EDITOR’S NOTE: It was a costly mistake for the U.S. to prop up the Woyanne thugocracy in Ethiopia with billions of dollars during the past 18 years while there are better and more reliable partners in the Horn of Africa region. Hopefully the U.S. Gov’t is finally waking up to the reality that Woyanne is a criminal gang that deserves to face justice, not receive financial and political support.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States condemned Ethiopia’s blocking of Voice of America broadcasts, calling the country’s accusations of the US radio service “baseless and inflammatory.”
Ethiopian Prime Minister war criminal Meles Zenawi earlier admitted to jamming the US government-funded VOA broadcasts in Amharic, saying he was prepared to censor the broadcasts because of the service’s “destabilizing propaganda.”
He said Ethiopian authorities had been testing jamming equipment although there had been no formal decision to block the US radio station.
But Washington said Addis Ababa was already jamming VOA transmissions in Amharic, Ethiopia’s main language. The United States “opposes” the move, US State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said in a statement.
The Ethiopian leader warlord also compared VOA to Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda, which incited the population to exterminate minority Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide.
Duguid condemned the comparison to the infamous Rwandan station.
“Comparing a respected and professional news service to a group that called for genocide in Rwanda is a baseless and inflammatory accusation that seeks only to deflect attention away from the core issue,” he said on Friday.
“The prime minister may disagree with news carried in Voice of America’s Amharic service broadcasts; however, a decision to jam VOA broadcasts contradicts the government of Ethiopia’s frequent public commitments to freedom of the press.”
He noted that the Ethiopian Constitutions upholds people’s right to freedom of expression “without any interference” and that freedom of the press includes “prohibition of any form of censorship.”
“We look to the government of Ethiopia to abide by its constitution,” Duguid said.
Addis Ababa often accuses VOA of bias toward the opposition and of attempting to foment chaos in the country.
The Horn of Africa nation holds elections on May 23, but human rights groups have accused Meles’s regime of instilling a climate of fear ahead of the polls.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned Ethiopia for “maintaining hostilities.”
“Invoking the Rwandan genocide is an excuse to silence legitimate criticism and scrutiny. The Ethiopian government used this reasoning to crack down on the country’s once-vibrant Amharic press after the disputed 2005 elections,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes.
“As Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stands for re-election in May, we urge him to show leadership on constructive reforms to make press freedom, as guaranteed under Article 29 of the Ethiopian constitution, a reality.”
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የዱቄት ሌባው መለስ በዚህ ወር አልቀናውም፤ በመጀመሪያ እንዴት በዱቄት ሌብነት ለሥልጣን እንደበቃ የሚያጋልጠው ዜና በቢ.ቢ.ሲ. ጋዜጠኞች ሲጋለጥ ቪ.ኦ.ኤ. ደግሞ የኢትዮጵያን ህዝብ መረጃ አሳጥተህ ማፈን አትችልም ብሎ አዋረደው። መልስ እኮ ከጥንት አንስቶ ወራዳ የዱቄት ሌባ፣ የድምጽ መስጫ ሳጥን ሌባአሁንም ሌብነቱንና ነፍሰ ገዳዩነትን ቀጥሎበታል። ግን መጨረሻው ደርሷል። በኢትዮጵያ ላይ ለፈጸመው የስላማዊ ሰዎች ጭፍጨፋ ለፍርድ ቀርቦ እንደ ሳዳም ሁሴን እንጨት ላይ በገመድ የሚንጠለጠልበት ጊዜ እሩቅ አይደለም።
[Reply]
March 21st, 2010 at 5:44 PM
Thief Melese and his cronies are plotting a strategy to steal this election without much of the world knows about it. This is the first and main character of typical dictators, which is controlling the media. Through out history free media was an enemy of totalitarian, Marxist leaders and there is no that much surprise here, the fascist criminal woyanne is junta just doing it.
[Reply]
March 21st, 2010 at 6:08 PM
it is really shame on him that he speaks about jamming of VOA in his press release. i hope this would be the eve of the downfall of the brutal regime the weyane junta.
[Reply]
March 22nd, 2010 at 2:29 AM
while weyane was begging for money those people affected were already resettled in sudan refugee centers. it is hard for me to believe how in the world these donner organizations were pumping money to this worthless bandit while those who were in need of help were already under food program. ILO was there and took census. They hired people from the the refugees and went to every refugee center and completed the census. Even the ILO on its exit date it had had a bgig party in sudan standard the and claimed the census a big success. As if they didn’t know they were pumping money to wyane and after so many years why story came back as new–plus when are they going to bring out those “death squads” that was run by weyane in the sudan. Weyane the gog mangog has its history yet to be written.
[Reply]
March 24th, 2010 at 4:25 PM