As Ethiopia Jails Bloggers, US Talks Free Press Elsewhere
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 26 — Ethiopia has conducted a sweep and arrest of journalists including Tesfalem Woldeyes and six bloggers from the Zone 9 collective. Next week, US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Addis Ababa. Will he be raising the issue? We’ll see.
New US Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowsi on April 25 spoke about the US defending bloggers; the examples he gave were in Russia and Vietnam: “Dieu Cay,” Ta Phong Tan and Phan Thanh Hai. How now about Ethiopia?
As Press Freedom seasons heats up, some were surprised not only by this brief filed in the Supreme Court but also by this week’s US announcement of renewed military aid to Egypt, including 10 Apache helicopters. Isn’t Egypt the country with journalists including but not limited to those of Al Jazeera locked up?
After questions, the State Department clarified the specifics of aid to Egypt on April 24.
Read more at Inner City Press.
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Related:
Kerry to visit Ethiopia, Congo and Angola next week
Six Members of Zone 9 Blogging Collective Arrested in Ethiopia