From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Apr 02 2010 - 15:11:37 EST
Ethiopia Accuses Rights Groups, VOA of 'Smear Campaign'
Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa 02 April 2010
Ethiopia has charged that recent human rights reports and Voice of America
broadcasts are aimed at destabilizing the country ahead of the May 23
national elections. Jamming of VOA broadcasts to Ethiopia has been expanded
in recent days.
Government spokesman Shimelis Kemal describes the latest reports on Ethiopia
by Human Rights Watch and the U.S. State Department as part of a
pre-election smear campaign.
"These reports are made under the guise of human rights concerns but
primarily focused on defaming and unduly blemishing the good image of the
country," said Shimelis Kemal.
The report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch accuses Ethiopia of
creating a climate of fear ahead of the May elections with a 'coordinated
and sustained attack' on political opponents and journalists. The State
Department's annual report documents a number of violations, among them that
Ethiopia is holding scores of political prisoners, including opposition
leader Birtukan Mideksa.
Both reports were issued in the past few weeks.
Speaking to reporters, Shimelis called the reports a 'litany of
condemnation' filled with false allegations designed to destabilize
Ethiopia.
"It is a smear campaign intended to portray the forthcoming elections as
unfair and the conditions surrounding the election as undemocratic," said
Shimelis. "One can discern that the prime focus of this reporting is to
create a kind of weak government in Ethiopia that would easily bend to
pressures from foreign elements, foreign forces.
Shimelis also defended Ethiopia's decision to jam VOA language service
broadcasts, alleging that the Amharic Service has a history of sowing seeds
of hatred.
"VOA in the past has repeatedly broadcast programs and statements that tend
to incite, foment hatred between different ethnic groups," he said.
"Recently, it has transmitted a program alleging the government of Ethiopia
had staged state sponsored genocide in Gambela."
Shimelis noted that several VOA Amharic Service staffers working in
Washington had been charged in absentia with 'openly promoting violence' in
the wake of the 2005 election. VOA rejected the accusations, and the charges
were later dropped.
VOA broadcasts to Ethiopia were blocked around the 2005 election, and again
before the 2008 local elections. Jamming of Amharic Service programs began
again February 22. The jamming has been extended in the past few days to
other Ethiopian language broadcasts, in Tigrinya and Afan Oromo.
Despite the jamming and the denunciation of human rights reporting,
spokesman Shimelis described the overall Ethiopia/U.S. relationship as
strong, and based on mutual interests. The United States views Ethiopia as a
key ally in the volatile Horn of Africa region.
VOA Director Danforth W. Austin issued a statement Thursday calling the
jamming "unfortunate," and strongly denying that the broadcasts are aimed at
destabilizing or defaming the government of Ethiopia. The statement said VOA
supports free, uncensored press, and recognizes the opportunity to serve the
people of Ethiopia with unbiased news and information.
The Voice of America is a multi-media international broadcasting service
funded by the U.S. Government. VOA broadcasts more than 1,500 hours of news
and other programming every week in 45 languages to an audience of more than
125 million people.
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