(BBC) — Ethiopia’s ruling junta, Woyanne, has admitted it is jamming the Voice of America’s (VOA) broadcasts in Amharic, accusing the radio station of engaging in “destabilising propaganda”.
Prime Minister Warlord Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia his regime had been testing jamming equipment, although there had been no formal decision to bloc the US station.
The Amharic Service has experienced interference since late February.
Meles also compared the VOA’s transmissions to broadcasts in Rwanda in the mid-1990s that incited genocide.
‘Unfortunate’ comments
“We have for some time now been trying to beef up our capacity to deal with this, including… jamming,” Mr Meles said on Thursday.
In a statement, VOA director Danforth Austin said that any comparison of VOA programming to Rwandan broadcasts inciting genocide in the 1990s was “incorrect and unfortunate”.
“The VOA deplores jamming as a form of media censorship wherever it may occur,” he said, adding that the station’s Amharic Service was required by law to provide accurate and objective information.
The VOA and other foreign media organisations say broadcasts in Amharic – the country’s most widely spoken language – have been jammed around elections in the past.
The next polls in Ethiopia are in May and human rights groups say there has been a crackdown on the press.
The last elections saw opposition accusations of widespread rigging.
Thousands of opposition supporters were arrested after protests and some western countries reduced aid to Ethiopia.
Meles also rejected calls to free opposition leader Birtukan Medeksa from jail.
She was sentenced to life in prison in 2005 after the election protests, pardoned in 2007 and then re-imprisoned in 2008.
The prime minister dictator said she would remain in prison “permanently” and that diplomats and journalists could not visit her – the same rules as for other prisoners in Ethiopia.
Separately, Meles again denied claims in a recent BBC report that he had ordered the diversion of food aid money to buy arms to fight the government in the 1980s.
“We did not need to [do it]. We were not short of ammunition or arms. That was never our problem. Our main problem was that we were operating in an environmentally very fragile area unable to feed itself,” he said.
4 thoughts on “Woyanne admits jamming VOA (BBC)”
Read this with laughter at the same time great sadness. Shows how much the Woyane regime is confident that even Voice of “America” will not stop him from doing what it wants to because of the warm scratch my back and I will scratch yours relationship it enjoys with Washington. Woayne is the errand boy and if it does anything even jamming a mass media for the benefit of disseminating its lies and fabrications, it is okay and will be tolerated by his master. folks, as discouraging as things seem, and as fruitless and useless our voices and struggle seem, we need to keep exposing this sick regime in every way possible and let the obama adminstration know in no uncertain terms that he has betrayed the people that voted for him and has failed to fulfill his promise made at the inaguration. This is sad,very sad. and the election we all know has already been decided. Nevertheless the struggle must continue for the sake of those voiceless and downtrodden people of Ethiopia.
This is the true face of the weyanne junta:
hide the truth.The end of the dictatorship is coming.
yehe Erkus dewey !!
devil
US condemns Ethiopia for VOA jamming
Published: Friday March 19, 2010
The United States condemned Ethiopia’s blocking of Voice of America broadcasts, calling the country’s accusations of the US radio service “baseless and inflammatory.”
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi earlier admitted to jamming the US government-funded VOA broadcasts in Amharic, saying he was prepared to censor the broadcasts because of the service’s “destabilizing propaganda.”
He said Ethiopian authorities had been testing jamming equipment although there had been no formal decision to block the US radio station.
But Washington said Addis Ababa was already jamming VOA transmissions in Amharic, Ethiopia’s main language. The United States “opposes” the move, US State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said in a statement.
The Ethiopian leader also compared VOA to Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda, which incited the population to exterminate minority Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide.
Duguid condemned the comparison to the infamous Rwandan station.
“Comparing a respected and professional news service to a group that called for genocide in Rwanda is a baseless and inflammatory accusation that seeks only to deflect attention away from the core issue,” he said on Friday.
“The prime minister may disagree with news carried in Voice of America’s Amharic service broadcasts; however, a decision to jam VOA broadcasts contradicts the government of Ethiopia’s frequent public commitments to freedom of the press.”
He noted that the Ethiopian Constitutions upholds people’s right to freedom of expression “without any interference” and that freedom of the press includes “prohibition of any form of censorship.”
“We look to the government of Ethiopia to abide by its constitution,” Duguid said.
Addis Ababa often accuses VOA of bias toward the opposition and of attempting to foment chaos in the country.
The Horn of Africa nation holds elections on May 23, but human rights groups have accused Meles’s regime of instilling a climate of fear ahead of the polls.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned Ethiopia for “maintaining hostilities.”
“Invoking the Rwandan genocide is an excuse to silence legitimate criticism and scrutiny. The Ethiopian government used this reasoning to crack down on the country’s once-vibrant Amharic press after the disputed 2005 elections,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes.
“As Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stands for re-election in May, we urge him to show leadership on constructive reforms to make press freedom, as guaranteed under Article 29 of the Ethiopian constitution, a reality.”