Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2014 00:58:07 +0200
Ethiopia's Police State: The Silencing of Opponents, Journalists and
Students Detained
By <http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/paul-okeeffe> Paul O'Keeffe
Global Research, June 11, 2014
Coat_of_arms_of_Ethiopia.svg
Detention under spurious charges in Ethiopia is nothing new. With the second
highest rate of imprisoned journalists in Africa[1] and arbitrary detention
for anyone who openly objects to the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) regime's despotic iron fist, the Western backed
government in Addis Ababa is a dab hand at silencing its critics.
Eskinder Nega and Reeyot Alemu are just two of the country's more famous
examples of journalists thrown in prison for daring to call the EPRFD out on
their reckless disregard for human rights. This April the regime made
headlines again for jailing six[2] bloggers and three more journalists on
trumped up charges of inciting violence through their journalistic work.
Repeated calls for due legal process for the detainees from human rights
organisations and politicians, such as John Kerry, have fallen on deaf ears
as they languish in uncertainty awaiting trial. This zero-tolerance approach
to questioning of government repression is central to the EPRDF's attempts
to control its national and international image and doesn't show much signs
of letting up.
Stepping up their counter-dissent efforts the regime just this week detained
another journalist Elias Gebru - the editor-in-chief of the independent news
magazine Enku. Gebru's magazine is accused of inciting student protests[3]
which rocked Oromia state at the end of April. The magazine published a
column which discussed the building of a monument[4] outside Addis Ababa
honouring the massacre of Oromos by Emperor Melinik in the 19th century. The
regime has tried to tie the column with protests against its plans to bring
parts of Oromia state under Addis Ababa's jurisdiction. The protests, which
kicked off at Ambo University and spread to other parts of the state,
resulted in estimates[5] of up to 47 people being shot dead by security
forces.
Ethiopia has a history of student protest movements setting the wheels of
change in motion. From student opposition to imperialism in the 1960s and
1970s to the early politicisation of Meles Zenawi at the University
Students' Union of Addis Ababa. The world over things begin to change when
people stand up, say enough and mobilise. Ethiopia is no different. Similar
to its treatment of journalists Ethiopia also has a history of jailing
students and attempting to eradicate their voices. In light of such heavy
handed approaches to dissent the recent protests which started at Ambo
University are a telling sign of the level discontent felt by the Oromo -
the country's largest Ethnic group. Long oppressed by the Tigrayan dominated
EPRDF, the Oromo people may have just started a movement which has potential
ramifications for a government bent on maintaining its grip over the
ethnically diverse country of 90 million plus people.
Students and universities are agents of change and the EPRDF regime knows
this very well. The deadly backlash from government forces against the
student protesters in Oromia in April resulted in dozens[6] of protesters
reportedly being shot dead in the streets of Ambo and other towns in Oromia
state. Since the protests began scores more have been arbitrarily detained
or vanished without a trace from campuses and towns around the state. One
student leader, Deratu Abdeta (a student at Dire Dawa University) is
currently unlawfully detained in the notorious Maekelawi prison for fear she
may encourage other students to protest. She is a considered at high risk of
being tortured.
In addition to Ms. Abdeta many other students are suspected of being
unlawfully detained around the country. On May 27th 13 students were
abducted from Haramaya University by the security forces. The fate of 12 of
the students is unknown but one student, Alsan Hassan, has reportedly
committed suicide by cutting his own throat all the way to the bones at the
back of his neck after somehow managing to inflict bruises all over his body
and gouging out his own eye. His tragic death became known when a local
police officer called his family to identify the body and told them to pay
10,000 Birr ($500) to transport his body from Menelik hospital in Addis
Ababa to Dire Dawa town in Oromo state. Four of the other students have
been named as Lencho Fita Hordofa, Ararsaa Lagasaa, Jaaraa Margaa, and
Walabummaa Goshee.
Detaining journalists and students without fair judicial recourse may serve
the EPRDF regime's short term goal of eradicating its critics. However, the
reprehensible silencing of opponents is one sure sign of a regime fearful of
losing its vice-like grip. Ironically the government itself has its own
roots in student led protests in the 1970s. No doubt it is well aware that
universities pose one of the greatest threats to its determination to
maintain power at all costs. Countless reports of spies monitoring student
and teacher activities on campus, rigid curriculum control and
micro-managing just who gets to study what are symptoms of this. The
vociferous clamp-down on student protesters is another symptom and just the
regime's latest attempt to keep Ethiopia in a violent headlock. The regime
would do well to remember that stress positions cause cramps and headlocks
can be broken. It can try to suppress the truth but it can't try forever.
Paul O'Keeffe is a Doctoral Fellow at Sapienza University of Rome. His
research focuses on Ethiopia's developing higher education system.
[1]
http://www.cpj.org/2014/05/ethiopia-holds-editor-in-chief-without-charge.php
[2] http://allafrica.com/stories/201404290650.html
[3]
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/may/22/et
hiopia-crackdown-student-protest-education
[4]
http://www.war-memorial.net/Aanolee-Martyrs-memorial-monument-and-cultural-c
enter-1.367
[5] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27251331
[6] http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/05/05/ethiopia-brutal-crackdown-protests
(image/png attachment: image001.png)