Two Ethiopian journalists held for a week without charge

Darsema Sori (left) and Khalid Mohammed have been detained without charge. (Bilal Communication)

Nairobi, August 9, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the arrest and week-long detention without charge of two journalists working for Radio Bilal, a station that has provided extensive coverage of ongoing anti-government protests staged by Ethiopian Muslims.

On August 2, security officials in the capital, Addis Ababa, arrested Darsema Sori outside his home and detained Khalid Mohammed as he headed to work, Radio Bilal Chairman Mohammed Hassen told CPJ. The journalists were taken to court the next day and remanded into custody while police continued their investigations, local journalists said. The next court hearing is expected to take place on August 14, Mohammed Hassen said.

Darsema, senior editor for the station, worked on two current affairs programs, "Life in Ethiopia" and "Let us Discuss." Khalid is the station's news editor.

Radio Bilal, an online radio station with offices in Washington, Johannesburg, and Addis Ababa, has provided extensive coverage of the affairs of Ethiopia's Muslim community, including an ongoing series of peaceful mass demonstrations against alleged government interference in religious affairs, according to CPJ research. Ethiopian authorities have sought to silence the protests by arresting protesters, community leaders, and independent reporters, and shutting down news outlets, according to international news reports and CPJ research.

Repeated calls to government spokesman Shemelis Kemal were left unanswered.

"The arrests of Darsema Sori and Khalid Mohammed appear to follow a pattern of Ethiopian authorities cracking down on independent journalists and news outlets involved in disseminating news about the Muslim protests taking place in the country," said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. "Trying to silence independent views and accounts of this national issue will not solve the ongoing dispute and instead will further the sense that the government has something to hide."

Darsema was also a columnist for the now-defunct Ye Muslimach Guday (Muslim Affairs) magazine, local journalists told CPJ. Ye Muslimach Guday journalists, Chief Editor Yusuf Getachew has been imprisoned since February 2013, and Managing Editor Solomon Kebede since July 2012, both on vague anti-state and terrorism charges in retaliation for articles critical of government policy on religious affairs, according to CPJ research. The paper has not published since July last year and two of its editors, Senior Editor Akemel Negash and Copy Editor Isaac Eshetu, have fled into hiding, local journalists said.

• For more data and analysis, visit CPJ's Ethiopia page.

>cpj

Another “Tiananmen Square” in Ethiopia

Jawar Mohammed | Aug 9, 2013

Do you remember the Chinese Tank Man at Tiananmen Square protest in 1989? It looks like we now have “The Salat Man” in Ethiopia!! Big respect for the “Salat Man ” for his bravery and those officers for restraining themselves from doing the unthinkable. (see below) 

remembering revolutions: tiananmen square

ayyaantuu

Deaths as plane crashlands at Somalia airport

At least four people have been killed after a military aircraft burst into flames moments after landing at the international airport in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

The victims in Friday’s accident were part of the six crew on board.

Sources said the plane belonged to the Ethiopian airforce and was carrying weapons and ammunition for AMISOM, the peacekeeping mission in Somalia run by the African Union.

AMISOM said on Twitter the crash happened shortly before 8am.

“The [AU] force commander expresses his heartfelt condolences to the government and the people of Ethiopia following the loss of crew members,” AMISOM tweeted without giving the number of those killed or injured.

Small blasts could be heard from the stricken plane and airport workers said they believed they were caused by exploding ammunition.

“We hear explosions as it burns. It is burning like hell. It is sure it will end up in ash,” one security source at the airport told the Reuters news agency.

The source said the blaze was so intense firefighting crews were unable to tackle it.

Mucahit Salih Duran, head of the Turkish Red Crescent delegation in Somalia, tweeted a photo showing black smoke rising from what appeared to be a runway.

There was no immediate word on where the aircraft was flying from.

Military aircraft regularly land at Mogadishu’s airport, which also serves as the headquarters for the AU force battling al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters called al-Shabab.

> bilisummaa

Few Notes on Current Ethiopian Muslim Movement

By Leggesse Alemu

Ethiopian Muslim movement is scary threats for Ethiopian Government at least for three main reasons.

1.     It is supported by almost all sections of societies and communities in that Country. This is so because the Muslim questions are known as legitimate and its movement is as peaceful. I have no doubt that  many people in Ethiopian Government themselves know the legality and legitimacy of these  questions but could  not  say  or do anything because of the repressive nature of the EPRDF’s  party system  ( in this regard , in addition to my best guess, at least  I  have  positive  confirmation from some people who were working on Muslim issues from inside Government system until recently. Since many of these categories of officials themselves are under constant surveillance, they cannot say nor do anything without risking severe sanctions from the Ethiopian Government.)

2.     This movement is very organized around clear principles, operational policies and procedures that have been executed by highly dedicated and disciplined leaders and followers. This is something that could not have been achieved by the pre-existing political and civic organizations in that country.

3.     The methods and strategies adopted by this movement are simply beyond the comprehension of control- control model of Ethiopian security machineries. This control-freak security system and its officials have been in serious problems at least for two main reasons. First, they could not identify (tracing and tracking), assess, monitor and control the very sources of this movement (the threat as they name it). Second, they fear these lethal method and strategies of nonviolence could be adopted by other political and civic Organizations and simply put the current regime in serious and irreversible problems.

Thus, in its larger scale it is nightmarish for Ethiopian security system in particular and for EPRDF Government in general. In this regard Ethiopian Muslim movement is successful and exemplary. Several preliminary analysises suggest  that the current Muslim movement in Ethiopia and its organizing ideas and strategies are easy to be adopted and integrated into any social movements in more ways than the concept of framing allows for. It also expands our understanding of how organizations and movements can arise in highly repressive Ethiopian political environments and Ethiopian Government knows this pretty well.

Having these problems in place, Ethiopian Government has been in real panics and taking erratic and deadly measures against identified and targeted individuals and groups that are allegedly associated with this movement. There are also many sources that indicate Ethiopian has been studying the movement for the last two years and now it seems that study phase is finalized. It is also very clear that Ethiopian Government starts implementing and executing the studies (the crackdown strategies and tactics) that it has been working hard on since 2011. It sounds the movement is on its critical turning points this time and at this stage.

The question that will be answered in due time should be : Is Ethiopian Government going to be successfully crackdown this movement without fully answering the legitimate questions that have been presented to it legally? What are the measuring units of success for Ethiopian Government?What are the measuring units for Ethiopian Government?  If Ethiopian Government is going to be successful again, whatever the meaning of this success would be, what will be the consequences there of? What will be the way forward for any movement that would like to see it questions are adequately addressed by the Regime in Power?

Unless these legitimate questions and demands of Muslim Movement are handled very responsibly and with due diligence, the future of the Horn of Africa may not be as hopeful and bright as it should be.  As we all know, Horn of Africa is one of the most “crisis regions” on the planet, This specific region has been ravaged by grinding poverty, the questions of nations and nationalities, high frequencies of intensive resource conflicts, lack of good governance and gross human rights violations, unresolved border claims and wars, proxy wars, old-cyclical and historical animosity among different interest groups and many other perfect recipe for explosive regional conflicts. Adding another political-religious conflicts , that could be addresses reasonably and sufficiently, to these potentially explosive regional matters is truly irresponsible and malicious recklessness on the part of Ethiopian Government. I do not imagine how Ethiopian Government wants to play such bloody card and could get away with it without sustaining serious backlash.

>gulelepost