US urges Ethiopian gov’t to release jailed journalists
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
January1, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – The United States has urged Ethiopia to release all its journalists.
In a statement, the US government called on Addis Ababa to stop using the controversial anti-terror law to jail journalists and silent critical voices.
The National Security Council spokesman, Ned Price said the US is “deeply concerned by the recent arrests of journalists in Ethiopia and urged the government to release journalists and all others imprisoned for exercising their right to free expression.
Ethiopia prides itself on development. The country has registered an average economic growth of 10.5 % for the past 10 years. Rights groups have, however, argued that such achievement are futile without allowing people enjoy their fundamental human rights.
The US government has warned the Horn African country against making new arrests.
“The United States has consistently applauded Ethiopia for being a model and a voice for development in Africa,” said Price.
“But such gains must rest on a foundation of democratic governance and respect for human rights if they are to be sustainable”, he added in the statement
Barely two weeks ago, Ethiopian authorities arrested Fikadu Mirkana, a news anchor for the state-run Oromia Television broadcast and editor-in-chief of Negere Ethiopia online newspaper, Getachew Shiferaw.
It is was not, immmediately, clear cause why the duo were arrested, but it came as Human Rights Watch, disclosed that it had evidence that some 75 protesters had been killed during the violent clashes with security forces in Oromia region in recent weeks.
Since November, angry students from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, Oromo, have been protesting against government’s plan to expand the capital in to parts of Oromia region.
Oromo protesters argue that the controversial plan known as “Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan” would case large scale evictions against the hundreds of thousands of Oromos mainly farmers from their ancestral lands.
The government, however, said the plan seeks to develop farmland, create new business opportunities and to provide a number of services to remote parts of the region.
Meanwhile, a little known Ethiopian advocacy group has condemn what it described as a a “systematic genocidal massacres” ongoing in the nation’s Oromia and Ogaden regions.
The Ogaden Youth and Student Union (OYSU) accused Ethiopian security forces of allegely committing mass genocidal campaigns against the Oromo people in different parts of the region.
“Government sponsored militias known as the Liyuu Police continue to commit rape, extrajudicial killings, mass arrests, and torture with impunity”, said the Swedish-based group.
“Millions of people in the Ogaden are facing one of the worse famines in the world and the international community continues to turn a blind eye” it added.
OYSU further alleged that the international humanitarian organisations that have historically provided much needed assistance such as Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross have been denied access to operate in the region.
The group also called on the international community and mainly western nations to put an end to funds going directly to the Ethiopian government.
It further called on western powers such as the United States and United Kingdom to pressure the Ethiopian government to end gross human rights abuses taking place in Oromia, Ogaden and elsewhere in Ethiopia.
(ST)