A basement in the
gray, Gothic heart of the

A basement in the
gray, Gothic heart of the

Last week, the Ethiopian government tried to force private
Kenyan broadcaster Nation Television (NTV) to drop a four-part
exclusive report on separatist rebels in southern

This week, in an exclusive interview with the Financial Times, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi suggested that the press in his country freely expresses dissent. In fact, that is hardly the case. The Horn of Africa nation remains one of the world's worst backsliders of press freedom.
Journalists in
Reliable sources in the Ethiopian capital of
After
nearly 17 months in prison, Tibebu and seven other journalists
were acquitted and released in April 2007. Facing more harassment, he fled
to
Merid Estifanos was still in his afternoon French class when
I arrived at the Maison des Journalistes (MDJ) this afternoon to meet him. I
was greeted instead by Maison's director, Philippe Spinau, who gave me the
grand tour of the house that has been home to many journalists who, like
Estifanos, were forced into exile for their work.
Journalists in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, today reported that police interrogated the editors of Awramba Times and Harambe, two fledgling independent current affairs weeklies over a series of political stories.
Officers questioned Dawit Kebede of Awramba Times over editorials and interviews in five separate editions of his newspaper since April, Deputy Editor and lawyer Wondrad Debretsion told CPJ. The news items included an editorial challenging the government's assertion of high voter turnout in April's general elections, and a column by opposition leader Berhanu Nega comparing Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, according to Debretsion. Editor Wosonseged Gebrekidan of Harambe was also questioned over three similar stories.
Ethiopian journalists tell us that police in Addis Ababa have finally released 10,000 copies of Enku magazine that were impounded on May 2 because of a cover story about the jailed pop music icon and government critic Teddy Afro. The May edition is expected to finally go on sale on Saturday. CPJ had protested the seizure with Ethiopian officials.