2011 Failed States Index
Ethiopia under the Woyanne tribal junta and its khat-addicted dictator continues to rank high in all failed state indicators. Click here to read the complete report.
Author: EthiopianReview.com
Ethiopian journalist illegally detained since Sunday – CPJ
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Ethiopian authorities today to immediately release journalist Woubshet Taye, who has been held since Sunday.
Police picked up Taye, deputy editor of the leading independent weekly Awramba Times, at his home in the capital, Addis Ababa, at 3 p.m. and confiscated several documents, cameras, CDs, and selected copies of Awramba Times, local journalists told CPJ. The newspaper covers politics in-depth.
Taye is being held incommunicado at the federal investigation center at Maekelawi Prison in the capital, local journalists said. In an interview with CPJ, Shemelis Kemal, a government spokesman, denied any journalists were in detention in the country. “I will check but there are no journalist arrests, incarcerated in Ethiopia,” he said. “We have a law prohibiting pretrial detention of journalists. No arrest could be initiated on account of content.”
Ethiopia’s press law prohibits pre-trial detention of journalists, but two journalists of the state-controlled national broadcaster have been held on vague criminal charges for over a year, while two Eritrean journalists have disappeared in government custody since 2006, according to CPJ research. Also, under the Ethiopian constitution, police must charge or release citizens within 48 hours.
“The detention of Woubshet Taye is unlawful,” said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. “We call on Ethiopian authorities to release him at once.”
Awramba Times Managing Editor Dawit Kebede, who was imprisoned for 21 months for critical coverage of a brutal government crackdown following disputed elections in 2005, has been the target of ongoing harassment by the Ethiopian administration and pro-government media outlets, according to CPJ research. Kebede won CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 2010 for his commitment to journalism despite the repression. The Amharic-language weekly was launched in 2008 after Kebede’s release on conditional pardon and is today the second-largest newspaper in circulation in Ethiopia, according to CPJ research.
Disintegrating Tyrant’s Key Pillar of Support – The WORKERS
The ABCs of Toppling a Tyrant:
A. UNITY!
B. PLANNING!
C. DISCIPLINE!
Woyanne soccer team’s defeat brings joy to Addis residents
Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa residents had some thing to be cheerful about Saturday after Buna defeated the Woyanne-affiliated football team Dedebit 2-1.
In a typical Woyanne fashion, the game was full of controversy and intrigue, but Buna were able to overpower the better financed and trained Dedebit to victory. The stadium was full of Buna supporters and the game felt like it was a match between a foreign team vs. an Ethiopian national team, according one spectator.
VIDEO
Ethiopian man arrested near Pentagon on suspicion of terrorism
ABC News is reporting that a man with uniquely Ethiopian name, Yonathan Melaku, was arrested Friday morning near the Pentagon carrying what are thought to be bomb making items. There are two possibilities: 1) the guy is mentally sick, or 2) it is the work of the desperate Woyanne junta in Ethiopia that is trying to cause problem for Ethiopians in North America. Woyanne is known for planting bombs in public places and blame it on opposition groups. Read the report below.
ARLINGTON, Virginia (KABC) — A man carrying suspected bomb making materials and pro-al Qaeda literature in a backpack was arrested near the Pentagon on Friday morning.
Officials said they noticed the man, identified by ABC News as 22-year-old Yonathan Melaku of Alexandria, in Arlington National Cemetery after it was closed. They took him into custody and interviewed him.
The questioning led authorities to search for a red 2011 Nissan, which was located in bushes near the Pentagon’s north parking lot. Nothing suspicious was found in the car.
ABC News reports that Melaku’s backpack contained what officials believe is {www:ammonium nitrate}. The items in the backpack were described as “inert,” but were still being tested.
The backpack also reportedly contained notes that mention al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Brenda Heck, special agent in charge of counterterrorism for the FBI, said authorities believe Melaku acted alone. He was arrested and jailed earlier this month for tampering with vehicles in Leesburg.
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said during a news conference that Melaku is a naturalized citizen and lance corporal in the Marine Corps Reserve, 4th engineer battallion out of Baltimore, Md.
No charges have been filed yet against Melaku in the latest incident.
Nearby roads were shut down for the ongoing investigation, which {www:snarl} Washington’s morning rush hour.
The Arlington National Cemetery was briefly closed during the investigation.
China helps Ethiopia’s tyrant jam broadcast signals
A worldwide boycott of Chinese products may need to be organized to let China know that it needs to stop helping brutal dictators in the third world silence independent media. The following is a press release from ESAT.
ESAT accuses China of complicity in jamming signals
The Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT), which resumed transmissions to Ethiopia last week after nearly two months of interruption, has urged the government of the People’s Republic of China to desist from providing technology, training and technical assistance to the regime in Ethiopia to enable it to jam shortwave radio and satellite transmissions to Ethiopia.
The Meles regime is currently blocking independent news websites and jamming the Amharic services of the Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, and the Ethiopian Satellite Television, among others, with the help of technology and technical assistance provided by the Chinese government.
Since its launch in April 2010, ESAT has faced intense and persistent signal interference that has disrupted its transmissions six times in its short span of life. ESAT’s management has investigated the matter thoroughly and confirmed from reliable sources inside Ethiopia that the government of China has been actively working with the Meles regime to jam ESAT’s transmissions.
Mr. Kilfe Mulat, the exiled President of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFPJA), has said that China’s complicity in stifling freedom of expression and undermining efforts to spread democratic values in Ethiopia is shameful and sets a bad precedence in the whole of Africa. “Ethiopia is not only the seat of the AU but also a historic symbol of freedom in Africa as the only African nation that has never been colonized. Aiding tyrants to stifle their people and block the free flow of information is tantamount to committing unwarranted crimes against the freedom-loving people of Africa that are making sacrifices to exercise their inalienable rights and free themselves from corrupt tyrants that are hampering progress in the continent.”
The President of EFPJA also urged organizations and nations promoting freedom and democracy to provide resources and support to the Ethiopian Satellite Television to overcome the China-backed jamming challenge that has seriously threatened the survival of ESAT, a grassroots media project totally funded by the Ethiopian Diaspora.
Mr. Mulat further noted that the government of China must realize the fact that collaborating with African tyrants and exporting tools of repressions to countries like Ethiopia is an inexcusable act that will further tarnish the image of China as a sponsor of tyranny and oppression.
ESAT, which was set up by a group of Ethiopian exiled journalists and pro-democracy activists to fend off Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s war against every avenue of freedom, has been facing attacks and interference by the Meles regime.
“In addition to building Internet firewalls for the regime, China has emerged as one of the most formidable enemies of freedom in Ethiopia and the entire continent of Africa. China should realize the fact that the Meles regime is violating its own constitution that guarantees freedom of expression to citizens. By assisting the Meles regime in jamming ESAT and other reputable broadcasters illegally, China can only earn the condemnation of freedom-loving Ethiopians who do not wish to see their liberty trampled upon by internal and external powers,” ESAT’s management said.
Article 29 of the current Ethiopian constitution stipulates: “Everyone 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.” But the Meles regime is widely known for violating basic rights with impunity.
ESAT has been forced to change satellite service providers at least four times in the last one year. It started broadcasting its programs to Ethiopia on Arabsat but was forced off air due to intense signal interference and diplomatic pressure. Similarly, an effort to continue broadcasting on Thaicon was interrupted after a few months, once again, due to intense diplomatic pressure. But ESAT’s tenacious management team continued transmissions on Intelsat, an American satellite company. While a diplomatic effort to disrupt ESAT transmissions failed, the Meles regime managed to jam ESAT’s signals using the jamming equipment provided by the Chinese government.
ESAT, the first independent TV station viewed by millions of Ethiopians, has reiterated its commitment to making every effort to continue its transmissions and find ways of overcoming the Sino-Ethiopia jamming and censorship project.
ESAT, which has studios in Amsterdam, Washington DC and London, is currently transmitting 24/7 on ABS1 Satellite, C-Band at 75 East Downlink: 3.480 GHz Vertical (3480), Symbol: 1.852 Msps (1852), FEC 2/3. It has plans to transmit on a Ku-Band and shortwave radio with a view to reaching wider audience in Ethiopia. ESAT also webcasts its transmissions on www.ethsat.com.
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For further information on ESAT or this press release contact:
Abebe Gellaw, Washington DC, email: [email protected] , tel. +1 650 387 4940
Kinfu Asefa, Amsterdam, email: [email protected] , tel. +31 652006062