President Obama criticizes Eritrea, Zimbabwe on press freedom in Africa

Jimma Times

U.S. President Barack Obama decried press freedom violations in the two African countries of Eritrea and Zimbabwe in a White House statement on Saturday in honor of World Press Freedom Day. This week, the Washington DC- based non-governmental organization Freedom House also published a report critical of the media scenes of several African nations, including Ethiopia, while Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) named Eritrea as the top jailer of journalists in Africa.

The Freedom House organization said press freedom is declining in many places around the world.  The international organization placed Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Libya and Equatorial Guinea in the bottom ten ranking in the world. It said several Zimbabwean journalists are being imprisoned, tortured and in some cases killed. Eritrea remains the only African nation without a private media while CPJ said three countries -- China, Cuba and Eritrea -- account for half of journalists imprisoned globally.

According to Freedom House, the Middle East and North African regions continued to have the lowest level of press freedom in the world in 2008. But some African countries continue to improve, with Ghana, Mauritius and Mali leading the way in the continent. Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia and Comoros showed the most improvement in Africa. Namibia, Cape Verde and South Africa also have high rankings however conditions have declined inside these countries compared to the previous year.

Freedom House indicated that press freedom deteriorated in many areas globally, including in Iran and North Korea. It also criticized Israel for travel restrictions and military censorship imposed on the press during the conflict in Gaza as well as in Israeli-occupied territory of the West Bank. The organization said space for independent media shrunk significantly in countries like Russia, Ethiopia and The Gambia. It condemned punitive laws in countries like Ethiopia while media restrictions remain in the Ogaden region of southeastern Ethiopia.

Journalists are frequently intimidated and harassed by the government in Ethiopia, particularly outside the capital Addis Ababa, even though the country has one of the largest number of private newspapers and magazines in Africa. Since the brutal 2005 crackdown on the press in Ethiopia, Awramba Times, Harambe, Enku and Addis Neger are some of the critical papers that suffered under frequent government harassment. Several newspapers have been closed due to financial and security issues they faced, particularly in the rural parts of Ethiopia. A private Afaan Oromo paper, Yeroo, was one of those closed due to human rights and financial problems facing publishers in the country. Other private Ethiopian newspapers like Capital, SS Informer, Ethio Channel, Addis Admass, Mesenazeria, Daily Monitor, Reporter and Addis Fortune face less harassment but they work under pervasive self-censorship, according to CPJ. Critics say Ethiopia's defamation laws and heavy financial punishment on publishers are threatening the survival of the private media in the country.

The recent reports by Freedom House and CPJ were released to coincide with World Press Freedom Day on Sunday. Freedom House Executive Director Jennifer Windsor asked the Obama administration to adopt policies that will defend freedom of expression around the world. In addition to Eritrea and Zimbabwe, the statement by President Obama mentioned Azerbaijan, Cuba and Burma, where journalists are being actively harassed the most.