Ethiopia: Information shortage

With only sparse international coverage, a twisted history and a persecuted internal media, how do we know we are getting the facts?

Tessa Vanderhart, Staff

In Ethiopia these days, truth is a commodity more precious than food. The fledgling democracy has been subject to a well-established image in the international media that poverty is rampant — emphasized at the expense of reportage on an ongoing border dispute with Eritrea, political unrest over a contested election and severe limitations to journalistic freedom.

No one knows that it has a burgeoning agriculture industry — able to produce three crops per year, if managed correctly — a long and complex history, and, according to Reporters Without Borders, one of the most diverse presses in Africa. Or, it did: since Ethiopia’s last general election on May 15, 2005, violence and political protests have spurred the incarceration of tens of thousands of Ethiopians.

The Ethiopian government has also begun a full-out crackdown on the many small, independent newspapers that criticized the government’s retention of control. Now, the government-owned Ethiopian Herald is almost solely responsible for the dissemination of information for Ethiopians and the international community.

Through all of this, the international media have sporadically covered the ongoing border dispute with Eritrea, the killing of citizens and the transition of Ethiopia’s internal media. The Canadian government has issued press releases condemning the actions of the Ethiopian government but has not changed its aid policies or taken any action in the UN.

A brief history of Ethiopia

Much of the current political climate in Ethiopia is a direct result of the May 15 election. Amid accounts of voting irregularities, the government retained power, leading to widespread protests in June, which culminated with the killing of 42 university students on June 8.

This violence was moderated, resulting in a political stalemate that lasted until further details of the election were released on Sept. 5. At this time, the government reaffirmed its decision to govern as a majority regardless of the fact that nearly half the parliamentary seats were being contested. Tensions peaked on November 1, 2005, as the government opened fire on protesters, killing at least 42 and imprisoning at least 10,000. Since then, 8,000 political prisoners have been released, but more are taken every day. Warning lists have been issued for opposition leaders, teachers, journalists — anyone who has spoken out against the government. If caught, they will face charges of treason, and likely death.

This is as good a starting point as any to delve into the complexities of Ethiopia’s political past — if only because it is indicative of so much that has happened over the past decades.

Ethiopia is one of few African countries to remain independent throughout much of its history, with the exception of a five-year occupation by Italy between 1936 and 1941.

In 1974, the historical monarchy was deposed by a Marxist-Leninist regime. The “Derg” regime suffered tremendously: bloody coups, a widespread refugee problem and the infamous droughts that occurred during this time. In 1984, Bob Geldof called the world’s attention to the problem, as did CBC journalist Brian Stewart with his photo of a young Ethiopian girl that captivated the world’s awareness of the famine.

There have been three major droughts in Ethiopia — 1984, 1998 and 2000 — which correlate to famine and, by extension, media coverage. Despite this, the country has the potential to be an agricultural powerhouse.

In 1991, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) seized power from the socialists. Following 20 years of armed conflict and substantial historical controversy, the current Ethiopian government managed to negotiate Eritrea’s peaceful independence, interrupted by the Ethiopian-Eritrean War from 1998-2000. Border disputes between these countries continue to dominate the BBC’s Africa coverage.

According to Conrad Evans, an associate at Oklahoma State University’s Office of International programs and one of North America’s experts on Ethiopia, the history of Ethiopia is really not as simple as famine and war. Three tribes of people substantiate much of Ethiopia’s population: the Amharic tribe, which is represented politically by the EPRDF, the Oromos, which are the largest group by population, and the Tigrayans. There are, however, more than 80 other ethnic groups in nine ethnically-divided regions.

“The culture in Ethiopia has been one of warfare, and a lot of it is tribal confrontation. There have been opposing royalties over the centuries and those animosities still smolder. So the culture does affect the way political power is transferred,” said Evans.

The opposition parties draw much of their support from the Oromos, and Evans said that fair elections would see the Oromos represented by a parliamentary majority. These are the people that read the Amharic-language weeklies and that constitute the bulk of the refugees that have left the country as a result of political conflict with the current government. The radical newspapers were published largely in Amharic, although this is not the native language of its readership, but rather the Amharic government.

No information, no problems

Despite the relative invisibility of this problem in the international media, the Ethiopian government has taken action against the press in Ethiopia — at least according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) they have.

Alexis Arieff, Africa research associate for the CPJ, said that the organization’s clout allows for more and better information than most other organizations.

The government’s “Wanted List” includes editors and publishers from eight independent newspapers, including Kifle Mulat, the president of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA). Most of these individuals are in hiding: if found, they could be charged with treason, a capital offense in Ethiopia. This has resulted in nearly all of these papers being shut down based on the threat of death.

So it seems simple: dictatorship bad, democracy good; government of Ethiopia very bad, free press very good. Well, it’s not — not only is the information from the CPJ without attribution and not subject to any scrutiny, it is also ignored by the mainstream, international media. The potential for bias in what we learn about Ethiopia is thus magnified many times over, until it becomes almost impossible to extricate the government’s treatment of the press from the nation’s culture, history, conflict with Eritrea and reputation for poverty.

And from Canada, less is known about the current situation in Ethiopia than what is unknown — but, unfortunately, the one thing that is known for sure is that something is desperately wrong.

How free should a free press be?

One problem is that the newspapers that have been shut down may not be entirely free of blame themselves.

Arieff said that the eight newspapers that have stopped publication to date serve a very specific market: they are scandalous, Amharic-language weeklies with tiny budgets and relatively low standards of journalism. For example, recent criticisms leveled agains tPrime Minister Zenawi focused not on his politics, his government’s tendency to violence, his treatment of Eritrea, or even the unconstitutionality of the election (all common complaints in the English-language media of the country) — but rather accusations of ballot rigging.

They’re the papers of the people who supported the opposition in the May election and the June riots. Vocally critical of the government’s actions — in stark contrast to the rest of the country’s media sources — these publications are nonetheless on the fringes of society.

What remains in Ethiopia is almost as much cause for concern as what has been taken away — the state-controlled Ethiopian Herald is now one of the only remaining Amharic sources for news. The Herald is directly responsible to the Ethiopian Press Agency, and in turn the Ministry of Information.

The remaining media in Ethiopia are English-language papers like the Reporter and Fortune, which have so far been safe from government interference. Ties to the diplomatic elite, as well as language of publication, however, contribute to the common perception that these publications have “sold-out” to the government.

And while most African countries have extensive radio networks, Ethiopia does not. All radio service to the country is courtesy of Voice of America and Deutsche Welle, its German equivalent. Broadcast in various tribal languages through the nation, Voice of America is an international news station that is funded by the U.S. government. According to Arieff, this makes Voice of America one of the best sources of information available to Ethiopians, particularly those who don’t speak English. According to Evans, the Voice is a much-needed one, yet not without political motive: “We have to recognize, though, that it’s a propaganda source for the U.S.,” he said.

It is seemingly impossible to wade through the direct contradictions espoused by people of influence on the Ethiopian media. It’s complicated, that’s for sure.

“Ethiopia’s just a really complicated country. There’s never been a free press there,” according to Arieff.

Yet Ethiopia is ranked 131 out of 167 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ (RWB) ranking of international press freedoms — indicating that it is substantially more free than other African countries. This is stupefying, whether it is taken to represent a gross miscalculation on the part of RWB or an artificially high comparison to the other countries that fare so much worse.

Most confusing of all is that there is no one to confirm these facts. According to the Africa desk at RWB, the Ethiopia correspondent has fled. No sane Ethiopian journalist will speak out publicly against the government, and even if they would, they are all in hiding. The phone system works sporadically, at best.

Still, when presented with snippets of contradictory information, trust must be placed somewhere. This means that, ultimately, we only know what the Ethiopian government wants us to.

Another voice out of Ethiopia

Tamrat Giorgis is the editor of Fortune, an Ethiopian English-language business weekly. He said that, “technically and legally,” no newspapers have been shut down. Instead, many newspaper editors went into hiding as a result of the government’s published “Wanted List,” even though they were not identified on it.

While not explicitly shutting down other independent weeklies, the government asked the printing companies to stop printing them. The newspapers that have been indirectly shut down, he said, are: “completely confused, misinformed at large — shadow journalism.”

“We try to be as objective as possible, and therefore I don’t think the government has any reason to have any problem [with Fortune],” he noted. Some people even suggest that the publication has taken a stance that is ‘soft’ with the government on several issues — but Giorgis said that Fortune is not considered to be completely pro-government.

He also noted that the law in Ethiopia further complicates things: a bizarre mix of free speech policies instituted with Ethiopia’s constituion in 1992 and “Draconian” laws for the press which predate democracy. Journalists cannot be sure which will be applied at any given time.

This, combined with the behaviour of the independent newspapers, could explain the current situtation.

“There are several critcisms of this government that are wrong, while there are several other ways of criticising the government that are right. The question was not whether the government would act, but when.”

Giorgis is disappointed with the portrayal of Ethiopia in the international media for ignoring this.

“[A] journalist comes to Ethopia from a Western newspaper, comes here for a maximum of a week, they talk to people right and left and they go back and try to write a story. And you can imagine what kind of story that is,” he said. “And some of the stories are really disappointing. Disappointing not because of what they say, but because of [a] lack of depth and insight into the story.”

“The assumption [is] that people in Western media outlets do their job right,” he concluded.

Kibnesh Chala, a graduate student in journalism at Addis Ababa University, said that the government has created insecurity throughtout Ethiopia as a result of its actions.

“I don’t know how people out there are describing the situation. But currently the independent media here are facing huge problems.”

She said that the government media services, like the Herald, are biased to the point of being “irritating and insulting . . . [a] government weapon of propoganda.”

“I may sound polarized or strictly against government. But trust me, that is what you will observe if you are here,” Chala said.

Ethiopians in Canada

In 1992, an exodus of students fled Ethiopia after student leaders were attacked and killed at Addis Ababa University. They were protesting the visit of then-UN Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali on the basis that it legitimized Zenawi’s coup.

Taye Zegeye, a graduate student in plant science at the U of M, left his native Ethiopia many years ago but remains tied to the political situation there.

“CBC, particularly the television program, seems to be obsessed only with famine and war as far as Ethiopia is concerned. It never mentions that the cause of these problems is bad governance,” Zegeye said.

Fasil Demsash, an education student at the U of M, was involved in the political protests of 1992, and he is adamant that the process of democratization must continue in a peaceful way. He neglected to comment, however, on his own political views on the matter — further indicating how precariously elusive free speech is even within expatriate Ethiopians.

Canada out of Ethiopia

The United Nations has a special task force monitoring the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict until March 2006 — but Canada is not involved in this project. In fact, Canada has had decidedly little involvement in Ethiopia since 1984, when Stewart’s photo was released to the world.

Lloyd Axworthy was named the UN Special Envoy to Ethiopia in 2004, but has since relinquished these duties, saying that there is really nothing else that he could do.

He noted that the Canadian government was unable to move on Ethiopia because of the potential for conflict — but as the remaining determinant of the nation’s poverty, the ongoing conflict is something that must be addressed. Canada is unable to return to the border dispute, due to political constraints and because “we don’t have a dog in that fight,” according to Axworthy.

“The governing party and elites are very scared — the opposition are even more war-like,” he said.

Federal foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day said that he hopes that the lack of attention to Africa does not indicate any sort of bias. However, he noted that despite a press release he issued about the situation, the “impending Ethiopian crisis is just not making it to the top of the charts.”

He noted that the reactionary nature of the media may be an important factor in this, but he is concerned now and hopes to draw attention to the situation to prevent coverage similar to Darfur, which was a temporary media blitz of information which few cared to heed compared to the prolonged and intense media coverage of Kosovo.

As far as diplomacy goes, it appears that Canada’s politicians are relatively pessimistic; short of bloodshed, nothing can or will happen, at least from Canada’s perspective. But the counsellor from the Ethiopian Embassy in Canada, Tebege Berhe, is much more optimistic about the nation’s potential for democracy — optimistic to a point.

Berhe said that Ethiopia’s pursuit of democracy cannot be compared to Canada’s ­— as long as democratization continues, with more and fairer elections, he said, Ethiopia will overcome these differences.

“Unlike in developing countries where a losing party gracefully accepts defeat, sometimes we see a case where parties are not willing to accept defeat, so they make up all kinds of allegations of fraud here and . . . break out in violence there, and make all kinds of attempts to try and change the system. These are the ups and downs that any emerging democracy faces,” he said.

Berhe added that the problems Ethiopia has faced with democracy can be traced back to the stalled economy of the 1980s — but that capitalism, in all its facets, is beginning to spread to the nation. Ethiopia’s economy has grown by about 10 per cent in each of the last two years, and the 1995 constitution set out provisions for human rights, notably the freedom of the press.

“No one should be concerned about the problems we have with democracy,” said Berhe. “Independent, private newspapers and magazines are flourishing in the country, so that’s basically it.”

The confusing truth

The brick wall to understanding the situation in Ethiopia must be the international media. With no way to confirm for ourselves the veracity of these claims, journalists in the field are the only recourse.

The only problem: coverage is sporadic, at best. The CBC has published several articles on the border dispute, a few on the election violence, but none on the imprisonment of journalists.

English-language newspapers and international journalism are now the only media accessible in Ethiopia — they’re the outside world’s only tie to the nation. But the lack of clear answers from the state-owned and independent media is only reinforced by the international coverage.