Ethiopia’s ‘vicious cycle’ – Columbia Journalism Review

Over the past few weeks, authorities in Ethiopia have arrested thousands of people in the northern region of Amhara, citing a crackdown on armed groups there. Tefera Mamo, a former senior military commander in Amhara, was detained after giving media interviews in which he criticized the national government. Numerous journalists have been swept up, too, both in Amhara and in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, including nine media workers across two outlets that had recently covered the crackdown. On Saturday, the head of Ethiopia’s Human Rights Commission called on officials to release eighteen media personnel currently in detention, calling the figure a “new low”; on Sunday, he updated the number to nineteen, adding “that we know of.” The government, for its part, recently put out a chilling statement warning that it will “continue to take irreversible measures on individuals involved in illegal activities who are planning and working to create havoc and chaos, also on those wearing a cloak of media outlets and journalists.”

Last week, in response to a question about the Amhara situation at a briefing, a US State Department spokesperson expressed concern about what he called “the narrowing space for freedom of expression and independent

Read More