MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2020) The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) non-governmental organization on Wednesday called on the Ethiopian authorities to promptly release all the detained media workers who were prevented from covering the crisis in the country's Tigray region.
Hostilities erupted in northern Ethiopia last month when the central government accused the Tigray region's political forces of conducting an attack on a military base in the region. The brewing standoff came to a head after the region's authorities pushed ahead with general elections without an OK from Addis Ababa. The elections saw an overwhelming victory for the Tigray People's Liberation Front, a political force that dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly two decades before being ousted from power by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's new government in 2019.
"Amid armed clashes in Ethiopia that are almost impossible for the media to cover, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the country's authorities to immediately release all detained journalists, one of whom has just caught Covid-19 in prison," the RSF said in a statement.
According to the watchdog, the lawyer for the editor of the prominent Ethiopian Addis Standard newspaper, who has tested positive for COVID-19, arranged his release on bail. However, the court's ruling does not guarantee the journalist's immediate release. Three other media workers with the Ethiopian Press Agency are also awaiting their release on bail.
"One year after receiving the Nobel peace prize, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed heads a country that prevents journalists from working, detains some journalists and exposes them to the Covid-19 epidemic," Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF's Africa desk, said, as quoted in the statement.
Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2019 for his role in ending the 20-year war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, the November hostilities forced over 43,000 Ethiopians to flee to neighboring Sudan.
