Eritrea’s opposition launches TV station

February 29, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — A new satellite programme beamed into Eritrea will offer people the chance to express opinions on the country’s problems, the country’s opposition has said from its Ethiopian base.

A coalition of opposition groups is behind the programme, which started last week and will give people the chance to air their views for half an hour, four times a week — twice each in the Tigrinya and Arabic languages.

“The programme beamed into Eritrea will attempt to provide an opportunity to the muzzled Eritrean people to air their views on problems facing their country and also suggest peaceful and democratic ways of resolving them,” the opposition said in a statement late on Thursday.

It did not say how people inside Eritrea would contact the show, which will be broadcast via satellite operator Arabsat.

Eritrean officials were not immediately available for comment. The Red Sea state is a one-party country and has no structured internal opposition.

Eritrea and Ethiopia have routinely accused each other of sponsoring opposition groups since the two Horn of Africa nations fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people.

(Reuters)