Ethiopia: It Is Very Simple – Respect the Constitution (Addis Standard Editorial)

EDITORIAL

Addis Ababa — Once again Ethiopia is in the headlines. It is not for its dazzling double digit economic growth, nor for its once familiar tale of famine and poverty that it tries so hard to leave behind, or not even for two consecutive mega state visits by the US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang; but for its inexplicable and heavy-handed onslaught against three independent journalists and a group of six bloggers, who were detained from their homes on Friday April 25th and Saturday April 26th by plain-clothed security personnel. As the nauseating ritual of Ethiopian politics repeatedly proved itself in the past, this time too, the detainees are not ordinary youngsters.

They include prominent journalist Tesfalem Wadyes, who was freelancing for the weekly English Fortune and this magazine, journalist Asmamaw Hailegiorgis, senior editor at an influential Amharic weekly magazine Addis Guday, and journalist Edom Kassaye, a freelancer and an active member of the Ethiopian Environmental Journalists Association (EEJA) and a close associate of Zone9 bloggers, who make up the other six. They are: Zelalem Kibret, a lecturer at Ambo University, Atnaf Berhane, IT professional, Natnail Feleke, an employee of the Construction and Business Bank, Mahlet Fantahun, Data expert, Befekadu Hailu, an employee of St. Mary’s University College, and Abel Wabella, an engineer at Ethiopian Airlines. They came together to blog under the motto: “we blog because we care.”

Read more at AllAfrica.com.

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Ethiopia: It Is Very Simple – Respect the Constitution (Addis Standard Editorial)

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