MEDIA: Ethiopia Relaxes Entry Visa Rules For Foreign Journalists

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

NAIROBI, Feb 24 1998 (IPS) - Ethiopia, bowing to international pressure, has withdrawn its controversial visa guidelines introduced to restrict foreign journalists wishing to visit and cover the Horn of Africa nation.

Journalists were obliged to apply for visas for Ethiopia 15 days before the date of their intended visit, to specify in advance the purpose and send the itinerary of their visits, and to state which government authorities and officials they hoped to meet.

In a letter dated Feb. 19 to Nicholas Kotch, the chairman of the Foreign Correspondents Association (FCA) of East Africa, Ethiopia’s Minister of Information and Culture Woldemichael Chemu said these guidelines have now been withdrawn by his ministry.

The letter, made available to IPS on Tuesday, said the withdrawal followed a string of protests by the FCA and “others”, whom the minister did not name, which prompted Ethiopia to reconsider.

“The former arrangement in which permission to bonafide journalists were issued is restored till the convenient arrangement for both sides is put in place,” said Chemu.

As a result of Minister Chemu’s letter, foreign journalists will now be issued entry visas, without delay, after applying.

The Minister said the new requirement for foreign journalists was not meant to restrict their activities or movements.

“Rather, it aims at making a smooth facilitation of the work of the foreign journalists who come to Ethiopia on provisional basis, by minimizing the delays that the foreign journalists encountered frequently and which hindered their timely scheduled work. It has nothing to do with putting any restriction on the freedom of press enshrined in the constitution of the land,” said Chemu.

The FCA journalists, who provide the overwhelming majority of foreign news coverage about Ethiopia, have welcomed Chemu’s decision to withdraw the strict guidelines.

The FCA chairman had warned Ethiopia about the consequence of the measures. “Coverage of the activities of the Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, which have their headquarters in Addis Ababa, will be badly affected by this measure,” said Kotch, in his letter to Chemu on Feb. 13.

Kotch added that such constraints on the freedom of the press were anachronistic and would be counter-productive. “It is ironic that they (the restrictions) were introduced as Addis Ababa prepares to host the Addis Forum on March 8 and 9 with the purpose of attracting foreign investment to Africa and Ethiopia,” he said, adding that the new restrictions would have discouraged investors.

Ethiopia’s government is currently under attack from the international media lobby group, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) for the harassment and detention of local journalists in that country.

At least 20 Ethiopian journalists are being held in jail. Recently, the international media lobby group, RSF wrote to the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi urging him to release the detained journalists.

One of them, editor Abay Hailu, died in prison in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Feb 9.

In the letter to Prime Minister Zenawi, the RSF said Hailu’s death, which was caused by pneumonia, could have been easily prevented.

Hailu was detained in March last year after writing an article in the defunct private weekly newspaper ‘Wolfen’, in which he speculated that there would be an attack on the Ethiopian capital by armed Islamic fundamentalists.

The RSF said Hailu remained behind bars, because he failed to raise bail equivalent to some 750 U.S. dollars. It said Haile had been in the prison clinic for two months before receiving treatment for five days at the Menelik Hospital where he died.

Another journalist among those detained is editor Lulu Kebete, former editor-in-chief of the Amharic-language weekly ‘Nika’, who was arrested for an article published in 1995, which criticised Ethiopia’s newly-elected federal assembly.

Meanwhile, Kotch said the FCA is looking forward to good working relations with Ethiopian officials. “The FCA is ready at any time to make suggestions to your ministry about arrangements allowing foreign journalists to have maximum access to government representatives in Ethiopia,” he said.