Is being a journalist a crime in Ethiopia?

By Hurissa Alemu

July 28, 2014

The dictatorial regime in Ethiopia-led by minority group, TPLF continued stepping up its efforts against press freedom by firing about 20 Oromo journalists from the state-run Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO).

The Ethiopian regime dismissed the journalists from their job without giving any acceptable reason except accusing them of “narrow political views”. As some of the journalists who were among those dismissed said “the reality behind the firing of the Oromo journalists by the regime is the fact that the Oromo journalists exposed the Ethiopian government plan to expand the capital city or Finfinne by evicting Oromo farmers from their indigenous land which caused a wide scale protest through Oromia region against this plan.” The protest was organized by Oromo University and high school students together with local people resulting in the death, injury and the arrest of many students and locals after federal police fired live ammunition against protesters even though the protest was peaceful. In fact persecution, firing, harassment, arresting, torture of journalists and violation of press freedom is not a new incident in Ethiopia under the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front(EPRDF), as the government made a habit of it. We don’t need to look any farther, just two months ago the same government arrested three journalists and six bloggers, called zone 9 bloggers. I don’t remember a single year, which went by without the TPLF/EPRDF lead regime firing and arresting journalists since they came to power in 1991.

For instance, only between 2005 and 2009 about 150 journalists have been forced to leave theirhomeland, (mereja.com) and in connection with 2005 Ethiopian general election the regime had put in jail 17 editors and publishers (cpj.org). The Ethiopian regime is unrestrained by the law and constitution of the country, they do everything and anything as they please without regard for the rule of law. The continuation of persecution, harassment and firing of journalists from their job in connection with their coverage of the students’ protest against the government’s plan to expand Finfinnee by what was called Master plan, which some people termed as Master killer; and the eviction of farmers from their indigenous land is another proof of the Ethiopian regime’s dictatorial and oppressive nature.

It is not difficult to come up with the conclusion that the Ethiopian government wants a journalist who will act as the government mouth piece, to report and promote the interest of the ruling party not that of the larger society as stipulated in the constitution. No one can blame the journalists except TPLF regime and its members since the journalists have the moral and ethical obligations to report such horrific incidents as happened in Ambo and other regions of Oromia. If the Ethiopian regime fires journalists because of doing their job it simply means they don’t want what was reported to reach the people of Ethiopia and the larger world. As it is known, humanitarian and Human Right organizations have been extremely restricted in the country resulting in lack of information especially beyond the capital city. As the Ethiopian regime is always fabricating false documents to crackdown and silence dissent, bloggers and journalists remain the target accused of sympathizing with Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and G7.

The main problem in Ethiopia stems from the fact that the regime and the parliament are the same in form and action. There is no any opposition in the parliament when laws are passed with the aim to discriminate and silence anyone who disagrees with the government. As we know, since the anti- terrorist law was formed, the law is always in favour of the government because when the government fails to indoctrinate you into their ideology, they categorize you as a terrorist and the enemy of the regime in power. Woyanes always deny facts, tell white lies to the people of Ethiopia and the world and want to maintain power at all costs by terrorizing innocent people every single day with the help of the law which was purpose made for the job.

As we know, respect for the freedom of speech is considered an important part of the rule of law and a fundamental requirement to democracy. Freedom of expression concerns the right of citizens to express themselves by giving or receiving information. Freedom of expression is a human right. All people should be allowed to give their views to others, without being subjected to threats. However, in Ethiopia people are always subjected to threats being pestered by the rogue regime if and when they do not think like TPLF and its members. In general, there is no basic freedom of any sort and freedom of speech in Ethiopia under the Woyane rules.

I believe that the pain that we’ve all felt since Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu, and all Oromo journalists who have been dismissed from their job and who are in prison now including the Zone 9 bloggers as a result of inhuman acts of TPLF against them is enormous. We have to do all we can to join hands and oust TPLF regime in order to meet the demand of our people who are hungry for freedom and justice as they suffer in the hands of TPLF brutal regime. I believe, if we stand together with all the oppressed nations and nationalities we will be able to get this done sooner than later. The suffering of our innocent people demand from us to work with all the people who believe in justice and freedom.

At the end I would like to urge all oppressed people who are really looking for a true freedom to stand together to replace the fake TPLF/EPRDF democracy by a real one.

ejeru412@hotmail.com