Freedom of speech suffers in tense Ethiopia

For more than 40 years, Ababa Tesfaye has been Ethiopia's answer to Mister Rogers, entertaining children on state-run television with magic tricks, fairy tales, and gentle words of advice.

But on June 2006, the grandfatherly Mr. Tesfaye was fired, after a young child on his program uttered a derogatory word for one of Ethiopia's main ethnic groups.

"After serving 41 years, it's a heartbreaking thing," recalls the 84-year-old Tesfaye. "I have told tales during the imperial government, with their censorship, during the military government's censorship, and during the present government. I keep wondering whether there is anything more I should have done [to reprimand the child]."

That a gentle soul like Tesfaye would be fired from his job illustrates just how ugly Ethiopian politics has become since the May 2005 elections, with a mixture of mob vengeance on one side and authoritarian rule on the other. In the past year, following contentious national elections and their violent aftermath, 111 journalists and opposition leaders have been thrown in jail for treason, inciting violence, and genocide; dozens of newspapers have been closed; and a new press law has put fresh restrictions on what can be printed. Government officials say the strong measures are necessary to prevent racial hatred from escalating into a Rwanda-style genocide. Critics say the government is exaggerating the threat to stay in power.

But what is certain is that the Horn of Africa region has become one of the most restricted places on the planet. Reporters Without Borders this year put Ethiopia and its neighboring rival, Eritrea, near the bottom of the list of its 2006 annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Few countries, such as traditional police states North Korea and Turkmenistan, were considered less free. But for their part, Ethiopian officials are unrepentant, saying such measures are necessary for the public good.

"Opposition leaders were provoking one nationality against another and inciting violence among different ethnic groups in the country," says Berhan Hailu, Ethiopia's minister of information. "Democracy is not lawlessness; it is a rule of law. Opposition politicians who stand against the law should be asked by the court why they are against the control, and the law, and the interests of the people."

During the elections, local newspapers allied with the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party regularly carried headlines urging readers to boycott certain pro-government businessmen. Pro-opposition activists also sent hate-filled text messages on mobile phones, urging supporters to attack ethnic Tigreans. (The ruling party is led primarily by former rebels from the Ethiopian province of Tigre.) These words did prompt action. After the May 2005 elections, nearly 193 people were killed in street violence, including seven policemen.

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