When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018, many journalists in Ethiopia were optimistic that the country would transition to a democratic state that respects the independence of the media.
Their hope was not unfounded, given Ethiopia’s past. The country was just emerging from the 21-year rule of Meles Zenawi and his successor, Hailemariam Desalegn. Their administration, under the powerful Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition, was frequently accused of human rights violations including eliminating potential opponents, restricting media freedom, and clamping down on the operations of non-governmental organisations.
Journalists and media organisations faced systematic persecution. Newsgathering and investigative reporting had no chance to flourish, with the government enacting laws to restrict media freedom. State and private media had to toe the government’s line, making it difficult for journalists to report freely.
All this seemed set to change with Abiy Ahmed, who promised democratic reforms, transparency, and respect for human rights. For journalists, this signalled a potential turning point – a chance to operate without fear, to expose corruption, and to hold those in authority accountable.
However, the reality on the ground has been quite different and for many journalists, it has been a disappointing surprise that things seem to have worsened for their lot under Abiy, especially after the outbreak of the Tigray war in November 2020. Journalists have been killed while others have been arbitrarily arrested, detained, and disappeared.
There have been reports of severe human rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, sexual violence, and torture attributed to all the parties involved in the conflict including the Ethiopian federal forces and their allies.
As the conflict escalated, the Ethiopian government imposed a communication blackout in Tigray, cutting off internet and telephone services, ostensibly to maintain security. Instead, it effectively silenced the voices of the victims and made it nearly impossible for journalists to report on the unfolding crisis.
Akberet Gebreselassie, 27, a journalist working at the time for Tigray TV, recalled the shocking violence.
“Before the war, we lived peacefully, happily with family, friends, and colleagues. But the war turned everything upside down. It escalated quickly and forced many people to flee their homes for fear of their lives,” Akberet said during an interview with Journalists For Justice (JFJ).
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The government began arresting and detaining journalists and free media seeking to investigate reports of the atrocities happening in Tigray. Akberet said international media outlets were barred from sending journalists to the Tigray region, while local reporters faced threats and censorship.
Committed to showing the world what was happening, Akberet and 12 colleagues sought refuge in the mountains of Tigray in November 2020 to continue gathering information.
“As we reported, our lives as journalists became risky. The federal government began using drones and heavy artillery on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Tigrayans; it wasn’t long before our hideout in the mountains was engulfed. So, we decided to return to Mekelle, the capital of Tigray,” says Akberet.
On the way, the group was detained for four days by government security forces. They were questioned and subjected to what the journalist described as “demoralising conditions and psychological torture”.
“We were finally released on the fourth day and we separated. I went back to my family in Tigray. To this day, I do not know what led the security personnel to let us go, but one thing I knew for sure right then was that my life would never be the same,” she said.
Fearing for her life as a recognisable face on Tigray TV, Akberet went into hiding in Tigray before eventually fleeing to Addis Ababa in February 2021. However, she still feared for her life since, according to her, the government had polarised the population and recruited informants, including law enforcers, to report “dissidents” and journalists. She decided to flee to Kenya.
“When the security personnel in the immigration department at the airport realised that I was Tigrayan, they told me that I had no right to leave the country and threatened to detain me. Luckily, because of the confusion at the airport as many people were trying to leave, I managed to attach myself to a group that was allowed through. That is how I ended up in Nairobi,” she recounted.
Akberet’s ordeal is not unique. Over 600 kilometres away in Kampala, Berihu Gezae, a former news anchor at Tigray TV, narrates how he was arrested in November 2020 for broadcasting the human rights abuses of the federal government troops and their Eritrean allies in Tigray.
He was released after 24 hours and warned not to report against the federal government.
“Because I was a public figure, I was more vulnerable than other journalists,” he explained. “I left Ethiopia in April 2021 to save my life.”
Berihu’s journey took him first to Kenya and then to Uganda, where he continues to face serious security, economic, and psychological crises. “I am not free in Uganda. People who claim to be Ethiopian and Eritrean spies here threaten and follow me every day,” he said. “I was subjected to two serious beatings and assassination attempts by these individuals.”
The trauma of his experiences has affected his mental health, and he has to attend therapy sessions.
“The stress I’ve had in my journalism career has been painful,” he confided. “I often attend therapy sessions with counsellors from the UK-based Rory Peck Trust and the Norwegian Refugee Council.”
Like Akberet and Berihu, another journalist, who asked that his name be withheld for his own safety, found himself at the centre of the storm. A freelancer for both local and international media in Ethiopia, he sought to uncover the truth about what was happening in Tigray during the war.
“The government had shut down the internet and all communications to the region,” he said. “Luckily, some families still used landlines and if you were lucky, you could get someone to talk to you.”
The journalist tapped into his network of friends, family, and fellow journalists to gather information, relying on the few remaining landlines. He contributed anonymously to Al Jazeera and shared some of his findings with Agence France-Presse (AFP) while using his accreditation with another foreign media to conceal his identity.
The government, determined to find out who was divulging sensitive information to foreign media, tried to identify him by contacting some of the Ethiopian journalists working for these outlets.
As the crackdown intensified, the journalist resorted to finding quiet, hidden places in Addis Ababa to do his work, aware that the government had recruited local informants to report “dissidents” and anyone divulging sensitive information. “Even the local law enforcers were on the lookout for people like me,” he said.
“The situation worsened in October 2021, when the government declared a state of emergency. State agents raided homes, arresting, killing, and disappearing Tigrayans all across the country. They even raided a place where my colleague from AFP used to live. I saw journalists like Tesfa-Alem Tekle, a correspondent for the Kenya-based Nation Media Group, arrested in November 2021 on suspicion of insulting the government and having links to the TPLF,” the journalist said.
Tekle was held incommunicado for 77 days and when he was finally released, he fled to Uganda, where “he was followed to ensure he was not practising journalism. He stopped for his safety.”
Fearing for his own safety, the journalist accepted an offer from AFP to fly him to Nairobi, Kenya, at the expense of the agency, which also offered to pay his living costs for two months. “I accepted the offer because I feared I’d be in trouble if they found out I was sharing information with foreign media,” he said.
The journalist said he witnessed ethnic profiling of Tigrayans at the airport, with security forces erecting barriers on the tarmac to prevent them from leaving. Some of his Tigrayan colleagues were affected. “The security agents checked everything, including your social media presence and the posts you made,” he recounted.
Even in Kenya, the journalist did not feel entirely safe. “A week after I arrived, a long-time businessman and resident of Kenya called Samson Teklemichael was abducted in the streets of Nairobi in broad daylight. My house in Addis Ababa was raided. I think they finally found out I was working for the media agencies that were reporting what was happening,” he said.
Like Akberet and Berihu, the journalist admitted that he is struggling to make ends meet in his new home. “Apart from the help from AFP, I haven’t received any assistance from any organisation. But despite the security risks, I continue to contribute articles on the situation in Ethiopia to AFP, Xinhua, Al Jazeera, Africa Intelligence, and Thomson Reuters Foundation whenever I can. Whatever I get is what keeps me going.”
The Ethiopian government shows no signs of opening up the media space, even after the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement.
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Since the enactment of the six-month state of emergency declared in August 2023, at least eight journalists have been put behind bars, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ‘s latest annual prison census of jailed journalists globally. Four journalists were detained during the state of emergency and have never been charged.
More recently, security forces in civilian clothing arrested Antoine Galindo, a reporter for the Paris-based news website Africa Intelligence, while he was interviewing Bate Urgessa, a leader of the opposition party, the Oromo Liberation Front. The two were charged with “conspiracy to create chaos.” The journalist has since been released.
In February 2024, another journalist, Muhiyadin Mohamed Abdullahi, who reports and publishes commentaries on his Muxiyediin Show, was arrested and is still behind bars.
According to CPJ, Ethiopia was the second-worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa in 2023. The organisation has repeatedly called on Ethiopian authorities to respect the rights of the press and stop detaining journalists because of their work.
“Ethiopian authorities must now release all journalists — eight others, at least — who have suffered months of imprisonment under very difficult conditions,” CPJ’s Africa programme coordinator Muthoki Mumo said in a statement following Galindo’s arrest, adding that the Ethiopian government should allow international journalists to report without fear of retaliation.
“The authorities are trying to control the narrative of recent social and political tensions, […] and there is growing hostility towards independent journalism that seeks to cover any national issues,” Sadibou Marong, the director of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sub-Saharan Africa branch, said in a statement.
According to RSF’s 2023 Index, which compares the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories, Ethiopia ranks 130th, a significant drop from the 114th position in 2022.
“Most of the recent press freedom gains have been lost since Ethiopia became embroiled in ethnic conflicts and a civil war. Although a peace accord was signed in November 2022, journalists still fear reprisals,” the RSF report noted.
