Aberra, deputy editor of the independent Amharic weekly Maebel, was arrested on unspecified charges. He was detained for not being able to post bail of 2,000 birrs (approximately US$250). In December, Aberra was charged with libel and “dissemination of fabricated news,” apparently in connection with an article he had published two years earlier, describing tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea before the outbreak of war between the two countries in May 1998. Bail was set at 7,000 birrs, which Aberra was unable to pay.