Members of Congress urge Meles to end repression

Sen. Mark Begich, an Alaska
Democrat, published a statement Monday in the Congressional Record, the official daily
journal of the U.S Congress, following
the Camp David G8 Summit last weekend during which President Barack Obama
convened four African leaders, including Meles of Ethiopia, for talks on food
security in Africa.

In a letter to Obama, CPJ
urged the president to engage Meles on ending Ethiopian censorship practices–such
as suppressing independent reporting and denying media access to sensitive
areas–that undermine international responses to food crises.

“I want to take this opportunity
to address the necessity for the United States to help foster stable and
democratic nations as partners as we build multilateral coalitions to tackle
global issues,” Begich said in his statement. Ethiopia is a key partner of the
United States in counterterrorism and regional stability and a major recipient
of U.S. humanitarian assistance. Recalling Obama’s 2011 commitment to a G8 declaration on democracy,
Begich declared that “as the events in North Africa and the Middle East have
shown, supporting reliable autocrats who are helpful on matters of
security and economics at the expense of human dignity, basic democratic rights,
and access to economic opportunity is more perilous than ever to
long-term U.S. national security interests.”

Begich called for the end of the
persecution of independent journalists and dissidents rounded up in Ethiopia in
the wake of the Arab Spring. “To foster the benefits of a diverse citizenry,
the many political prisoners and journalists should be released,” he said. The senator urged colleagues in the U.S. Congress to join him in helping the
citizens and government of the Horn of Africa country achieve a national
consensus on the value of the free flow of information and make press freedom,
as outlined in Ethiopia’s constitution, a reality. “Such are hallmarks of
inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and they provide a return of
accountability and transparency to both American taxpayers and Ethiopian
citizens,” he added.

On Friday, Rep. Edward Royce sent a public letter to Meles in
which he expressed “deep concern with the Republic of Ethiopia’s disregard for
press freedom.” Royce, a California Republican who chairs a House subcommittee
on terrorism, said “national security must not cripple press freedom.”
Expressing concern over the prosecution of 11 journalists on terror charges,
Royce said that “the judicial process clearly fails to meet international
standards,” citing as an example the government’s use of national public
media
to pressure the courts.

Over the weekend, hundreds of Ethiopian expats gathered near Camp David to protest
the country’s slide into authoritarianism, according to news reports. Washington is
home to one of the largest Ethiopian diaspora communities in the world, a
population that includes three Ethiopian journalists charged in absentia with
terrorism in relation to their work, according to CPJ research. A fourth journalist, now
languishing in a prison in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, was educated in
the Washington area before returning to Ethiopia and launching one of the
country’s first independent newspapers. The former editor of another independent
Ethiopian paper also lives in Washington after fleeing his homeland in
the face of government intimidation.