove to South Ethiopia to see the evicted or ethnically cleansed Amhara farmers from Beni Shanguel and Gumuz last month. They were briefly jailed.
The Blue Party is protesting injustices when it sees it. The ESAT “Eneweyaye” May 13 program by three hosts seem to disagree with the May 25 Rally because of its timing and the lack of other parties participation. Ato Fasil argued that the rally looks like “begging” foreigners/Ferenji Limina. The majorities on the 50th celebration are Africans. As the hosts agreed many of them have similar problems in their own countries and the Blue Party’s call for Freedom and Justice for Ethiopians is not at all begging. It is exercising citizens right to assemble.
Ato Fasil argument that the regime by allowing such protest for first time might get credential as a “democratic ” is absurd. The nature of the regime is not determined by what it did in one day but its record of more than twenty two years. The whole world including those guests on that day know what Ethiopia has been under TPLF/Woyane. That day rally is to affirm our people right to say No when they see it any place, day and time, nothing wrong with May 24.
The Blue Party called this rally and asked others to join it. Someone has to start and should be commended for that.The young and women are comprising the majority of our people and many of them are not members of the Blue Party or any other parties. By going out on May 25 where foreign journalists are abundant will reaffirm the world the call for Freedom and Justice made by millions in Addis Ababa eight years ago.This time they might be a tiny fraction of that number but the demand remains the same. The braves though few are always in front line for the Freedom Battle.
Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu and Wubishit Desse could have been better journalists and analysts from distance. They chose to speak and write and paid a high price for it. Andualem Arage and Bekele Gerba could have shut their mouth and still be a leader of a party they chose not. Many whose