WASHINGTON, DC (Ethiomedia) – The United States on Friday condemned the comparison Ethiopia’s despot Meles Zenawi made between the Voice of America (VOA) and Rwanda’s Radio Mille Collins, the infamous radio station widely believed to have incited the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
Meles referred to the genocidal Rwandan radio to justify measures his government is taking to jam the Voice of America Amharic Service.
Home to over 80 million people as Africa’s second most populous nation, Ethiopia has no independent radio or TV station, and millions of people depend for news and information on the highly respected professionals who are running the VOA Amharic Service from Washington, DC.
“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. We note that the Ethiopian Constitution states that all citizens have the right to freedom of expression “without any interference” and that this right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, “regardless of frontiers.” The Constitution further notes that freedom of the press shall specifically include “prohibition of any form of censorship.” We look to the Government of Ethiopia to abide by its constitution.”
The United States called on the regime to respect the universal and fundamental right of freedom of expression.
— Note – Meles Zenawi’s obsession with the Rwanda Genocide dates back to the 2005 election when he introduced the word “Interahamwe,” the militia that committed the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. But Zenawi quickly backed off after EU parliamentarian, Ana Gomes, warned him he was the sole responsible person for injecting a genocide venom into the bloodstream of a people at peace with themselves. Instead of genocide, he declared war on Ethiopia, threw the entire opposition leadership into prison, killed at least 200 civilians in Addis alone, and opened up five concentration camps, carried out terrorist activities under ‘State of Emergency.’ The West that says it is the guardian of democracy did nothing when he terrorized the nation.
Now Zenawi is introducing another word, Radio Mille Collines, the radio whose broadcasts are believed to have sparked the Rwanda genocide. He has threatened opposition candidates with 2005 look-aline punishment. It is high time Ethiopians alert the international community what Zenawi has in store for Ethiopia. – Abraha Belai, Ethiomedia editor.
ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says he is prepared to order jamming of VOA broadcasts in Amharic, the country’s main official language. Mr. Meles compared VOA Amharic to the hate media that incited the Rwanda genocide.
The Ethiopian leader denies having authorized the interference VOA Amharic listeners have been experiencing since February 22. But speaking to reporters Thursday, he acknowledged ordering preparations for jamming, and said as soon as the equipment is working properly, he would give the go ahead.
“We have to know before we make the decision to jam, whether we have the capacity to do it,” said Meles Zenawi. “But I assure you if they assure me at some future date that they have the capacity to jam it, I will give them the clear guideline to jam it. But so far there has not been that formal decision to jam.”
Mr. Meles said what listeners may have been experiencing for the past four weeks is testing of the jamming equipment.
The prime minister compared VOA’s Amharic Service to Radio Mille Collines, which broadcast hate messages blamed for inciting the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
“We have been convinced for many years that in many respects, the VOA Amharic Service has copied the worst practices of radio stations such as Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda in its wanton disregard of minimum ethics of journalism and engaging in destabilizing propaganda,” he said.
Voice of America Director Danforth Austin issued a statement Thursday saying, “any comparison of VOA programming to the genocidal broadcasts of Rwanda’s Radio Mille Collines is incorrect and unfortunate.”
He added, “the VOA deplores jamming as a form of media censorship wherever it may occur.”
The statement said VOA’s Amharic Service is required by law to provide accurate, objective and comprehensive news and information and abide by the highest journalistic standards.
Austin also noted that “while VOA is always ready to address responsible complaints about programming, the Government of Ethiopia has not initiated any official communication in more than two years.”
VOA language service broadcasts to Ethiopia have been jammed in the past around election times. The next election for parliament is just over two months away. But in past instances, the government denied being responsible for the jamming.
Monitors say the recent jamming has only been aimed at Amharic broadcasts, but has not affected Afan Oromo and Tigrinya language service transmissions to Ethiopia. They are heard on the same frequencies before and after the Amharic broadcast.
The Voice of America is a multi-media international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government. VOA broadcasts more than 1500 hours of news and other programming every week in 45 languages to an audience of more than 125 million people.
