Ethiopian soldiers detained US journalists

May 23, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — Soldiers in Ethiopia detained three journalists for the US daily The New York Times for five days for unknown reasons before freeing them, the newspaper said Wednesday.

The three – Jeffrey Gettleman who heads the Times’ Nairobi bureau, photographer Vanessa Vick, and videographer Courtenay Morris – were detained May 16 in the eastern Ogaden region near the Somali border by Ethiopian soldiers who confiscated their equipment citing security reasons.

The journalists were reporting on a conflict between the Ethiopian government and separatist rebels in the contested area. The newspaper said they entered the country on journalists’ visas and were not in a restricted area.

They spent time in three different jails and were released in the capital Addis Ababa Monday after help from the US embassy and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, it said.

“Now we are looking for explanations,” the Times’ executive editor, Bill Keller, was quoted as saying in the newspaper.

“Why were journalists on a legitimate newsgathering assignment arrested, imprisoned for five days, manhandled, and threatened?”

(AFP)