November 2, 2001

PRESS FREEDOM FURTHER THREATENED

 The appointment of Bereket Semon as Minister of Information and of Netsanet Asfaw as Ministre d'Etat in the same ministry does not augur well for the future of press freedom in Ethiopia. Both individuals, he is an executive member of the ruling EPRDF and she has for long been a member of the dominant Tigrean front (TPLF), are known for their intolerance and opposition to the independent press.

 The government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has continued with its relentless drive to muzzle the press. Despite official claims to the contrary, the government, as a matter of policy, pursues the harassment of independent journalists and the attempt to muzzle them. The contested and repressive Press Proclamation (no 34/1992) has been used to imprison many journalists on the loosely and arbitrarily interpreted grounds of criminal defamation, inciting to hatred and violence, revelation of official secret, etc. More than 80 cases are pending and journalists are hauled to police stations for interrogations and mere harassment. Numerous journalists have been forced to flee into exile. Moreover, the government has raised the price of print paper, mail/postage and imposed a 10,000 Birr annual license renewal fee in an effort to drive most newspapers out of circulation. This same government controls the media (Ethiopian Radio and TV, Ethiopian News Agency, Radio Fana, Walta Information Center, Efoyta, etc...) and denies the independent press access to news and official interviews.

 The attack against the independent journalists and press is a relentless and deliberate policy of the government. The past ten years have proved this assertion to be factual. The future does not bode well. The new minister of Information and his deputy are both intolerant and hard- line organizational apparatchiks. More attacks against the free press is to be expected.

SOCEPP calls on all human rights organizations and defenders of the right for a pluralistic press to express their grave concern to the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

SOCEPP