July 4, 2001

WEGAHTA EDITOR DETAINED, OTHERS THREATENED

The editor of the weekly WEGAHITA newspaper, W/ro/Mme Berhan Haile has been put under arrest as of July 2/2001. Deputy editor Mulugeta Assefa has not yet been arrested while reliable reports indicate that he and other editors of independent newspapers are being subjected to threats by the EPRDF security police.

 Background: WEGAHITA, which is published every Sunday as a weekly, started publication recently and is said to be sympathetic to the political positions of the TPLF CC dissidents who have been purged or put under arrest. The editor is a longtime supporter of the ruling TPLF eversince she was a refugee in the Sudan.

 Related news: Atakilti Ambaye, former editor of the TPLF's organ,WEYIN, and alleged collaborator of Wegahita newspaper has defected in Amsterdam, Holland, along with the ANDM parliament member Habtamu Alemayehu. They were part of a 28 member government officials and relatives of high level ministers (such as the wife of Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin) who traveled to Holland to receive their Masters degrees (education feel paid by the World Bank and the UNDP) following completion of distance learning courses.

SOCEPP