Secret document reveals regime\u2019s intolerance to critical views<\/p>\n
By Abebe Gellaw<\/p>\n
In Ethiopia freedom of expression was declared 20 years ago, when the military junta of Mengistu Hailemariam crumbled and Meles Zenewi came to power singing and preaching about liberty and democracy. After two decades in power, Meles Zenawi does not even tolerate the opinion of others including those he has forced into exile. He wants to be the only person in the country to speak his mind with arrogance and impunity.<\/p>\n
Only within the last 5 years, so many newspapers have been closed down, a number of journalists and critics have been jailed and many faced treason and terrorism charges for telling the inconvenient truth that tyranny must come to an end. The Voice of America (VOA), as an independent broadcaster, has also been a target of the tyrannical regime that jams VOA and other broadcasts to Ethiopia using Chinese technology.<\/p>\n
Meles Zenawi\u2019s VOA blacklist provides fresh evidence that clearly shows the intolerance, ignorance and arrogance of the dictator and his cronies who are determined to silence every little voice of dissent. Article 29 (2) of the Ethiopian constitution declares: \u201cEveryone has the right to freedom of expression without any interference. This right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any media of his choice.\u201d But in practice, freedom of expression has been criminalized and outspoken critics are being hunted down and forced into exile by the regime.<\/p>\n
The following is only a partial list of critics and dissidents whose views are labeled \u201chostile\u201d and \u201cunacceptable\u201d. Meles wants VOA to ban his critics from appearing on its programs. It is an open secret that anyone who expresses views contrary to those of dictator Meles Zenawi and his cronies is considered to be an enemy of the state. It should noted that the majority of people targeted by the Meles regime in the last 20 years are outspoken critics, commentators, political leaders, human rights activists and journalists.<\/p>\n
The names below are only those mentioned in a 42-page document submitted by the Meles regime to VOA and Board of Broadcasting Governors (BBG) officials as \u201cevidence\u201d to support its complaints against VOA Amharic service.<\/p>\n
Dr. Getachew Metaferia, Professor of Political Science at Maryland University
\nMr. Jawar Mohammed, Political commentator
\nMr. Abebe Hailu, Representative of the Ethiopian American Council
\nProfessor Beyene Petros, Member of Medrek\u2019s leadership
\nMr. Hamdi Ali Regae, Commentator
\nProfessor Paolos Milkeas, Professor of Middle Eastern and African Politics, Concordia University Canada
\nMr. Ali Abdo, Eritrean Minister of Information
\nDr. Beyana Soba, OLF spokesperson
\nMr. Eskinder Nega, Journalist and publisher, who has been banned from practicing journalism
\nColonel Tsegeye Yimer, Former army and police trainer
\nLieutenant Ayalsew Dessie, exiled former army officer
\nDr. Negasso Gidada, former president and interim leader of Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ)
\nDr. Hailu Araya, Spokesperson of UDJ
\nDr. Kassa Ayalew, Representative of March for Freedom
\nDr. Ahmed Mowen, Professor at Howard University, Washington DC
\nMr. Neamin Zeleke, Political activist
\nProfessor Getachew Haile, Coordinator of Hidafe Kitet
\nMr. Seye Abraha, UDJ Party
\nMr. Thilo Hoppe, Member of German Parliament (Bundestag)
\nMr. Bekele Gerba, Vice Chair, Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM)
\nDr. Merera Gudina, Member of Medrek\u2019s leadership
\nDr. Berhanu Nega, Chair of Ginbot 7
\nMr. Girma Moges, Political commentator
\nMr. Aklilu Tadesse, exiled journalist
\nMr. Alebachew Desalegn, London-based activist
\nMs. Asayesh Tamiru, Member of Human Rights Committee in Germany
\nMr. Tamagn Beyene, activist and artiste
\nMr. Dawit Kebede, Managing editor of Awaramba Times
\nIsaias Mekuria, journalist
\nDr. Getachew Begashaw, Professor of Economics at Harper College, USA
\nMr. Solomon Gebreselassie, Water development engineer in Los Angeles, California
\nDownload document<\/p>\n
Meles Zenawi VOA blacklist<\/p>\n
\u2014-<\/p>\n
Addis Voice is making efforts to secure other documents that contain Meles Zenawi\u2019s litany of complaints and grievances against VOA broadcasters and anyone who expresses critical views.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Secret document reveals regime\u2019s intolerance to critical views By Abebe Gellaw In Ethiopia freedom of expression was declared 20 years ago, when the military junta of Mengistu Hailemariam crumbled and Meles Zenewi came to power singing and preaching about liberty and democracy. After two decades in power, Meles Zenawi does not even tolerate the opinion of others including those he has forced into exile. He wants to be the only person in the country to speak his mind with arrogance and impunity. Only within the last 5 years, so many newspapers have been closed down, a number of journalists and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amharic.zehabesha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amharic.zehabesha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amharic.zehabesha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amharic.zehabesha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amharic.zehabesha.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amharic.zehabesha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amharic.zehabesha.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amharic.zehabesha.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amharic.zehabesha.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}