By PETER LEFTIE | Nation
Ethiopia’s [ruling tribal junta] sent a stiff protest to Kenya on Thursday, seeking to stop the Nation Media Group from airing a television programme on a rebel movement fighting the Addis Ababa Government Meles Zenawi’s tribal junta in Ethiopia.
Kenya’s ambassador was summoned to the Ethiopian Woyanne Foreign ministry as the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s tribal junta launched a diplomatic offensive to block NTV’s four-part investigative report on the Oromo Liberation Front, which went on air last night.
It was the climax of a dramatic week in which Ethiopia’s Woyanne ambassador to Kenya, Mr Disasa Dirribsa, first sent a protest letter to the Nation Media Group after NTV began promoting its exclusive series on the secretive guerrilla group based in southern Ethiopia.
Ethiopia Woyanne accused NTV of lending support to an unlawful organisation and warned that airing the programme could undermine relations with Kenya.
Appeals to cancel the series were backed by Kenya’s Foreign ministry, which argued that Kenya’s national interests were at stake in the diplomatic row.
The Ethiopian Woyanne embassy wrote to the Nation Media Group dismissing the OLF as “a terrorist group whose activities have been known to be anti-democratic and anti-peace”.
Mr Dirribsa wrote: “It is a minority group whose agenda runs parallel to the aspirations of the Oromo people. Indeed, OLF has been totally rejected by the overwhelming majority of the Oromo population, who are exercising and enjoying their democratic rights.”
He said airing the programme confirmed suspicion of a larger conspiracy to “speak for these terrorist elements in our sub-region, leading us to question NTV’s covert or overt political agenda”.
In the programme, NTV ventures into the OLF infested territory in south western Ethiopia to demystify a guerrilla outfit that has fought successive Ethiopian governments for over three decades.
The NTV crew spent five days travelling through the rough and dusty terrain cutting through Isiolo and Marsabit to Moyale at the Kenya-Ethiopia border, where an OLF linkman smuggled them into the rebels’ bases on the Ethiopian side.
So shadowy is the OLF leadership that it took the NTV crew three years to make contact with the rebels.
For three days, journalists witnessed first-hand the punishing training the OLF recruits undergo in the rough terrain.
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FORUM | 5 Comments
woyanne tries to control the free media in kenya. Ayi Woyanne gudachihu tenegiro ayalik
[Reply]
August 9th, 2009 at 6:29 AM
Now seems the time to join the rest of the fighter and kick woyanes ass
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August 9th, 2009 at 3:20 PM
I am stunned embarrassed is the term with the so called government opposition to the OLF video. They even want to openly silence free media in a neighboring country? Do these people know free speech for God’s sake? How are they going to file a protest? The Kenyan government did not endorse the program. May be crossing into an Ethiopian territory without permission… The Kenyan government does not run private media, may be weyane needs to educate them. It is not Walta or radio fana. annoying and laughable!! Weyane and OLF are of course disgrace to the generation.
[Reply]
August 10th, 2009 at 2:20 PM
we see the the documentary. it is the good step and still long way to go . how ever general kamal and haylu need to be supported by ethiopian people. that will help the unity of ethiopia and will bring better understanding ammong those share common understanding in ethiopian interest
[Reply]
August 11th, 2009 at 2:46 AM
It clearly shows who the weyanes are! They tend to export their undemocratic system to a neighboring conuntry. The junta only tries to uncover its intention of becoming a regional superpower. What really astonishes me is the response of the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs! What does the Ministry benefit out of undemocratic system in Ethiopia. They should have taught the wayanes! Of course, if they are not birds of the same feather!
[Reply]
August 16th, 2009 at 3:36 AM