Addis Ababa – Ten media workers arrested in Ethiopia stand accused of fomenting ethnic and religious conflict as well as animosity against the government, police said on Wednesday, as authorities wage a broader crackdown that has seen thousands detained.
At least 12 journalists and media workers have been arrested in the capital Addis Ababa or in the northwestern Amhara region since May 19, according to their colleagues, employers, and international press freedom NGOs.
Gizachew Muluneh, a spokesman for the Amhara regional government, cited by the Ethiopia News Agency, said the 10 arrested were “suspected of trying to destroy the Amhara region and Ethiopia.
Some were “part of the government security forces but were operating secretly after taking an assignment from the enemy”, he added, while others began “inciting communal violence using social media”.
The crackdown, he added, has “enabled relative peace to prevail”.
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Federal police said in a statement Friday they had “identified 111 illegal internet-based media outlets who work day and night to disseminate false propaganda.”
“Out of these, 10 individuals who are operating to create inter-ethnic and inter-religious strife, as well as spoil the country’s peace and security have been identified and arrested, while they’re also under investigation while under arrest,” police said.
The arrests are part of a broader crackdown in Amhara – the country’s second most-populous region – by the federal government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and regional authorities, who have said 4,000 people have been arrested.
Amhara’s regional forces backed Abiy and the federal army in their war against Tigray province’s ruling TPLF party, which broke out in November 2020.
But dissident voices have emerged in Amhara in the wake of a March truce between federal authorities and the Tigrayan rebels, who retook much of the region in 2021.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Pixabay
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