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The US Administration has expressed concerns over
what its senior official described as troubling
developments in narrowing the democratic space in
Ethiopia, particularly in the areas of press freedom
and the independent operation of civil society
organizations.
David J. Kramer, who took office recently as
assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Human
Rights and Labour, said the revised Press Law and a
bill in the hands of legislators that is meant to
regulate the operations of civil society
organizations are major concerns in Washington D.C.
Kramer said this on Thursday, July 24, 2008, after
having spoken to senior government and party
officials, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi the
previous day. Bereket Simon, Public Relations
advisor to the Prime Minister, confirmed to
Fortune that the Assistant Secretary had
extensive discussions on several issues with Prime
Minister Meles and other party officials of the
ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic
Front (EPRDF).
Kramer told the media that Ethiopia and his country
enjoy strong and vibrant relations in different
areas, including that on security and humanitarian
assistance.
The Assistant Secretary, who repeatedly mentioned
his country’s important relations with Ethiopia, and
the fruitful discussions during his brief stay, was
nonetheless reluctant to state whether or not he was
satisfied with the explanations he got from
Ethiopian authorities over Washington’s concerns.
Kramer, who stayed for 48 hours in Addis Abeba,
Ethiopia being the only country in Africa he visited
as part of his overseas trip, which included
European countries said, “My government send me here
to underscore that the US attaches equal importance
to issues of democracy and human rights,”.
Washington’s concerns are mainly about Ethiopia’s
recent media law, the legislation on the Civil
Society Organizations (CSO), a.k.a as NGOs, the
elections, and the interactions between the
government and opposition groups, according to
Kramer.
“We have been extremely impressed with the progress
this country has made over the past 17 years,”
Kramer said. “[But] there is concern in Washington,
which is echoed here too, that the political space
is being closed.”
That is not how senior administration officials from
Addis Abeba view it. Rather, they argue that the
political space is actually expanding. For Bereket,
Washington’s concern is a misplaced one.
“As anyone can see, in the last 17 years the
government has had an unwavering stance on the need
to build a democratic country,” Bereket told
Fortune. “Democracy is the express will of the
Ethiopian people, and there is no alternative to it.
The fact that private electronic media has become
operational since 2005 indicates that the space is
not shrinking.”
The media and right to information law was ratified
by the Ethiopian Parliament on July 1, 2008; a day
before media practitioners conducted a seminar at
the Ghion Hotel in an attempt to produce a document
reflecting an industry consensus, to have been
presented to the legislative house.
The law, which includes articles that people in the
media fear undermine the effort to promote the
growth of professional and responsible media was,
however, voted against by over 70pc of opposition
MPs. Also, 11 MPs abstained from voting, including
one from the United Ethiopian Democratic Party (UEDP-Medhin).
Its President, Lidetu Ayalew, believes despite some
defects of the new law, his party considers it
better than its predecessor.
Lidetu, however, identifies two major problems of
the law: it puts the information act and press law
into a single legislation, allowing Ministry of
Information to be a regulatory body yet it also has
media operations; and a certain article is vague as
to whether it is an exemption or a prohibition that
gives information dealing with government matters.
But his party’s leaders were not among those who
conferred with the Assistant Secretary last week.
Nonetheless, he would like to see the concerns
expressed “resolved by ourselves [Ethiopians]; not
by foreign influence.”
“I do, however, share their concerns,” Lidetu
elaborated.
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